Thread and Dead: The Apron Shop Series

by Elizabeth Penney

Overview

Tragedy strikes in Thread and Dead, the second book in Elizabeth Penney's cozy mystery series—and now everyone in Blueberry Cove, Maine, is on pins and needles. . .

Iris Buckley is busier than ever this July, with the town’s annual Lobster Festival fast approaching. In just a matter of days her apron shop Ruffles & Bows, will be jam-packed with tourists eager to lay eyes on its world-class collection of aprons and linens—and Iris’s inventory is running low. Then, just when all hope seems lost, Iris gets a call from Eleanor Brady, a wealthy, reclusive spinster who just happens to have trunks full of vintage fabrics. Would Iris like to come down to Eleanor’s cottage estate Shorehaven and have a look?

Before long Iris is on the scene—and on the case. Turns out that Eleanor has rented Shorehaven to the handsome, charismatic environmentalist Dr. Lukas de Wilde and his flock of students. What begins as an apron-scouting endeavor soon morphs into a full-blown murder investigation when Dr. de Wilde’s beautiful young teaching assistant turns up dead. Now it’s up to Iris—along with her partner-in-love-and-crime Ian Stewart—to unravel the mystery before the Blueberry Cove killer strikes again.

Praise for The Apron Shop series

“Quirky-meets-fun.”—Woman's World on Hems & Homicide

“Penney knows the recipe for delivering just what cozy readers are looking for.” —Reviewing the Evidence

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250257970
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Series:	Apron Shop Series , #2
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Penney is the author of more than two dozen cozy mysteries, including the Apron Shop Series, which begins with Hems & Homicide. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the owner of 2 Penney Productions. A former consultant and nonprofit executive, Elizabeth grew up in Maine and now lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where she also operates a small farm.

Editorial Reviews

"Sharply-written . . .the killer is revealed in a fine, tense scene. Cozy fans will love it all."—Booklist

"A well-written and fast-paced whodunit that once I started reading, I could not put down. A delightfully charming story that put a smile on my face."—Dru's Book Musings

From the Publisher

2020-06-03
Money is the root of all, or at least most, evil in a little Maine town.

Iris Buckley and her grandmother own a vintage apron and linen shop in Blueberry Cove. Soon after Eleanor Brady, mistress of the large and rather decrepit Shorehaven Cottage, invites Iris to her home to look at a fascinating collection of old European sheets and other linens she wants to sell, she entangles Iris in a far more ambitious venture: arranging the sale of the trunks full of vintage clothing her mother brought from Belgium when she emigrated. Why Claudia de Witte, who worked as a nursemaid after she arrived, had such a trove of expensive clothing is just one of the puzzles that Iris and her friends must solve. Eleanor is renting rooms to several academics—Belgian Dr. Lukas de Wilde and his ambitious teaching assistants, Hailey Piper and Theo Nesbitt, who are working on a project to grow and harvest seaweed for food and fuel—along with putative seaweed farmers Jamaica Jones and Patrick Chance. The morning after attending a cocktail party complete with seaweed treats, a reluctant Iris goes climbing with her boyfriend, Ian, and her bestie, Madison, and spots the body of Hailey Piper dead on a ledge. Helping the police and researching Eleanor’s past soon put Iris and her friends in danger from someone willing to kill again.

Varied characters and seaweed lore enliven a mundane cozy that leaves lots of room for future plot and character development.

Kirkus Reviews