Review & Giveaway: Stitch Me Deadly by Amanda Lee

 336 pages
Publisher: Signet (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451232518
ISBN-13: 978-0451232519

Having left her ex-fiance and her mom back in San Francisco, Marcy Singer is now  living in Tallulah Falls, Oregon and is the proud owner of an embroidery store called The Seven Year Stitch. One morning on the way to open the store, Marcy sees an elderly woman just about to enter her shop. Marcy lets the woman in the store and proceeds to introduce herself. The woman, Louisa Ralston, begs Marcy to help her find "ivy" after showing her an antique sampler made by her grandmother.

Marcy is perplexed as to what or who ivy is; is it the shade of embroidery thread or is it a person? Before Marcy can  ask that question, Louisa collapses. Marcy immediately calls 911 and to her dismay Louisa dies while in the hospital and it is determined the cause of death was an overdose of a manic depression drug. Unfortunately for Marcy, the police think she had something to do with what is now being called a homicide. Marcy, knowing she is innocent of any wrongdoing, gives permission for them to search her shop and home. So, when the police find a bottle of of the exact medication in her guest room night stand, Marcy is flabbergasted.

In order to clear her name and satify her own curiosity, Marcy sets out to prove she is not the killer and to expose who is. Her first clue is the sampler left behind by Louisa; not only is it an heirloom piece but it may be the key to an unknown branch of the Ralston family tree, a branch that someone has gone to great lengths to keep secret. Can Marcy find the real killer before he or she puts a stop to Marcy's snooping for good?

Of course, this is just the bare bones of the story; there's a lot more mayhem and intrigue going on that I'm sure you'll want to discover for yourself.

Sometimes, the characters in cozies take more of a center stage than the mystery plot itself. Stitch Me Deadly is a fine balance of both; terrific characters that are easy to relate to and a well constructed plot.
Stitch Me Deadly, second in the series,  is a stand-alone mystery but if you would like to read a little background, try the first in the series, The Quick and the Thread. Both are very enjoyable 4* reads.

Like to know more about Amanda Lee, pseudonym for Gayle Trent? You can find her at her blog.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley in exchange for my honest opinion.

To celebrate the release of Stitch Me Deadly, Berkley is allowing me to give away one copy open to US only. Deadline to enter is Feb 11th at 5 PM (est). Your official comment must include an e mail address.

As always, bonus entries can be earned by:

+ 2 being a follower, Tell me under what name you follow
+3 tweeting or posting about and linking to contest (sidebar is ok) Just be sure to give me the link in a comment.  Please be sure to leave an e mail contact in your comment. Good luck!

** If you  can't leave a comment  ( I don't allow anonymous) you can always e mail me at florida982002[at]yahoo.com with your name and e mail address. Just put Stitch Me contest in the
subject line and I will be happy to enter your comment for you.