Gaele's Reviews > Thread Herrings

It’s February and everyone is quietly performing their winter tasks, which means Sarah is visiting several auctions and restocking her shop. Never having been to an auction, Angie goes along – and here we are treated to information about estate auctions from a dealer’s perspective, and see the pieces during the viewing. While Sarah finds pieces that she can resell and use as stock, Angie finds a not-particularly well-preserved piece of needlework, a coat of arms, a rarity in New England. Bidding on the piece, Angie is the winner – and takes the unusual piece home, full of questions.

Taking the piece from the frame, Angie finds clues and a mystery hidden behind the piece, all needing more investigation. Discovering the two old Maine families whose items provided the lots for the auction, and some preliminary searching bring Angie to Portland to the history museum, information gathered there gives her new places to search and free hours have her contacting a high school friend turned reporter, and we are off.

A one minute spotlight on Angie and her questions about the piece lead to several death threats, the death of her friend Clem, Reverend Thom’s injuries when her car explodes, and danger everywhere. With strangers looking for her in town, footprints around the carriage house that shouldn’t have been there, and a strange couple questioning Sarah about Angie’s piece of embroidery, the questions are never ending. But, frustrated and tired of hiding, an email left by the enquiring couple, a few chance connections made after a news story and cooperation from Sarah bring them face to face with the killer – not quietly as Angie has to use (for the first time) her gun to get Sarah out of danger and be sure the killer is caught. Of course, as in all of this series, insets of work from old samplers worked in colonial and later eras, and the solid feelings of community, friendship and plenty of snow, sea smoke and cold all combine to paint the quaint little town in winter clothes. Wait brings a sense of the place solidly forward while keeping everyone aware of the fact that murder never makes real sense to anyone BUT those willing to kill for something – and in this story the motive of retribution for hurts perceived and done for years was just as silly, even as the tension, questions and information came hard and fast.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at I am, Indeed