Review

Beatrice Coleman can’t believe she allowed her friend and fellow quilter Meadow Downey talk her into crashing a party at a Victorian mansion, in the middle of nowhere. The owner, Muriel Starnes, grudgingly allows them to stay and make their pitch for why their quilting guild would be the perfect fit to administer the quilting scholarship Muriel plans to fund. Beatrice feels uncomfortable and unwelcome among this disparate group of quilters and can’t wait to leave. Unfortunately, an ice storm hits and strands everyone in the home, with no heat and no electricity.  It’s bad enough the guests have to deal with the cold temperatures and a shortage of food, but soon they are also dealing with a very dangerous murderer. Now, it’s up to Beatrice to find the killer before it’s too late.

By the end of the second chapter of Quilt Trip, the stage is set for a classic murder mystery plot that would make Dame Agatha Christie proud. Muriel Starnes, a dying, elderly woman, along with friends and family members she has wronged, are all stranded together in her home. Beatrice and Meadow and a few others are strangers to the wealthy Muriel, and also find themselves part of this dangerous drama with no way to escape. I was immediately pulled into this classic plot and loved the eerie atmosphere of the mansion and the build-up of tension as the situation became more and more perilous for everyone in the house. Beatrice is a combination of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot and her calm manner and level-headed intelligence is just what is needed to find the murderer. Her friend Meadow is a great contract, but while I appreciate her energy and optimism, her immaturity makes her seem much younger than the mature woman she is supposed to be.

Some of the characters started to become irritating as the forced time at Muriel’s house is prolonged. Some of this is probably an intentional choice by the author adding to the tension in the home, but after a while, I was ready for the book to end. There was also a reoccurring supporting character that I just couldn’t connect with. I assume “Miss Sissy” is supposed to have some level of dementia, but even in her lucid moments her one word exclamations, such as “Evil!” got old. Even though I don’t understand Miss Sissy’s character, many of the other characters had interesting enough back-stories to provide plenty of suspects for Beatrice as she tries to discover the identity of the murderer and overall, this is an enjoyable cozy mystery.

I’ve missed out on the previous Southern Quilting mysteries, but I enjoy the Memphis Barbeque series that author Elizabeth Craig writes under the name Riley Adams. I think Quilt Trip will appear to fans of either the Riley Adams books or the Southern Sewing Mysteries by Elizabeth Lynn Casey. The book ends with a few quilting tips, as well as recipes for the comfort food that the characters only wish they would have had access to while they were trapped in Muriel’s isolated home.