QUILTY AS CHARGED

A retreat planned to boost sales at a failing fabric store goes awry when the participants start dying.

Measure Twice, the fabric store Lydia Barnes runs in Peridot, Georgia, has been the center of her life ever since she bought the place from Fran, whom she thinks of as her fairy godmother. Unfortunately, it’s in dire straits financially. So Lydia accepts Fran’s invitation to offer a three-day sewing retreat at her home on Cherry Log Mountain in the hope of jump-starting the store’s fortunes. Fran’s place is a substantial mountain home with stunning interior spaces and drop-dead views. Lydia knows almost everyone who signs up, but there are some personality challenges and plenty of snippy exchanges. When one of the guests stuffs too many deviled eggs in the garbage disposal, Lydia calls attractive handyman Auden Williams to help—and it’s a good thing, too, because he warns them about an approaching ice storm that they hadn’t known about (since they’d turned their phones off for the retreat). While Auden helps them prepare for the storm, Lydia goes off to look for Fran to tell her about their emergency plans—but she finds her murdered in her bedroom. There’s no way the police can come until the storm ends, so Lydia, who was already involved in an earlier murder, resolves to do some investigating on her own. The group tries to keep busy sewing by hand, but the secrets that emerge paint them all as possible killers, and a second death forces Lydia to dig deep to find the culprit.

An icebound version of a locked-room puzzle featuring limited suspects, unlimited suspicions, and a dash of romance.