Book Review: Annie's Vineyard Quilt Mysteries #1: Threads of Deceit - Mae Fox & Jan Fields

I fell in love with Annie's Attic Mysteries and now I'm trying a new mystery series by Annie's as well.

This is the first in the Vineyard Quilt Mysteries. Antiquities bounty hunter Julie Ellis and her business partner Hannah Marks are on the run from those that want to harm them. They obtain jobs at the Quilt Haus Inn. Julie as the manager and Hannah as the cook, thinking they'll settle down to a more peaceful life in rural Missouri where Hannah can make creations in the kitchen and Julie can take up quilting again.

But it isn't long before Julie stumbles on a murder mystery when Daniel walks through the door of the inn. He convinces her he's a quilt expert (only quilters are allowed to stay in the inn) but after he's signed in he reveals he's really an archaeologist looking for a sunken ship.

Soon Julie is up to her old tricks as she helps Daniel.

This was a fun book with a unique setting and interesting characters such as the flamboyant Shirley who runs the tea and quilt shop that is part of the inn and gives wild history lessons during quilting time, and Inga, the uptight and meticulous housekeeper who disapproves of Julie.

There were a couple of spots that jumped suddenly from one moment to the next without any warning or obvious space, and one ridiculous plot point (I don't care how much you like to stitch, no one is going to embroider a threatening message). The ending seemed rushed as well. It would also be interesting to read about Julies exploits that got her into trouble in the first place.

At this point there's only two books in the series. I'm looking forward to the next one. Fields has written for Annie's Mysteries before.

Jan Fields Website

Annie's Attic Mysteries #10: Emeralds In the Attic - Jan Fields

It's masquerade party time!

While looking for the perfect outfit in the attic...

Hold on here. After two years there's still stuff in the attic that Annie knows nothing about?

Apparently so. Anyway, she, good buddy Alice, and Peggy (who can be a bossy witch sometimes as we found out from the last book but isn't one in this one) go up to the attic to see if they can find some formal gowns to wear to the party. And they do. And they fit perfectly. Of course.

And they also find some costume jewelry. Emeralds in fact. Fake ones of course. A necklace, earrings, hair comb and a brooch.

Mary Beth has also given them a challenge - that Mary Beth just can't leave them alone to do their crafts. Nope, they've always got to be working on something to give to charity. In this case, it's masquerade masks that need to be gussied up for an auction.

So Annie uses some of the emeralds from the broken earring for her mask. And on the night of the party when Ian Butler picks her up - they're dating but not dating, as in "friends". As in no kiss goodnight - Annie just can't figure out what to do with her hair, she puts in the emerald comb.

But of course, strange things are going to happen because this is a mystery series. Why on earth are rich people vying for and stealing her fake emeralds?

And her house gets broken into again! This has happened in several books now. You would think she would get a series of new locks and an alarm system attached to her phone with all these people breaking in and leaving a mess that she has to clean up.

Another fun book in the series.

*****

Jan Fields

Jan Fields Website

Jan Fields Annie's Books

Rag Doll in the Attic Review

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #9 - The Deed in the Attic - K.D. McCrite

Life really isn't fair.

I can't get one house of my own but Annie (yes, I know a fictional character), gets three.

This time she finds a deed in the attic showing that Grandma Betsy had ownership. So that means Annie owns a house in Texas which she shared with her now dead husband; Grey Gables, the house that Betsy left her, and now this other house that is apparently scary and not in good shape and haunted.

Yes, haunted.

So Annie and a few friends from the Hook and Needle club decide to go on a ghost hunting expedition and investigate the house. Turns out a couple of Hook and Needle friends don't get along so well when they're not crafting - that Peggy can be a bossy witch. And it also turns out that you need a kit to take with you ghost hunting. Not just flashlights.

It also turns out that although the house has been severely neglected because it hasn't been lived in (houses do that. The less you use them the older they become. It's like they need to be loved or something) the house itself is still in good shape, and although not big, it just needs some love and kindness to bring it back to its glory days.

Still, Annie wants to solve the mystery as to how Betsy obtained the house. She didn't just go an buy it. It was given to her. But why?

Now if I weren't so bitter about Annie getting three houses while I can't even have one...still, it was a nice little cozy.

*****

K.D. McCrite

K.D. McCrite Website

Annie's Mysteries (not just the Attic ones but others too)

Confessions of April Grace

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #8 - Boxed In - Karen Kelly

The book picks up on the return of Annie from a visit to Texas to see her family. And for some reason everyone is funnier than they were before.

Which is probably about the author. We actually get to see some of the authors style in this book. 

Annie goes back up to the Grey Gables attic with its Mary Poppins bag of never ending stuff. This time she finds a birch bark box holding a Native American ceremonial collar and a poem. And the question as always is - who's is it.

                                                                                                              

I'm starting to wonder if Grandma Betsy was a kleptomaniac and not just a holder of things for everyone else. 

So there's a trip to the museum, rose hip jelly - I have no idea what rose hips are. I didn't know roses had hips - a new friend at a senior's home, more fun with the mayor - which doesn't sound as innocent as it really is, and a new challenge to the Hook and Needle Club from Mary Beth. That Mary Beth always has something she wants the members to do instead of just letting them do their own projects.

Another fun mystery in the series. I am so hooked on them I can't wait for the next one to come to my door.

*****

Karen Kelly is an author who shares a name with several other authors. A google search revealed a Karen Kelly that writes inspirational fiction to another Karen Kelly who writes steamy romance. Not the same author as this one.

So no website link for this one.

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #7 - Rag Doll in the Attic - Jan Fields

It all begins with a dare.

And a lighthouse.

And a keeper with a tragic past.

And three girls.

Annie is having nightmares about three girls on the road to the lighthouse after discovering a rag doll in the attic of Grey Gables while looking for items to lend to the local library for a children's display.

And so we have another mystery which includes a dangerous walk on a stormy night to the lighthouse, a disapproving mayor, a handsome new man in town that has taken and interest in Alice, and a decision that Annie feels she needs to make.

First off, I liked the fact that one minute Annie and Alice (her best friend) do something entirely teenager and go on the ill advised stormy weather walk (the dark and the wind could lead to disaster) and the next minute get completely mothery when they come across their young teenage friends at the lighthouse. This is so typical of middle aged women with a sense of adventure. We are both teenagers and responsible women at the same time.

The thing that had me stumped though is why Annie had to make a decision between living in Stony Point or living in Texas where she came from. She has two houses. One that she lived in with her husband and daughter, and Grey Gables which she inherited from her grandmother, Betsy. Why not live in both? She could be in Texas between Halloween and Easter, taking advantage of the warm weather and the important holidays with her daughter and grandchildren, and then go to Stony Point after Easter to enjoy the coastal spring, summer and early fall. I see no reason to make a decision.

But that's just me being "cool, I've got two houses."

Personally, I wish I had one.

This book also breaks a bit from the rest of the series with Annie's unexplained dreams. A hint of the paranormal here? But then the series, although not religious, does not shy away from religion as we also delve in deeper to Annie's faith and her background of having missionary parents. Personally, I have no problem with Annie having dreams about what happened, but a more secular reader might.

Still, a fun addition to the series.

*****

Jan Fields is an author of mysteries and children's books. She's written several books in the Annie's Attic series, and several in other series as well.  Here's her website.

Jan Fields

And her blog Cute and Cranky

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #6 - The Map in the Attic - Jolyn Sharp

The book opens with a fire at the Coynes, a young family who manage to escape before the fire engulfs their home. Mary Beth, owner of "A Stitch in Time" takes them into her home and helps them get on their feet.

Meanwhile Annie finds an embroidered piece of linen in the attic and realizes it's a map. But a map of what? And who created the lovely piece?

Somehow the fire and the embroidered map, are all tied up with the history of Stony Point, a history not everyone wants known.  And who is trying to steal the map, even breaking into the museum to snatch it?

As always Annie has her friends Alice and Ian to help her.

Again, another fun book and this one heats up (get it - fire - heats up). No seriously, things get pretty tense. We also get to go on a lobster boat to look at the coastline of Maine.

I love that I get the sense of being in Maine in these books. I would love to visit sometime.

*****

Jolyn Sharp doesn't seem to have a website. She has written a book for the Grace Chapel Inn series from Guideposts.

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #5 - The Package - Sharon Dunn

When Annie and her handyman Wally go on a hunt for mice in the attic of Annie's Victorian house Grey Gables, they find instead a package filled with old stock certificates and a mysterious note thanking Annie's grandmother Betsy for holding on to them for her.

Realizing that the stock certificates don't belong to her, Annie sets out on a quest to hunt down the real owners. But first she has to find out who Joan and Therese are.

Meanwhile at the needlework shop "A Stitch in Time" owner Mary Beth convinces the Hook and Needle Club to take some teenage girls under their wing and teach them how to do some needlework skills. Annie gets the brilliant idea of getting the teens, and the club to work with the seniors at Seaside Hills Assisted Living making layettes for newborns.

Between teenage girls and their problems, finding the rightful owners of the stock certificates, and a strange woman who comes to Annie's door, Annie is kept busy solving yet another mystery from her attic.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each book introduces us to more people in the town of Stony Point, Maine and we always get to visit with the regulars.

Loving the cozy mysteries. I had left them for so long and now I'm glad I'm back.

*****

Sharon Dunn is a successful and award winning writer of mystery and humor, a crafter, and a mom. 

 

Sharon Dunn's website. 

Sharon's Book Links

Love Inspired Suspense

Humorous Mystery Novels

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #4 - Letters In the Attic - DeAnna Julie Dodson

Annie is up in the attic again, this time she discovers a stack of letters from an old childhood friend.

Whatever happened to Susan Morris? Although they spent a lot of time in the summer at Grey Gables, Gran's house, and kept in touch whenever Annie went home, by the time Susan went to college they no longer wrote to each other.

For Annie, life was filled with a husband, a child, and the family auto dealership. Still, maybe she should have kept in touch. Especially now that her husband had died, her child was grown and she was retired and the new owner of Grey Gables.

It sends Annie on a mission to find Susan. Along the way she tries to make friends with a woman who's husband appears controlling and abusive, and she meets a charming man from Susan's past. Maybe he holds the key to the mystery of Susan.

And of course there's still Tuesday mornings with the Hook and Needle club, who love to help Annie solver her mysteries. Adventures with her best friend Alice MacFarlane, and the continual fixing up of Grey Gables to her former glory.

There's some gripping scenes here as the ending is played out. Again, a wonderful cozy mystery.

*****

DeAnna Julie Dodson also writes her historical fiction series "Drew Farthing Mysteries"  under the pen name Julianna Deerling.

Deanna Julie Dodson Website

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #3 - The Photo Album: Marlene Chase

In this episode, Annie finds a photo album filled with pictures from her childhood. Yet strangely one picture has an unfamiliar teenage boy in the background.

The face haunts her, so Annie sets out to find out who this boy is and what happened to him which leads her to a tale of murder that involves one of her new friends.

Meanwhile a handsome man comes to her door claiming to be an antiques dealer which leads to more questions. Soon news gets around that he's interested in her, and gossip travels fast in a small town. And of course the Hook and Needle Club is a part of it.

This is another fun addition to the Annie's Attic Mystery collection and should appeal to crafters and cozy mystery readers.

*****

I can't seem to find a website for Marlene Chase. From the author bio on the book she's a retired editor for the publications of the Salvation Army. She has a few books out including "The Layaway Doll", "Our God Comes", and "Beside Still Waters". 

When Patterns Go Bad

Dear Knitwear Designer,

First off, congratulations on becoming a designer. Most of us can't figure out how a pattern works, never mind actually create a garment out of our heads. Well, actually you create garments out of yarn, but you know what I meant.

Secondly thank you for offering your brilliance to the rest of us. It's great that we can buy patterns directly from the designer and sometimes you even give your work away for free! That's quite generous and I have no idea why you would do that other than to get your name out there, but we all thank you for it.

Now may I offer some suggestions? I don't mean to criticize - okay, yes I do. But it's only because I work in a craft store and I see the frustration and bewilderment on our customers faces when they come in with a pattern that they got from you, dear designer.

As a writer I know how important the details are. It doesn't matter if I have the greatest story to tell, if I can't use proper punctuation and spelling, my readers will throw my book across the room and vow never to read my work again. There are plenty of other writers out there who can use punctuation and spelling and readers will go buy their books instead of mine.

And the same goes for you, dear designer. You may have created the most exquisite shawl, the coziest sweater, the funkiest socks, or the most marvelous scarf/hat/mitten set, but if people can't read your patterns, they will throw them across the room and find a designer who also makes beautiful exquisite designs and good readable patterns. Now if your patterns are as easy to understand as your garments are beautiful, then you will have customers coming back to you over and over again and you will become rich and famous and have yarn given to you by the exclusive companies around the world while the rest of us deal with our jealousy.

So I'm going to give you some pointers on what is essential in a pattern and I give this to you both as a knitter/crocheter, and as an employee in a yarn shop.

1.  Your yarn. 
1. By all means tell us what yarn you used. Saying Red Heart is not telling us the yarn. Red Heart is a brand name. Red Heart has a thousand or so yarns under it's brand name. You need to be specific. Tell us the brand name, the name of the yarn, and the color. 
2. It is important to tell us the weight of the yarn. Is it a DK, a worsted, a fingering? Knitters more often than not have to substitute yarn and it helps to know what to substitute with. There are a lot of reasons for substitutions. Price, availability, contents (lots of customers are sensitive to wool or they want to go organic) and color are just some of the reasons why substitutions need to be made. In five years that lovely yarn you used may be long discontinued. Personally I have patterns from decades ago, and even from the 1800's. Don't you want your pattern to be around for a long time? Then you need to give information for substitutions.
3. Tell us what the yarn you used is made of. Again important for those who might have allergies.
4. Is there anything special about this yarn? If this is a basic yarn then you don't need to say anything, but if it is a specialty yarn, then we need to know. Is it a fuzzy yarn? A chenille? Does it have long color changes or short ones?
2. Tools
1. Americans designers are especially guilty of this. Saying "size 5" needles is not enough. Is that American, metric, or UK? Give us at least the metric size as well for those who live outside of the states. And if you use metric then let the Americans know the size in their language. Hey, I didn't create the system, I'm just trying to function in it.
2. If a circular is necessary then state the length of the cord needed. In metric and inches. If you did the pattern on double points then tell us that. Give as much information about needle and hook sizes as possible (yes, crochet hooks have American and metric sizes as well).
3. Sizing
1. Tell us the gauge. Especially in sweaters, socks and hats where fit counts. And tell us the finished sizes. I'm currently working on a sweater where the finished size isn't mentioned. Yes, I know. It's stupid but the sweater looks so cool. So now after realizing that it's going to be too small I have to make adjustments. It's a one size fits all, only it doesn't fit anyone unless you're a size 0 model. Give us dimensions of the front, back and sleeves if it's a sweater. The more parts, the more dimensions needed. 
4. Abbreviations
1. Sure you know exactly what you're talking about when you give abbreviations. But you don't know if your fans do. K and P are pretty basic, but beyond that, you need to make a list of all your abbreviations and what they mean. Do you really want your knitters to have to search the internet to read your patterns? They might get sidetracked by the kitten videos and never get around to your pattern because you made it too hard to read and the kitten videos are easy to watch. So if you really want to knit from the back twice and then in the same stitch purl into the front and then jump up and down three times and then pull everything through, then you have to explain this and not just write down kb2pfj3pt. If you make your abbreviations chart at the beginning of the pattern then you can use your abbreviations to your heart's content and even make up some of your own. And by the way, you crochet designers are not exempt. English and American abbreviations are different. Don't ask me why, they just are.
2. If you have difficult directions then you might consider offering a video that they can watch. Still explain on the pattern itself, but you can direct your knitter to your video. 
5. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT
1. Just like writers need editors and readers to find their mistakes - no writer is perfect and when you've read the same sentence over and over again you end up reading it the way it's supposed to read, not the way it really does - you need to have another knitter proof read your pattern. Maybe that means they actually have to make the piece. That way they can say to you "What does this mean?" and then you can tweak that instruction so any dummy knitter can understand it. 

I think that's it. I hope I haven't caused anyone to start throwing around knitting needles exclaiming "She just doesn't understand artistes!"

Hopefully we can tame those patterns and turn them around from badness to goodness so they can be responsible citizens in the yarn world. Otherwise they will be tossed aside and forgotten while the well-behaved patterns get the rewards.