Blackwork (Needlecraft Mystery)
Ferris's spooky 13th needlecraft mystery (after 2008'sThai Die) finds Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop, preparing for the upcoming Halloween festivities in Excelsior, Minn., along with a host of other locals, including Leona Cunningham, a Wiccan and senior partner in a microbrewery pub, who's mixing a new brew called Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Ale. When Ryan McMurphy, an auto mechanic who's offered his restored antique fire truck for the parade, turns up dead in a friend's basement sewing room, Betsy once again puts on her sleuthing cap. Some of the stitchers, who serve as a sort of friendly Greek chorus, are into blackwork, an intricate reversible form of embroidery. Instructions for a blackwork pattern, Witchwork, appear at the end.(Oct.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.