Thread Reckoning
Amanda Lee


ISBN-10:
0451234553
ISBN-13:978-0451234551
Publisher: Penguin Group
Line: Signet
Release Date: Sep 6, 2011
Pages: 336
Retail Price: $7.99



Genre: Mystery
Heat Level:
Rating:

Cupid’s arrow is making its way to Tallulah Falls, Oregon, bringing lots of business to Marcy Singer’s embroidery specialty shop. But the course of true love never has run smoothly….

St. Valentine’s Day is fast appraching, and residents are in a romantic frame of mind. In fact, one blushing bride has commissioned Marcy to embellish her mother’s vintage wedding gown with jewels for her Valentine’s Day wedding. Marcy is delighted–until she finds that the worst bridezillas have nothing on this bride to be. When the bride’s future mother-in-law is found stabbed to death outside Marcy’s shop, matters go from bad to worse….

Review

For fans of:  Monica Ferris

Seven-Year Stitch proprietress Marcy Singer has her hands full.  Bride-from-hell Cassandra Wainwright just hired her to do a major gown overhaul in time for a Valentine's Day wedding.  Both of the men Marcy’s been dating casually seem eager to press her into exclusivity.  And to top things off, Marcy's ex-fiancé David – the one who left her standing at the altar just last year – has come to Tallulah Falls and is determined he can convince Marcy to take him back.

Then Cassandra’s future mother-in-law is found dead outside Marcy’s shop, and things go from bad to worse.  It turns out the fake gemstones the dead woman had given Marcy to help her embellish the bride-to-be’s wedding gown are actually real.  Are the jewels somehow connected to the murder?  And, if so, does that mean Marcy is now in the line of fire? Marcy and her friends must work together to catch the killer before another victim falls prey.

Thread Reckoning is the third installment in Amanda Lee’s Embroidery Mystery series.  The book is a decent read, but ultimately doesn’t live up to its potential.  Marcy is a likable and sympathetic heroine, and the subplot Lee creates surrounding the reappearance of Marcy’s ex-fiancé provides some nice insight into her as a character, but not enough is done to develop her motivation for getting involved in the murder investigation.  Best friend Sadie is a fun sidekick, and ex-fiancé David is a creep you’ll love to hate, but boyfriends Ted and Todd are virtually indistinguishable from one another as characters, and those individuals who appear on Marcy’s list of suspects are two-dimensional, at best.

The pace is slow, the stakes are low, and the prose is a tad too workmanlike.  The book is lacking in atmosphere, and as a result, neither Marcy’s embroidery shop, nor her home, nor the town of Tallulah Falls feels real.  The mystery element is mild, with too few clues and too few suspects, and you never get the impression that Marcy is ever in any real danger.  And the plot has a bit of a paint-by-numbers feel to it.  The book’s final showdown, which takes place at a masquerade ball, has promise, but fails to deliver.  Rather than using the setting to build tension, the story climaxes quickly and then ends abruptly with an expository info-dump of a wrap-up.

Thread Reckoning does contain a lot of embroidery tips and ideas for those out there who want a little learning with their murder, but if you’re looking for a action-packed thrill-ride of a whodunit, you may want to focus your search elsewhere.


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