This cosy murder mystery was perfect reading on the 1st rainy day after a long HOT summer. Chicago native, Tori Sinclair, takes a job as the head librarian in the southern town of Sweet Briar, South Carolina. Unbeknownst to Tori, the former librarian, Dixie Dunn, was forced into retirement after a long career of not being open to change of any kind. Dixie is a bitter woman and out to make trouble for Tori. Being an outsider and a "Northerner", Tori has a hard time fitting in until she is invited to a local sewing circle. It just so happens that Dixie belongs to the same group!Tori's first change at the library is to make a children's room out of an old storage room. While making this project happen, things come up missing like light bulbs from her front porch, a library appointment book telling her when classes are scheduled for visits, popsicle sticks for a craft project and an overhead projector. While she is clearing out the storage room, boxes of books keep appearing. Someone seems to be sabotaging her project and trying to make her look bad. But with the help of some new sewing friends and her library assistant, Nina, Tori rallys when they come to her rescue. Don't get too comfortable in thinking you know who is taking things - you could be wrong!Just as Tori is settling in, the town's beauty queen, Tiffany Ann Gilbert, is found dead behind the library. Since Tori is new to town, some of the townspeople and an over zealous investigator believe Tori did it because of a love triangle gone wrong. Milo Wentworth, a 3rd grade teacher, is considered one third of the triangle even tho he never dated Tiffany - she had eyes only for him - never the other way around. Milo becomes a love interest for Tori, and helps her figure out who murdered Tiffany since the investigator is not doing his job.Lots of unique, folksy characters in the sewing club. There is even instructions in the back of the book on how to make the pillow that Tori is sewing at the club meetings. Check out the cover - the picture of Tori's cozy sewing room is exactly as described in the book. I would definitely read the next book in the series. I liked this book, but I have to say that it isn't really much of a mystery. The main character talks about solving the mystery, but doesn't really do much except ask questions of people she happens to run into as she goes about her business. The clues are so obvious that the unveiling of the murderer is rather anticlimatic - which is not helped by the fact that it is all talked about in past tense in the last chapter. Much more important to the book is the new librarians wish to open a children's room at the library. This is talked about as much as the murder and is the final scene in the book, rather than the revelation of the murderer.Overall, this is a cute book about someone trying to fit into a small town. The north/south differences are exaggerated a bit (even if we don't use some of those phrases in the north, most people know what they mean), and some of the people are a bit over-the-top. But this is much more about the library and Tori fitting in than it is about the murder that just happens to occur shortly after she moves to town.
What do You think about Sew Deadly (2009)?
I light read just right for this time of year when the heat makes it too hot to do anything
—Alina
