Aprons!
by Melissa Bourbon
I’ve learned so much about aprons in the past year. They are the central sewing theme in A Seamless Murder, and I loved finding out more about this fantastic American tradition.
I’ve become fascinated with aprons, in fact. I have about 4 hanging from hooks in my kitchen now, my daughter almost always wears one when she helps me cook, my sons love to don them and joke around in the kitchen, and I have my favorites that I wear—for special occasions and for everyday use.
There’s something about wearing an apron that changes the way I feel at that moment. I think it’s the same for a great piece of clothing, but with an apron, you can easily change your mood or a facet of your personality for a period of time. Wearing certain aprons in my collection make me smile. Others make me feel like a more serious cook. And still others can take the fun out of cooking and make it feel like more of a chore.
One thing I love about writing is that I get to explore subjects that are interesting to me. I get to immerse myself in new topics. And my interests often guide the direction or themes of my books. This time around it was aprons.
I’d love to hear about your relationship with aprons. Do you wear them? Love them? Have no use for them? As I said, I love them, so I’m really curious to hear what others think of them.
**
On another note, my mom, a masterful sewist, made a bunch of aprons for me as I wrote A Seamless Murder. They don’t all correspond to the book’s aprons, but a few are pretty close. And I’m giving some of them away via my newsletter! I’m so excited, because I know there are other apron lovers out there.
If you’re an apron-lover… or if you don’t know your personal thoughts about aprons but are curious to find out, join my newsletter and you can enter to win!
Happy reading!
Melissa
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To find out more about Melissa Bourbon and her books visit her webpage here.
A Seamless Murder:
A Magical Dressmaking Mystery
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting: Texas
An Obsidian Mystery (January 6, 2015)
Published by The Penguin Group
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0451417213
E-Book ASIN: B00KWG9JP4
With a needle and thread, Harlow Jane Cassidy is capable of magic. Her neighbors in Bliss, Texas, on the other hand, are capable of murder….
Any garment Harlow stitches together has the power to grant the deepest desire of whomever wears it. So when she’s asked to sew aprons for a local women’s group, Harlow must get to know each member. First up is Delta Lee Mobley, who doesn’t care much for Harlow’s family—or anyone else in Bliss, for that matter. Granting Delta’s greatest wish could only lead to trouble….
But trouble finds Delta all the same. The day after Harlow delivers her apron, Delta’s body is discovered in the cemetery. It seems one of the townsfolk harbored ill will toward one of their own. Harlow’s sleuthing skills are a cut above the rest, and with a few magical tricks up her sleeve, she is determined to cuff this killer once and for all.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Making aprons for a woman’s group should be an easy task for most seamstresses but because of Harlow Jane Cassidy’s magical gift of granting the wearer’s deepest desire she needs to really get to know her customers. Delta Mobley is the head of the group and also Harlow’s next door neighbor but sharing a property line doesn’t mean you know or even like the people next door. There has been a little feud going on between the Cassidy and Mobley families for years, maybe making Delta an apron will be the first step to the families being more neighborly.
The apron gets made but before any real change between the families can happen Delta’s body is found in an open grave in the local cemetery. Harlow quickly finds out her family is not the only one who had problems with Delta. The suspects soon become many including her own family and the ladies in the woman’s group. Harlow believes by using a little bit of magic and asking the right questions she may be able to stitch together the clues and catch the killer before anyone else life is cut short.
These characters never fail to draw me into their story and I always learn a little something too. In this installment a local woman’s group is planning a progressive dinner when each course is served at a different member’s home. I have been to a couple of these events and they were fun and very interesting. In my case I always met new people and some became good friends. In this case the ladies in the group and their husbands all know each other and split up into comfortable groups. That left Harlow and Will as the outsiders of the group and they were focused more on finding a killer rather than making friends. They also planned to do a little snooping so one had to cover for the other. Like I said these events can be interesting.
Meeting all these new characters was entertaining. I hope some of them return in future stories. But my favorites are still Harlow, her mother whose gift makes gardens bloom and grass grow, her goat whispering grandmother and my most favorite of all Meemaw, who has her own special gift of getting just what she wants. Meemaw sets us up with one heck of a cliffhanger!
The author was able to show us Delta was a very complex woman and a woman that had changed of late. She did have a unique way of communicating with her family. Some people hold things in and bottle them up, some vent things very well. Delta form of communicating was sweet sometimes but left me thinking that if she was a “venter” or a woman that voiced her opinions wrong or right she may not have died.
Melissa Bourbon sews together another wonderful mystery that keeps us on pins and needles until all the clues are pieced together. A little sewing mixed with a little sleuthing always makes for happy reading.
Thanks to the people at Penguin I have 2 copies to give away!
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US or Canadian mailing address.
Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.
You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.
Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.
Following the new Google+ Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book Fan Page will earn you 3 Bonus Entries.
Leave a comment for Melissa for 5 Bonus Entries.
Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.
If you publicize the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.
Contest Will End February 10, 2015 at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.
CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORM
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Thanks for the contest…this looks like a fun read!
I love the blurb about this book.I am looking forward to reading it. I love the idea of sewing and granting a person’s deepest desire. Harlow is responsible by checking out who she sews for. Thank you..
Great series to add to my TBR
Nice series, hope to get a chance to read it 🙂
It’s time for me to catch up on this series. I loved the first two.
Another one to add to my TBR list – I do wear aprons and have made them for all my grandchildren. They have always been a feature in my kitchen.
Ann
Love Melissa Bourbon’s books and am happy that she has a new series–no need to enter me in the drawing, she’s an auto-buy for me! Thanks for featuring her, great blog!
This looks like a good series!
I too enjoy sewing. The thought of aprons reminds me of my mother and her days she spent in the kitchen cooking up wonderful dishes for our family. I am anxious to read your book and the rest in the series.
This is one of the few cozy series I share with my sister. Despite neither of us liking sewing, we love the characters.
An intriguing and unique series. Thanks.
Buenos Dias Senora Misa, I do love this series and am looking forward to being the lucky winner of “A Seamless Murder”. It would sit proudly on my bookshelves right next to the other books in the series that I own.
Love this series and looking forward to the next installment!
My grandmother had a wonderful selection of aprons—I remember she had an entire drawer full of them.
I admit that I don’t wear aprons at home in the kitchen…but I really should, especially when baking, it never fails, I end up looking like frosty the snowman, LOL. I would go crazy without my apron at work, I carry all kinds of supplies in it and am lost without it. Thanks for the chance to win.
I haven’t tried this series yet, but from the synopsis, I have to add it to my TBR list. Thanks for the giveaway. (BTW: I’m not really an apron type of person, though it would definitely keep me cleaner when I cook!)
Haven’t read this series yet but this book would be a great start.
I love Melissa’s writing, and I love the stories about sewing. I would love to win this book! Thanks!
Got some catching to do with these titles. Sounds like fun.
Sounds like a great cozy.
Magically imbued sewing. Great concept.
This looks like a good series! I’ll have to start from the beginning!
I would love an apron like that. The book sounds great.
Seamless Murder sounds like a great book. I am looking forward to reading it. Thank you for the giveaway.
I do wear an apron. After I realized just how many splattered shirtfronts I had I found a couple that I wear regularly. They are cute but not that stylish. When I wear them I feel like the serious cooking has begun.
This sounds like a fun series I need to check out. Thanks for the giveaway.
Looks like a great cozy mystery
I have enjoyed reading this series.
I don’t wear aprons much anymore, but I have great memories of getting to wear my grandmother’s when we’d bake together in her kitchen.
This is a great series, can’t wait to read more about Harlow and the gang!
I’m looking forward to reading this one.
I love aprons and I can’t wait to read this one!
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BOOK AND THANKS FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
I do love aprons. I only have 3 at the moment – utilitarian ones [butcher-type]: white, a cream with colored stripes, and a blue that says “Have you hugged a United Methodist today?”
My mother made my hubby an apron [same over the head type] one year for Christmas, but in our moves we’ve misplaced it.
I don’t wear the aprons as much at home [maybe because I don’t do the cooking, hubby does?], but do when it’s my turn to help at church. I do wish I had some more aprons – maybe prettier, more frilly ones.
My mother sewed, and I now have her Elna machine. She always said she really didn’t like to sew, but boy did she do a good job with everything she made. I think I could have worn my clothes inside out, she did that nice a job.
My mom always wore an apron as she worked in the kitchen, so an apron says “home” to me! My daughters and I have a few cute aprons we share… my favorite one is a has cupcakes on it.
one of my favorite series!!
congrats & continued success to Melissa!!
I worked in the costume shop, while I attended Grad. School. Our first project was making aprons to wear in the shop. Those simple, brightly colored aprons still hang in the shop for future wearers. Thanks for having the giveaway.
This is such a fun series. I love the magic and coziness of the books.
I love seeing that there is another great book to this series. I am still working on the beginning of this series and can’t wait till I get to this one!
I love to sew, so this is a wonderful interview. Thanks for sharing with us cozy readers.
this sounds like such a good read!
I own a few aprons for coverage in crafts classes and have been giving some as gifts this year for birthdays, thank yous and apropos holidays. I have made some from old jeans minus the bib part for the kitchen, making use of the pockets especially.