Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!!
I am chair dancing today because if you are a follower of my blog you know I have been loving the Quilting Mysteries by Terri Thayer. The latest installment Monkey Wrench
Welcome Terri! We are so glad you are here!
Hi Everyone!
Thank you Lori for inviting me.
“Get a gang.” That’s one of my favorite quotes on how to be happy from one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut.
I was reminded of how true that is while visiting Colorado. I have been here for a month at my mother’s place while she recovers from a broken hip. To get out of the house one day, I attended a meeting of the Quaking Aspen Quilt Guild as a visitor. Immediately, I felt right at home. Here was a gang of people just like me. Who loved the challenge of turning an idea, fabric and thread into a beautiful object. Who liked to talk sewing machines. Who thought spending hours and hours on a quilt project was normal. More than normal, necessary.
At home, I have plenty of gangs. My writing critique group. My book club. My out-to-lunch friends. My quilting buddies. My walking friends. Gangs keep my goals on track, inspire me with their writing or quilting, make me laugh. Laughing cures everything.
During my time here in Boulder, I’ve found more “gangs.” At the YMCA. At the Boulder Bookstore. At the Shambala Meditation Center. Connecting with others
Dewey Pellicano, my protagonist in the Quilting Mystery series, found her gang on the most unlikely place, at Quilter Paradiso, the quilt shop she inherited from her mother. She was nearly thirty and had never quilted. That was her mother’s gig, not hers. To her surprise, she loved the quilters she met. Pearl and Ina gave her the mothering she was missing. Vangie and Ursula help her out with the business end. Her regular customers inspire and entertain her. And make her laugh.
Gangs can spring up in the most unlikely places. The Internet is a wonderful place to connect with like-minded folks. Sites like Dollycas’ provide us a place to mingle with others who love mysteries. In our outdoor life, the library, the coffee shop, the gym, even the produce aisle of the grocery store can help us link up with people we admire and want to spend time with.
So follow Kurt’s—and mine—advice and get a gang.
Tell me about the gangs you already belong to.
Leave a comment and you’ll be entered into a drawing
to win my new book, Monkey Wrench.
Thank you so much Terri!!!! I hope you will visit often! It would be wonderful to have you as part of my gang!!
About This Author
Terri Thayer is the author of seven mystery novels, including the latest Quilting Mystery, Monkey Wrench.
You can find her at the web on Facebook (Terri Thayer, author) or Twitter @territhayer.
Listen to an April 25th interview at Creative Mojo with Mark Lipiniski at http://www.toginet.com/shows/creativemojo.
Visit her website, http://www.territhayer.com to find out more about her unique serial Block of the Month, Tales of the Quilt Shop and Sugarplums.
Now for my review:
Monkey Wrench (A Quilting Mystery)
4th in Series
Midnight Ink
Published by Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Cover Illustration by Cheryl Chalmers – The July Group
Cover Design by Lisa Novak
It’s time for the annual Quilter’s Crawl and this year Quilters Paradiso (QP) is back on the map as part of the crawl. Over the weekend quilters will travel to 12 different quilt shops in the area for special bargains and prizes. Vangie from QP has even set up a Twitter promotion to help boost sales.
Getting everything set up and organized has been quite hectic as Vangie has college classes to work around and a new boyfriend. The store’s long time teacher Pearl is starting to fail a bit so she is not as much help as Dewey was hoping she would be. Dewey will work day and night with her few available employees to make sure everything is just right.
While picking up more maps for the Crawl Dewey learns of a program at the college that places young men with elderly women call “Grand Son”. They help around the house, run errands, help with medications. She thinks this maybe just the thing to help Pearl get back to where she was and teaching classes again.
Just days before the Crawl a riot breaks out on campus as law enforcement tries to crack down on the drug problem at the collage and Vangie’s new boyfriends dies from an overdose.
As if that’s not enough, one of the Twitter promotions sets off a stampede and a customer is killed.
These events have all put a huge Monkey Wrench into Dewey’s weekend plans. Now she has to untangle the clues and piece them back together to save her store and herself and her friends.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Terri packs her pages with drama, humor, a little romance and some wild characters. We were introduced to quite a group in this edition. All the shop owners for all the Quilter’s Crawl stores, one leader very set in her ways, a few of her followers stuck in the past and not open to new ideas and a few that have wanted to evolve but not had enough courage to buck the leader. Add Dewey to the mix and watch the sparks fly. Things don’t go exactly as planned but the group pushes forward together. They become quite a gang. I hope next year’s Quilter’s Crawl is a big success hopefully without the dead bodies. With the crew you just never know.
I love that Freddy has a shop near QP and was integral in the story. I even enjoyed Kym in a small dose as she steps in to help at the shop. Anyone that has ever remodeled anything will enjoy Dewey putting her brother through the paces to get a bathroom ready and operational before the big event.
The characters in these stories have become old friends, some I like more that others but they are all entertaining. The happenings at Quilters Paridiso are sometimes a long way from Paradise but I have enjoyed every single visit more than the last. I am looking forward to my next trip to California already.
Terri is giving away a copy of Monkey Wrench (A Quilting Mystery)
Answer her question above in the comment section and one comment will win!
Giveaway Will End May 23rd at 11:59 p.m. CST
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.”
this is a fun series. Dewey is getting stronger. Her romance with Buster is developing nicely. Kym has taken her fight against progress to a whole new level. We are also getting into more of the lives of the supporting characters.
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