Thread End: An Embroidery Mystery
Lee continues her series featuring Marcy Singer, owner of an embroidery shop called Seven Year Stitch. Marcy is excited about the large textile exhibit coming to the museum in her small town of Tallulah Falls and wonders why her boyfriend, Detective Ted Nash, is worried about security. It turns out an art thief at large is rumored to be in town; Marcy finds him wrapped in one of the rugs, dead, the day after the exhibit. An incompetent FBI agent and a secretive neighbor cloud the issue of who killed the art thief. Millions of dollars are on the line as Marcy tries to get townspeople and visitors to open up about family and financial secrets that may have led someone to murder. Lee ties her plot threads together at the deliberate pace of an embroiderer, but Marcy is an intelligent series lead and provides the main appeal of the novel. Discussion of the Indian embroidery technique called chikankari adds interest to the proceedings. --Amy Alessio