Lie of the Needle by Cate Price Series: Deadly Notions Mystery #3
Published by Berkley on January 6, 2015
Source: Gift
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
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As the owner of Sometimes a Great Notion, a shop specializing in vintage sewing notions and antique treasures, Daisy Buchanan is a strong advocate of preserving the past. But when a killer strikes, she turns her attention to saving lives…
Talk about a great notion! As a fund-raiser to save a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse and stop an ambitious developer, the ladies of the Historical Society of Millbury, Pennsylvania, are producing a Hunky Men of Millbury calendar. Daisy is delighted to lend her support, and the female population of the village is abuzz with anticipation.
But after Daisy’s close friend Cyril doesn’t show up for his photo shoot and the calendar photographer is found dead, it’s beginning to look like the days may be numbered for the men of Millbury. Can a cryptic verse on an antique sampler help Daisy pin down the killer before another pinup runs out of time?
Includes creative tips for vintage notions!
Daisy Buchanan is the owner of Sometimes a Great Notion, a vintage sewing notion and antique shop. She is also intrigued with history and an active participant in her town’s Historical Society. The ladies of the society have planned a fundraiser to raise money to help save an old farmhouse from a developer who wants to purchase it and the surrounding land. They are working on a Men of Millbury calendar that features men about town scantily clothed. All is going well until the photographer and a friend disappear. Daisy gets caught up in the mystery surrounding the disappearances, a mystery that soon becomes a murder investigation.
This book is the 3rd in a series and I have not read the previous two, but I felt Price did a good job introducing Daisy and her family and friends. It worked fine as a stand-alone. The characters are just the right amount of quirky and I could picture the town clearly.
The mystery was well-done. There were plenty of suspects and clues. There were a couple of twists that were well-done. I appreciated how history played into the plot. I also liked that Daisy always tells Detective Serrano what she’s found out and what she’s thinking. I didn’t like how all the women drooled over the detective. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I found it off-putting.
Overall, I enjoyed my time at Millbury. Daisy is a few years older than me, but she’s happily married, mostly responsible, has a grow daughter who isn’t a brat. She’s someone I could be friends with.
About Cate Price
Cate Price was born in England and came to the U.S. when she was sixteen. She spent her high school years translating her quaint English expressions for fellow classmates and majored in Communications at Central Connecticut State University with an emphasis on Radio and TV production. She’s made a living as an actress, voice-over artist, talent agent, waitress, bartender, casting director, and real estate agent, until finally settling on her current occupation as Executive Assistant to a CEO.
She’s a regular sight on the streets of her hometown walking her two amazing rescue dogs, and enjoys gardening, yard sales, and cooking with adventurous friends. Writing this Deadly Notions series proved to be rather a dangerous project, because while researching auction houses, she also became addicted to bidding on box lots.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America, and over the years has served as vice president, web mistress, treasurer, corresponding secretary, and contest coordinator. She is also a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.
Well this sounds like a fun mystery series. I’ll have to give it a try. 🙂
I enjoyed it, but I do wonder if maybe I should have started with the first. There are only three in the series.
Hunky men of Millbury calendar? Sounds interesting!
It is a fun idea for a fundraiser. And I liked that the men weren’t all young.
Well, given that there’s a calendar with “scantily clad” men, of course there would be drooling over the detective too. And “Sometimes a Great Notion” is a fabulous shop name, must note it down for future suggestions to entrepreneurs!
True enough, I guess.