FRIDAY: Sew Deadly

Tori fled Chicago and a cheating man to start her dream job as a librarian in a small southern town called Sweet Briar. Unfortunately, Sweet Briar is one of those small towns where everyone knows everyone, there is an unwritten code of behavior for everything, and they don't like "outsiders." To make matters worse, Tori discovers that the former librarian did not retire willingly and she is holding a grudge. Hoping to make some friends, Tori joins a sewing circle at the urging of the town mayor. Sewing and fellowship help some of the women in town warm up to Tori. But all of her progress may be in vain if the local police can pin the murder of the town sweetheart on poor Tori. She has her work cut out for her - starting programs at the library, finding out who keeps sabotaging all her efforts, and sleuthing out a murderer.

I have been "stalking" this book at the bookstore for a couple months. Sewing is something I would love to do, but don't really have the time or space to take on a new hobby. When I discovered the book at the library, I put everything else aside to enjoy a new mystery. And I really enjoyed this one. I was recommending it to others before I was even half way through. I really liked the characters. Tori is very "real." She is sensitive to small acts of kindness and sweet, quiet little girls. She wrestles with her feelings about a man since she is still trying to find her place in this community. She rants and raves over injustices, and feels remorse when she finds out she was wrong about people. The author does a great job of showing how the women in the sewing circle warm up to Tori and support her. The sewing is an enjoyable context for the story and characters without being exclusionary for those who don't sew.

One unusual piece was how the mystery wrapped up. There was no big confrontation. Tori's life wasn't hanging in the balance. She figured it out, took it to the authorities and heard about the outcome after the fact. It made the resolution feel a little abrupt, but with all the other tension throughout the story, that wasn't a terrible thing. This is a series I would buy and read again. The next book in the series is going to be Death Threads, and comes out March 2, 2010.

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