Ada Unraveled, a Quilted Mystery novel
Our target date for publishing Ada Unraveled is in March. Sunday, December 16, Peace and Love to All. For those of you who may occasionally check in to see what's happening with my writing, here's an update. The good news is I've completed the third novel in the series. The less good news is that due to a spate of recent reviews of Unraveling Ada indicating that some changes need to be made I am once again working with my editor to bring those changes about.
Sometime this coming year I will be removing the current two books and then reissuing them under new titles and changed covers so that we can go forth anew. This was a difficult decision given that so many of my books are in circulation now. More than eight thousand UA books are in circulation somewhere. And another two thousand copies of Ripping Abigail are, as well. The initial positive response to my first book blinded me to concerns I had over it, but now that a few more "honest" voices have come forth I'm excited to be making adjustments. I'll let you know when we begin publishing again.
For now, UA and RA are still out there due to contracts and they have been improved once already, but there's more to be done. Hope you all have wonderful winter holidays. We're thoroughly enjoying ours with our children and grandchildren. This time around former marine Matt, who Rache describes as a 6'2" muscular "hunk" with Paul Newman blue eyes, has sprung from his easy chair and shares the action fully. Readers' attention will be captivated immediately by the plot which, as other reviewers have noted, takes place in southern California.
The story revolves around Abigail, a previously home-schooled teenager who has decided, against her mother's wishes, to enroll in public school where she immediately encounters a chilling situation involving a local gang. Abigail's mother, Gloria, who knows Rache through their participation in a quilting bee, enlists the PI's help.
From these strands, Barbara Sullivan weaves a fascinating mystery, drawing in readers and keeping them intrigued right from the start. She adds extra dimension and richness to the work with overarching ideas that reappear throughout the book. One concept that she addresses a few times relates to the effect of immediate emotions on decision making compared to more rational behavior.
Another theme is the double-edged sword of the Internet and its unequaled ability to supply and communicate information at warp speed pitted against its unparalleled ability to access information about our private lives. Mystery aficionados, who haven't already read "Unraveling Ada," will certainly be prompted to do so after reading this book. A retired librarian who is relatively new to the P. The best part of reading this book is getting to know Rachel and her world - she's got a strong, distinct voice and she's a character that I think many mystery lovers will enjoy getting to know.
No nonsense but funny, tough but vulnerable, she manages to remain completely relatable while leading the reader through a complex and exciting story. The supporting characters are varied and distinctive - each one of them seem to have their own unique stories to tell. And the quilting information is fascinating and detailed without being too overwhelming for those with no previous knowledge of the craft.
Without giving too much away, the mystery itself is a fairly sophisticated exploration of family secrets and violence - it is much more than your average whodunit story. I hope this is the first of many Rachel Lyons novels. Make room at the table Janet Evanovich, there is a new mystery writer on the scene that will keep all detective story lovers on the edge of their seats and eagerly turning the pages of one of the most exciting new novels of this year.
I'm talking about Barbara Sullivan's first book, Unraveling Ada, a quilting mystery novel published by QuiltMyst Publishing This estrogen charged novel introduces Rachel Lyons, a Southern California mid-aged private investigator whose life will undergo a rapid and disturbing change. The discovery of a badly burned body in the Cleveland National Forest recent firestorm and Rachel's sharp eye forensic skills starts the reader on a journey that will enlighten and delight any lover of a good mystery. Sullivan will introduce a host of interesting characters who she meets at a start-up quilting bee.
Following the squares of an old quilt and the pattern of stitches leads our heroine to startling discoveries about a series of recent murders, a very strange and disturbing family who has a host of secrets to keep hidden and forces Rachel to confront some horrible facts about her own personal life.
This reader was taken with Ms.
Ada Unraveled, a Quilted Mystery novel
Sullivan's intimate knowledge of the workings of today's police department and how human they can be. Good cop, bad cop, dedicated cop, lazy cop are all part of this novel. From the initial crime scent and the need to protect same to the inside of an autopsy lab this author held the reader captive with insightful and informative details of police science and the way crimes are really solved.
I would recommend Unraveling Ada to any real mystery lover. Rachel Lyons, this Croc wearing silver Rossi 38 caliber revolver toting grandma takes the reader on an unforgettable journey of a tortured family and the deep secrets that they have been trying to hide from the world. All in all a good read, this reader highly recommends Unraveling Ada and eagerly waits for the promised sequel. I had high hopes for the book and I wasn't disappointed.
In fact I was only about a third of the way through the book when I checked if there was another in the series, which there was! The series, opens with the introduction of the narrator Rachel, who with her husband Matt run a private investigator business. Rachel has a background in libraries and is a quilter looking for a regular American style quilting bee.
Matt is an former military man. They are pretty much the business, although they do have a small team of employee who help them complete the various contracts. Having looked for a quilting bee without success, the participants in one contact Rachel and invite her to join. Rachel does and is somewhat bewildered with the other members. Each one seems to have a story to tell and one to hide. By the end of the first evening, a member of the group ask Rachel if they can employer her to do some investigations.
Rachel, agrees and leaves the quilting be clutching a quilt, a family tree and lots and lots of questions The story that unfolds is not complex, but it is a story with lots of strands, much like the strands holding a quilt together. The strands come together, which culminates with Rachel being threatened.
Her investigations are getting close to the truth I loved this book. It has everything that I love, characters that felt like they were having a conversation with me,a good storyline and a complex genealogy. I am currently reading the second book in the series and I hope there is more in the series to come. Rasmussen Texas "Although private investigator Rachel Lyons is the main character, the book is full of interesting characters As the newest member of a hand-quilting bee, Rachel quickly finds out that she was selected to participate in order to tap her skills as an investigator.
After spending an entire night quilting with seven other women, she finds herself embroiled in a dark, family mystery that takes every ounce of her intelligence to solve, and more importantly, to stay alive. This is a page turner that grabs you right from the beginning and won't let you go until you get to the end. I can't wait to read "Ripping Abigail".
So, I'm out there on Linkedin. What's wrong with Americans that we have to attack anything bigger than a small business? Amazon made the digital book a reality. Amazon makes it possible for you to publish your book good, bad or indifferent for FREE. Now if you'd like to actually sell some of them, you should have a nice cover. And if you want people to keep reading your works, you should have your book edited. That's where I fell down with my first book Unraveling Ada.
After two years of trying to "catch on", and five five-star reviews, a couple from people who weren't actually friends or relatives, the new Kindle Fire combined with the new KDP Prime-Select program came together to form the perfect publishing storm. My books "sold" almost 8, copies in one month. After two years of 4 or 5, finally growing to per month.
And then an honest reviewer or five came along. Now Unraveling Ada is being thoroughly edited. Ripping Abigail already was and it finally makes sense. It's actually reading so much better that even I'm enjoying reading it for the 8th time, really. I enjoyed the first four reads, but after that it was drudge. Now here's a question I'd like an answer to. What do I do with this pickle I find myself in? Or scratch eight years of painstaking work, kill the first two books in the series, wait six months, then resubmit them to Amazon with a whole new look and new titles?
That's what I'll do. I'll try the former approach first, then if that fails, I'll resort to the latter approach last. So please stay tuned, it's a work in progress. Maybe two more months Allways have sumwon else editeding your workngs. Maybe it's the whole David and Goliath thingy. Go back to the first question. Monday, January 23, Ripping Abigail: Bright, creative Abigail Pustovoytenko has decided that at the age of thirteen—almost fourteen—she is too old for her home school group.
That's when Gloria Pustovoytenko calls private investigator Rachel Lyons and asks for her help in bringing Abigail back into the fold. Abigail and Rachel are both members of the Quilted Secrets hand quilting group, a connection Gloria hopes will allow Rachel to succeed where she has failed. However, no one is prepared for the shocking developments on campus when the local high school gang suddenly snaps under pressure from mysterious forces and begins engaging in ever more violent acts.
Ultimately, the imagery of that lovely quilt becomes a lifeline for more than one girl in desperate peril. When I need info on this phenomenon I use the internet for a quick search of current thinking and analysis. Criminal psychology has evolved over the decades, and keeping abreast of the terminology is paramount to writing nonfiction books on the topic for present-day readers. I majored in psychology in my distant youth. But for a fiction writer I feel the more important knowledge must come from the inside.
No, you don't have to be a serial killer, but it helped me to have studied the subject over a period of time--and to have been raised in a family with a serial abuser. I have a character in my Quilted Mystery series who may well be a serial killer. I find it equally interesting to explore the connection between what may be two sides of the same coin, criminal and victim. It's difficult for us to accept the idea that the capacity to become a serial killer may lie in all our breasts. Equally difficult is understanding that being a victim is also serial behavior.
Obsessional behavior is commonplace among humans, perhaps some aberration of the normal learning process in animals. Every teacher knows that repetition is the key to learning. So is the serial killer trying to learn something by repeating his acts? About his parents' natures? About something broken in his mind? Thursday, November 24, Read the new Quilted Mystery book! Available now at amazon. Featuring Rachel Lyons, PI and hand quilter as the lady who rashly rushes to the rescue, this story centers around Abigail P. Unfortunately for Abigail, this is also the week six local boys on a weekend jaunt to Tijuana wreck their car on their return trip.
Five of them die at the scene. For the next week, the school is torn with grief so overwhelming that no one sees the other, far more dangerous change happening right under their noses. Read Ripping Abigail soon. Unraveling Ada is the first mystery in the Quilted Mystery series. You'll also want to read Unraveling Ada at amazon.
Posted by Barbara Sullivan at 9: Sunday, November 20, Are psychological thrillers with strong language too much for Indies readers? My first book, Unraveling Ada, is the genesis for a series. In this book, readers are introduced to Rachel Lyons, new PI and retired librarian, who becomes involved in the solving of a crime through a hand quilting group she has recently met. In the process she is changed from a happy middle-aged grandmother to someone struggling with her basic assumptions about life.
This is no granny's quilting group. The women one of whom is 13 who gather to top-stitch each others quilts are the subjects of each of the nine novels I intend to write 7 more to go in this series. On one level, it is a psychological study of a dysfunctional family who harm each other in horrible ways.
Unraveling Ada is also a murder mystery, and Rachel is partnered with her husband Matthew in their private investigations business. The second book in the series just released is Ripping Abigail and it is a psychological thriller about a teenager caught up in the violence of a gang gone bad. I chose to self-publish because I was 68 when I published my first, and I felt I didn't have time to wait to be accepted by an agent, and then wait again for that agent to find a publisher. But now I'm worried that the nature of my writing is too strong for the POD audience.
What do you all think? Posted by Barbara Sullivan at Thursday, July 28, Ripping Abigail. If you are new to this blog, my name is Barbara Sullivan and I'm the writer of the Quilted Mystery series sold through amazon. My first novel is Unraveling Ada and it has been out for a year and a half. And now there is book two,Ripping Abigail. I love writing novels and have been attempting to do so for my entire life, back as far as when I was in my first decade. My mother saved my first effort 4 pages so that I'd know this. But life and its demands led me in another direction with my love of books, into the field of librarianship, which I enjoyed emensely for twenty-five years before retiring in A few years after that I returned to writing in earnest.
Finding a publisher at my age 69, 67 with the first book in the series was something I felt I didn't have time for, so I self-published through amazon's CreateSpace and Kindle programs. And now I'm beginning the process of marketing this second Quilted Mystery. Here is the jacket copy for Ripping Abigail. As Abigail draws unwanted attention by speaking up for the victims of the escalating gang activity, retired librarian-turned private investigator Rachel Lyons has her hands full trying to keep the rebellious, principled teenager safe while seeking to uncover the forces behind this eruption of gang violence that is overwhelming the high school and surrounding community.
I believe you'll find it entertaining and informative. Posted by Barbara Sullivan at 5: Monday, July 25, Ripping Abigail is now published. Posted by Barbara Sullivan at 1: Wednesday, June 8, Benefit or Curse? One of the benefits of being a military family is that you get to move to a new locale every couple of years. But later, when it matters the most--when your children are in high school for instance--it might only be once ever three years. At least this was how the Marine Corps handled its personnel back twenty-five years and more ago.
Maybe things are more stable now, what with all the separations. And I was losing children along the way.
By then we were down to one child, having dropped off the eldest at college in North Carolina. We were still hauling a dog and a cat, however, and even grandma Miller. Wither we went, went grandma. As it should be. I needed her near us, too, if for no other reason than she was a familiar bring-your-own friend and volunteer baby-sitter for all the wonderful trips my wanderlust husband and I took. She kept away the lonelies that happened whenever my Marine deployed. The second most powerful element, separations for special duty assignments, also adds to this constant uprooting.
My heart goes out to the military folks today. I have no idea how they cope with the amount of separation they are dealing with now. Our first move was from our home towns, of course, to Pensacola, FL, in While there, my young and handsome Marine was sent to three different area bases for flight training, and of course we moved each time. We rented furnished in those days, so moving was a matter of packing up pots and pans and clothes for the most part.
Here Michael trained for war, the Vietnam War. Michael Victor Sullivan left for the most hated American war in history. It was February of Monday, May 9, The power of memory in fiction writing. Fortunately we have the internet to supplement our memories now, but any writer of fiction knows that the foundation of their tales is their store of remembrances—good and bad. The good memories are as important as the bad, in that they allow us to bring a celebration of human life into our stories-without which those stories might lack appeal.
They lighten the darker episodes. They enrich our characters with likable traits. The good memories can soften our recounting of the bad memories so that our readers are willing to endure a dark tale and not feel abused by it. If you spend any time at all revisiting your childhood you know that the occurrences you are likely to remember are the bad ones; the ones that hurt, the ones that damaged. Our minds are drawn to moments of fear and pain in our past in much the same way we are made to gawk at car accidents as we slowly drive by them.
Perhaps some survival instinct hard-wired into our psyches forces our attention to images of danger and suffering as a teaching device—so that we will remember what not to experience.
The urge to see how another human is suffering can be as strong as a narcotic. Wednesday, April 27, Editing is Arduous. Except my editor says she had fun, even found it educational, proofing my second book, Ripping Abigail. Not once, but twice! So here's my humble praise for the sensitive, creative and exacting work Sue Sullivan has done editing Ripping Abigail.
No one could have done it so well. Ripping Abigail, a Quilted Mystery novel, will be available through www. I hope you enjoy it. Wednesday, February 23, March is coming, don't be blown over by the roar. What's really roaring around the world seems to be economic discontent. Whatever, we need to be prepared. For my husband Mike and I that has led to our decision to purchase a Prius. Also leading to the decision is that my beloved Ford Taurus stationwagon sprung a couple of leaks after eleven years of hard driving.
We are thrilled at the prospect of getting mpg highway, in town and even though the push button technology is hard to get used to at first, and the digital dashboard is likewise a challenge, it only took us a couple of days and watching their beginner's video a couple of times to make the switch. I still love Fords.
I'll always wish my purchase could have been of an American made car. But the need was immediate. Maybe down the road we'll be able to return to our favorite car company. Welcome to my blog on quilting and mysteries. I recently wrote about one of my grandfathers. I hope to add a piece to these posts about our family history each month. But the exciting news for me this winter is that book two of the Quilted Mystery series is almost ready to publish.
Unraveling Ada is of course already in print at www. But soon there will be a second book, Ripping Abigail. My series has two underlying threads well, there are more, but for this post I'll just concentrate on the two largest the decades in a female life and the comparative times in American history. The first book references decade one in a girl's life and the Colonies of America. The mysteries in book one are lifted from these two threads, early childhood traumas on the one hand, and the trials of settling and surviving in very early America. Similarly, book two aims at the mysteries encountered by a growing girl in her rebellious teens and the corresponding period of rebellion in Colonial America.
Visit facebook for more of my writing, under Barbara Sullivan, and twitter for snippets I frankly find frustrating, under QuiltedMystery. Tuesday, January 18, January's Chores. I finally took the Christmas tree down. It seems to take longer and longer each year. I'm not sure if we're loving the winter lights more or just dreading the effort. But Mike and I enjoy the lights of Christmas for as long as we can. In its place I'll put back my quilting display rack, an Amish-inspired wide ladder I purchased four years ago. Machine made of red and green fabrics, it has white squares of fabric strategically placed that hold photographs of the years I worked there.
I cherish this gift. About the same size, that of a lap blanket, is the Irish quilt I made my husband Michael. Featuring the three colors of the Irish flag, it's a double sided quilt with two different renderings of the flag. And I'll display my Greek quilt, a king sized mosaic of a photo I found that depicts a typical Greek island community.
We visited Poros Island once, and the white homes arrayed against the aqua blue sea caught my creative imagination. The quilt is constructed of hundreds of two inch squares, just like a mosaic. I'll give it to her when she's older, as she already has her childhood quilt from me. There have been many times in history that celebrating Christmas was difficult, but perhaps the most notable time in U. In some ways we are revisiting that terrible economic collapse again. Charles Edward Miller, my grandfather, made his living as a blacksmith. However his profession was obviously tied to horses and horse carts, and as a young man Charles worked closely with these spirited beasts in other ways as well.
Eventually, Charles Miller rode one of the horses at the Belmont Stakes racetrack, just as his father had. But jockeying was a brief interlude and what Charles really learned at the Belmont was blacksmithing. Charles was proud of his work, which he performed out of his garage, but eventually time caught up with his noble profession and blacksmithing waned. The automobile and other changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution were to blame.
For Charles and his family of five, poverty preceded the Great Depression. This crash shoved the world over a cliff, and with a sudden precipitous drop our economy was into the Great Depression. Other forces were at play during this fascinating period of U. Let me return to the thirteen years of Prohibition when the very adaptable Americans adapted. For the Miller family, already teetering on the edge of poverty, adapting to this wave of social change meant the children had to leave their formal education and go to work.
The abbreviated education was equally damaging for this very bright child. If Americans were lucky during these times, their lives were meager. For the unlucky, life was outright misery. Roland survived longer, but suffered the same illness most of his adult life. One more family secret, and one in which I share his pride; Charles E. And as proof, he offered the fact that he posed for a sculpture still standing today in Central Park. This sculpture is called The Indian and you can find pictures of it on the internet.
Oh, and another side note; I still have Charles E. And the moral of this story? Also, how you adapt to hard times may determine what you become for the rest of your life. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. Sunday, December 5, Back from a couple of long vacations and a Thanksgiving house full of kids and grandkids. Nothing could be better, but it does take my mind away from everything else. My writing can be found in several places: Unraveling Ada is for sale through www. If you're looking for my free chapters from Unraveling Ada, just follow the links to your right, or type www.
I am having a wonderful life, as I hope you are all having too. Take very good care of yourself and your loved ones during this holiday season. These are lonely times for some; they need your hugs, so be sure to reach out.
See a Problem?
Joy to you all, Barbara. Thursday, November 18, A visit from relatives. I hope your homes will be full of friends and relatives this Thanksgiving, just as mine will be. I expect to stuff them all fuller than my turkey. Wednesday, November 17, List of thanks I have a list, we all do, so let's get started. First, I give thanks for living in a free, rich and healthy United States.
Second, for having a loving husband, two loving daughters and two loving sons through marriage, and for four healthy, loving, happy, well adjusted, and smart as whippersnappers grandchildren. I give thanks that our government is made up of mostly thoughtful, caring people who want our country to be better. I also want to give thanks for the plethora of good reading that I find all around us. And of course, to those of you who have read my first book, Unraveling Ada, I give a special thanks.
But I do have one regret that I add in the hope that by doing so it will end up on next year's list of thanks: This is no more apparent than here in California--where some of those so-called public servants are paying themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. So to my annual prayer of thanks I add a wish that everyone would subscribe to their local newspapers today--so that they may hire an extra reporter to watch those dogs.
Without your financial support, these guardians of our freedom may cease to exist. And one small prayer: Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and eat lots of wholesome food. Try some home cooking for the best possible flavors! Tuesday, November 2, Trouble with G-mail. Unfortunately someone has hacked my G-mail account and sent out advertisements for Apple iPads. Thank you for understanding that I have no control over spam or hackers.
Tuesday, October 12, Visiting grandchildren and other wonderful humans The weather up here a mile above the rest of you has turned decidedly wet and cool. For those who don't know what my website is about, a reminder that I am the author of Unraveling Ada, a Quilted Mystery novel. This wonderful tale about one of the women in a group of quilters who goes missing and ends up dead, and how three of the other quilters go about solving her murder, is a five star mystery listed on www.
Only a handful of months more and the second in the series will be out, so you might want to hurry and read the first now. It all makes so much more sense when read in order. Again, the book is Unraveling Ada by Barbara Sullivan, available at amazon. Back to the mile-highers: Life doesn't get better.
Our next stop is Florida for a visit with high school buddies and then back home to the goldfish and one koi. Of course white Fang is traveling with us some of the time. Unfortunately he doesn't fit in a plane seat so he'll be left behind for the Florida leg. Book Two, Ripping Abigail, is almost complete! Be looking for it soon. Use the "Blinks" on the sidebar to travel to Unraveling Ada, and select the chapters you wish to read from that site.
My second book, Ripping Abigail has hit a speed bump, but I'm back at editing it now and will have it published around the end of the year. Hope you are all well and happy and loving the mysteries of life.
Ada Unraveled, a Quilted Mystery novel by Barbara Sullivan
Monday, July 19, Changes. It's my impression that there are no regular followers of my blog. With all the copyright issues we are having today in the world I have made the painful decision not to continue to load my book entirely on my blog. I apologize for making this change. My book is still available through Amazon.
After the publishing of my second book the prices will be lowered. Please keep this in mind. If I'm incorrect in my assumptions you may contact me through gmail. Saturday, July 10, Chapter's of Unraveling Ada now available to read. Just go to the link for Unraveling Ada and select the chapters you want to read. Wednesday, June 30, My Fourth of July. Just before the turn of the nineteenth century my grandfather Carl Nim was traveling across the Atlantic Ocean with a sense of excitement in his heart.
He was a young sailor on a merchant ship bound from Denmark to the USA. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Private Investigator Rachel Lyons discovers a corpse while hiking in the recently burned Cleveland County woods. At first it seems it was the Southern California wildfire that did the poor old man in. But then she sees his ravaged leg. A week later, while standing on the deck of her Escondido home listening to the hyenas laugh at the zebras, Lyons gets a phone call that st Private Investigator Rachel Lyons discovers a corpse while hiking in the recently burned Cleveland County woods.
A week later, while standing on the deck of her Escondido home listening to the hyenas laugh at the zebras, Lyons gets a phone call that starts her down a road toward hell. The trip changes her from a reasonably happy middle aged woman working a second career to a tortured soul searching for clues in the stitches of a quilt. Paperback , pages.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Unraveling Ada Quilted Mystery, 1 , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Unraveling Ada Quilted Mystery, 1. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Retired Librarian, Rachel Lyons, has begun a new chapter in her life.
With her retired Marine husband, Matt, they have started a Private Investigating business and recently relocated to California.
When Rachel stumbles across a dead body it is assumed by most that he is just another victim of the recent forest fires that tore through the county. Rachel is a hand quilter and has wanted to find a group of women to sew with. After a little research on the internet about the bee that call themselves Quilted Secrets, Rachel decides to join the group. What she finds is a group of women, of various ages and interests, full of secrets and bonds that Rachel only gets a brief glimpse of before she is asked to look into the recent death of their quilting friend, Ada.
With every discovery Rachel makes it seems to add a dozen more questions to life of Ada and the lives of the Stowall family. I am not a quilter so I thought I may get bored or lost whenever that entered into the story, instead I found the opposite happened. The author does a fantastic job of informing the reader and at the same time keeping them entertained. The lives of the women, the Stowall family, the tragedies of the past and present, are all tied together in this wonderfully written tale.
I really loved it. I still have a few more questions after closing this book, but hope the next book will come with some answers for me. The characters in this story leave an impression and I look forward to unraveling the next mystery with them. I was delighted when I spotted via Amazon just before Christmas. I had high hopes for the book and I wasn't disappointed. In fact I was only about a third of the way through the book when I checked if there was another in the series, which there was!
The series, opens with the introduction of the narrator Rachel, who with her husband Matt run a private investigator business. Rachel has a background in libraries and is a quilter looking for a regular American style quilting bee. Matt is an former I was delighted when I spotted via Amazon just before Christmas.
Matt is an former military man. They are pretty much the business, although they do have a small team of employee who help them complete the various contracts. Having looked for a quilting bee without success, the participants in one contact Rachel and invite her to join. Rachel does and is somewhat bewildered with the other members. Each one seems to have a story to tell and one to hide.
By the end of the first evening, a member of the group ask Rachel if they can employer her to do some investigations. Rachel, agrees and leaves the quilting be clutching a diary,quilt, a family tree and lots and lots of questions The story that unfolds is not complex, but it is a story with lots of strands, much like the strands holding a quilt together.
The strands come together, which culminates with Rachel being threatened. Her investigations are getting close to the truth I loved this book. It has everything that I love, characters that felt like they were having a conversation with me, a good storyline and a complex genealogy. I am currently reading the second book in the series and I hope there is more in the series to come. Characters not kept straight as to brother or son.
Definitely not a cozy. The second two-thirds of the book are a good read, with plenty of investigating in dangerous circumstances. There are some interesting characters and an absolutely twisted set of family dynamics. The author takes time to educate us, in a fairly painless way, about a couple of tragic diseases. She also fills us in on the intricacies, and long history, of hand sewing a quilt. The quilting bee in the beginning third of the story is what slows things down--a lot.
Perhaps the details of the process an The second two-thirds of the book are a good read, with plenty of investigating in dangerous circumstances.