Discovering a Dead Body is Complicated
With very few books I have agreed to read this month, I’m trying to get to some of the books I’ve had sitting on my to be read pile for a while now while I can. I was quite happy to get back to the Quilting Mysteries by Mary Marks with Knot What You Think, the fifth in this fun series.
If you’ve yet to start the series, it features Martha Rose, a quilter who has been forced into an early retirement due to some health issues. She lives in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, and she manages to find herself involved in some interesting cases.
Before we go any further, you need to know that the fourth book in the series includes some pretty big surprises for Martha and some changes to her circle of friends. By necessity, this book is going to spoil some of those surprises, so it is best to read book four before you venture any further into the series.
It began as any ordinary Tuesday for Martha Rose and her quilting friends until Jazz Fletcher, the newest member of the group, arrives. As Jazz talks about his morning, Martha and the others begin to worry that something has happened to the friend he was trying to connect to before he joined them for quilting. Sure enough, when they arrive at Dolleen Doyle’s house, they find Dolleen dead on her kitchen floor.
Dolleen is the second wife of a man currently in jail for creating a Ponzi scheme. While the police look at Jazz as their prime suspect, Martha thinks that there are many more suspects. Can she clear her friend?
It’s no surprise to any fans of the series that this book has a strong plot. It wove in some pretty interesting directions before Martha figured things out. The clues fit, and we had plenty of conflict before reaching the climax. The suspects are all strong and kept me guessing.
There were several scenes involving a psychic. I get what the author was going for with them, but I didn’t care for them. Hopefully, that character won’t be popping back up later in the series. It isn’t be enough to keep me from reading more, but it is a disappointment.
Martha and her friends aren’t your typical cozy mystery leads, which is one thing I love about them. It’s nice to have some variety. They are very well drawn characters, and it is easy to come to care for them quickly. I enjoy watching them grow as the series progresses and can’t wait to see what comes next for them.
Martha’s love life continues to go in some unexpected directions. While some of the events here weren’t quite believable to me, I’m having fun with it, so I don’t mind too much.
Martha is Jewish, and once again, we got to see bits of that sprinkled into the book. The action takes place in the spring in the weeks leading up to Passover, so planning for that comes up a time or two. It isn’t enough to come close to slowing down the story, but I appreciated the color it gave the story.
As always, I enjoyed reading a cozy set in the Los Angeles area. It’s not your typical cozy setting, but it works. I get a kick out of seeing the characters driving around areas that I know since I live there myself.
There were some very funny moments in this book as well. One of those scenes happened near the end, and it left me very anxious to find out what happens next in Martha’s life.
On the whole, Knot What You Think is exactly what I expected, a fun cozy mystery that kept me guessing until the end. If that’s what you are looking for, be sure to start this series.
Stitch together the Quilting Mysteries in order.
This series is one I want to read! I love the quilting aspect and this sounds like a great series.
ReplyDeleteAs a quilter I know I would love this series. Thanks for your review.
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this series. It sounds so good.
ReplyDelete