Musing and Realizing

Quilty as Charged by Maggie Bailey- A review! This is the 50th post on MusingandRealizing.

Lydia Barnes has to thread the needle in order to discover the killer locked in with her amidst a sewing retreat in this second installment of the series, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Molly MacRae.

Lydia Barnes has made the picturesque town of Peridot, Georgia her home. But as the new owner of the Measure Twice fabric store, all financial burdens fall on her. In an effort to unspool herself from this tangle of thread and boost the store’s income, she invites her regular customers to a sewing retreat at her friend Fran’s Cherry Log mountain home.

In between sewing lessons and quick lunches, a severe winter storm approaches. When Fran’s body is discovered murder is the only explanation, and the remaining six attendants are all suspects. Trapped, with the power and phone lines out, Lydia is restless to unmask Fran’s murderer.

With the help of Auden, the cabin’s caretaker, Lydia must unravel the hidden lives of people she considered close neighbors and even friends, especially when another body is found along with a suicide note and a suspicious confession. In a daring plan to uncover the killer, Lydia must risk it all, including her life, before she is cut asunder and the bobbin runs out.

Genres: Mystery Cozy Mystery

When I started, I wasn’t liking it. I don’t know the reason. It just felt lacking. Lydia was talking about all the stuff and I just wasn’t into it. Maybe if I read the first book in the series, it would all match up in my mind.

But then, when the group all reached their destination- the sewing retreat, I started feeling for the plot. Just uphill from there. Now, all the sewing terms and stuff were cool. I have very little info about crochet but not sewing so reading the book was a pretty nice experience for me.

When Fran, Lydia’s fairy godmother is murdered, the plot begins to thicken. I was really looking for clues then and somehow I managed to consider two suspects. And yes, the murderer was among them.

That wasn’t what I loved about this book.

Actually, the fact that Fran was somehow different from Lydia thought- I liked that. A person can be good to you but then also bad for some other people. Fran, she was a good person but yet, she did some bad things. And the murderer, she ended up catching the wrong side of everything.

Now again, no spoilers here. Not going to tell who murdered the people there, but I guess that the fact that their group had a murderer made me think about my reaction if I read the first book. Cause seriously I would know that this person had been hiding all along without others knowing, right?

The other topics in the book like the fact about Amy’s brother, had me sad. It was a murder mystery so of course, lots of things to be sad about. But I liked the way the things were unraveled.

I think if I read it from the start, I wouldn’t be like this. I can’t reread the book again because I want to. At first, I kept postponing it so I feel like I somehow let the book down.

Anyway, I think the book is good and worth reading.

A small cozy mystery with good characters and sewing.

And to top it all, cute pets and a cool male protagonist. Maybe we will get to see the adorable couple more in the next book.

I am now really excited for the next book.

You can read the book at a slow pace and not be bored. A good read, indeed!

Quilty as Charged by Maggie Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a good mystery. A bit slow-paced in the beginning but it picked up later. The characters were multi-dimensional, and the more I read, the more I felt that I was wrong in judging them actually. It was surprising for me as I wasn’t that involved when I read the first two chapters but later, I started liking it. I think I would just love it if I read the first book in the series as I can know the characters again.
Lydia, I liked her character. She is good at handling all the mess she stumbled upon after her first day at the sewing retreat. And I really liked some of the other characters. And I have to say, I really doubted the murderer based on the intent correctly.
The story progressed with a nice rhythm and the ending was good. Just loved it. I can totally say, I’m really invested in this series.
And the sewing in the book, loved it.

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