Pleating for Mercy (Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series #1)

by Melissa Bourbon

Overview

When her great-grandmother passes away, Harlow Jane Cassidy leaves her job as a Manhattan fashion designer and moves back to Bliss, Texas. But when she opens a dressmaking boutique in the turn-of-the-century farmhouse she inherited, Harlow senses an inexplicable "presence". Her old friend Josie orders a gown for her upcoming wedding, but when Josie's boss turns up dead, Harlow has to find the killer-with a little help from beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451234360
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/02/2011
Series:	A Dressmaker's Mystery , #1
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Melissa Bourbon, the author of the Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name, Misa Ramirez. She gave up teaching middle school and high school kids in Northern California to write full time amid horses and Longhorns in North Texas.

Editorial Reviews

Consider this premise: all the women in the Texas family descended from Butch Cassidy have a "magic" touch. One of these women, the lovely and unmarried Harlow, who's a fashion designer/seamstress, comes back to the small town of Bliss and hangs up her shingle. One afternoon she's sketching dress designs for an upcoming wedding, and by that evening, a bridesmaid turns up strangled in Harlow's garden. Trouble ensues. Harlow ponders the usual evil trio—revenge, greed, and jealousy—and finds herself in a heap of trouble. There's something in her shop the killer wants, and Harlow's going to need some magic to stay alive. VERDICT This series debut by Bourbon (who also writes the "Lola Cruz" series under the name Misa Ramirez) has a clever premise, lots of interesting trade secrets, snappy dialog, and the requisite quirky and loveable family. It's very Texas, and Wendy Lyn Watson fans should enjoy. A fun read with plenty of potential.

Library Journal