When Willow Vanderling is heard complaining about Mike Krawbach and saying, “I’ll kill him”, it’s not a shock that when the next day Mike is found dead, Willow is the number one suspect!

Willow is new to the village of Elderberry Bay, Pennsylvania. The town is nicknamed “Threadtown” because of all of its textile related shops. Willow has just opened an embroidery shop next to her best friend Haylee’s fabric store. Mike, the town zoning commissioner, had been threatening to condemn part of Willow’s land to make way for an ATV park, which of course upset Willow. Now her hasty words uttered in anger are coming back to haunt her.  Mike is found dead on her property and even though he had plenty of enemies, local police officer “Uncle Allen” is convinced Willow is responsible.  Willow decides to launch her own investigation to keep from going to jail for a crime she didn’t commit.

There are some enjoyable parts of this book. Willow and Haylee have a great friendship and support each other in all circumstances. Haylee enlists her mom and her mom’s two childhood friends to help Willow with her investigation, and some of the scenes with the five women investigating are entertaining. Unfortunately, others miss the mark, such as the ridiculous scene in which all five friends dress in witch costumes and face paint to try to disguise themselves.

The best parts of the book are when Willow conducts her embroidery classes in her shop. The author shares detailed information about preparing designs for special embroidery machines. There are many details about the designs and the processes, and it’s obvious the author knows a lot about the subject. This lends authenticity to the book’s setting and educates the reader in an entertaining way.

While Willow and Haylee don’t seem fully fleshed out as characters, what we see is likeable. However, excluding the two friends, the book is populated with either strange or obnoxious characters. One or two quirky characters can be endearing to a reader, but too much of a good thing becomes distracting to the plot. Haylee refers to her mom and friends as her “three moms” and each have their own eccentricities. There is also the reclusive Dawn, who doesn’t get along with anyone in the town but does beautiful stitchery, and the singing town doctor, Dr. Wrinklesides. The police chief Uncle Allen and his assorted relatives, which I have a hard time keeping straight, are all extremely unlikeable. The book has a large cast of characters, but even the potential love interests for Willow and Haylee often seem suspicious, so there aren’t enough people to root for in this book.

A majority of the book includes various run-ins between Willow and the incompetent Uncle Allen who is looking for a scapegoat for his friend Mike’s murder.  Except for a brief scene with his grandchild, Uncle Allen comes across as a cartoon villain instead of a human being.  While it’s common for a protagonist to be falsely accused of a crime and have to prove his or her innocence, due to Uncle Allen’s blatant disregard of the evidence, it eventually becomes a chore to read the book. There are only so many times the policeman and his family can accuse Willow of the murder without considering the facts of the case or any other suspects and still keep the reader invested in the story.

There is a nice scene toward the end of the book when residents of the town and some of Willow’s loyal customers come together to help her with a crisis unrelated to the murder.  This scene, plus the wonderful information about embroidery included in the book, gives hope that future books in this new series may be more enjoyable. The detailed descriptions of Willow’s embroidery projects remind me of Laura Child’s scrapbooking series in which the main character hold classes for customers and describes each project. Fans of Maggie Sefton’s knitting mysteries and those interested in embroidery may like Dire Threads for the information about embroidery, but otherwise I can’t recommend it.