Its 1923 and Mrs Alice Chandler and her quilting group are working on a special project. Every year she has held a flower show in memory of her deceased husband whose family business has dominated and run the area since his grandfather's time. This year she won't be alive to see it as she is murdered - stabbed in the back by a pair of scissors. Cue detective Steve Walsh who is called in to assist the local police with the investigation, and whose already complicated love life will soon take a new turn...
This series opener is also a first for the author, who is the sister of a celebrated quilter. Anybody expecting the standard crafty cozy with plenty of quilting tips and a cat or two might want to look elsewhere as this is not that type of story. Quilting is mentioned but not that much so an interest in/knowledge of it is not essential for enjoyment (or understanding). Instead I would class this more as a historical procedural, as Walsh has to discover whodunit and try not to upset the wrong people. There is also romance with him meeting up with old flame and keen reporter Julie Boroni and getting introduced to the Mrs Chandler's flapper daughter Silene. This book wears its research lightly as the author deftly drops the reader into the period with just the right amount of detail. We couldn't be in any other period than the early 1920s, a time when people are recovering from the war and the flu pandemic, coping with prohibition and trying to have a good time. To its detriment it is not hard to guess whodunit and thus anybody hoping for a teasing mystery replete with red herrings will be disappointed. If the author can sort this out for the second book this series will really take off.
-- Rachel Hyde * myshelf.com *
