THE LOVER’S KNOT
by Clare O'Donohue
A brokenhearted bride-to-be, who’s retreated to a New York village seeking solace from her grandmother, meets murder.
Nell Fitzgerald is admiring the wedding quilt her talented grandmother and her quilting friends had sent her when her fiancé Ryan announces that he’s not ready to commit. Fleeing to Archers Rest, where her grandmother owns and runs Someday Quilts, Nell is consoled by the hunky guy working on her grandmother’s beautiful old house. Marc Reed’s bad reputation among the ladies makes him unpopular with a lot of local folks, but Nell finds his flirtatious style soothing. A mishap on the stairs at Someday Quilts that leaves Nell’s grandmother with a broken leg gives Nell an excuse to take time off from work to help. It’s especially welcome because Marc has just started to expand the quilt shop by refurbishing the shuttered restaurant next door. The recently arrived Ryan’s fistfight with Marc catapults him to the top of the list of suspects when Marc is found in the shop fatally stabbed with quilting scissors. Ryan wants Nell back, but now she finds herself attracted to the quietly attractive police chief. Despite the obligatory warnings from the authorities to stay out of the investigation, Nell sets to sleuthing in hopes of proving her former beau innocent.
O’Donohue’s love for quilts shines through Nell’s debut, but the mystery could use some restitching.