Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

Last week I received ~

A Stitch in Time (Needlecraft Mystery) by Monica Ferris ~ When a damaged tapestry is discovered in a small-town church closet, needleworkers join to stitch together the clues which lead to a crafty crime.

No Rest for the Wiccan (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 4) by Madelyn Alt ~ Maggie O’Neill reluctantly volunteers to care for her bedridden, oh-so-perfect sister, Mel, but strange spirits threaten to divert her attention. Then a friend of Mel’s loses her husband to a dreadful fall, and the police call it an accidental death. Maggie’s not so sure, and sets her second sights on finding a first-degree murderer.

Framed in Lace (Needlecraft Mystery) by Monica Ferris ~ Second in the new series for mystery and needlework fans, this book offers a free cross-stitch pattern and a good yarn. When a skeleton is discovered aboard a historic ferry, the only evidence is a piece of lace-like fabric. But once Betsy Devonshire and the patrons of her needlecraft shop lend a hand, they're sure to stitch together the details of the mystery.

Hex Marks the Spot (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 3) by Madelyn Alt ~ While her boss becomes entranced with a beautiful armoire at the countywide craft bazaar, Maggie can't help noticing the Amish craftsman who made it. Though his clothes may be plain, he himself is more handsome than a man sporting a jawline-only beard has any right to be. And he seems pretty aware that the ladies love his...furniture. But when the hunky craftsman turns up dead with a strange hex symbol near his corpse, Maggie wonders if the craft involved is the witchy kind.

Ocean Waves: A Quilting Mystery by Terri Thayer ~ Quilt shop owner Dewey Pellicano intends to mix business with pleasure at the Sewing-by-the-Sea Symposium in Asilomar, California. But her plan is ruined by Mercedes Madsen, the militant conference organizer who acts more like a dictator than a director. Now tangled up in a bundle of trouble, Dewey is facing a notorious "ghost," a mysterious missing woman, a stolen heirloom sewing box, and a mountain lion on the loose. . . and that's before she stumbles across the dead body. Armed only with blueprint fabric and her wits, Dewey must try to find a pattern in this crazy quilt of a murder mystery.

Willing Spirits by Phyllis Schieber ~ Women are still from Venus and men from Mars in Schieber's strong debut, a paean to the healing power and enduring strength of female friendship. Teachers Jane Hoffman and Gwen Baker have been friends for 19 years, during which time they've helped each other come to terms with their respective childhoods, jointly raised their children and eased the pains inflicted by lovers and husbands. Now Jane finds her husband in bed with a younger woman, her unmarried daughter shows up pregnant and she herself takes up with a younger man. In turn, single mother Gwen contends with her own relationship with a married older man, the loss of her domineering mother and the impending manhood of her teenage boys. The author interweaves scenes from the pastAGwen's youthful marriage to her professor and the traumatic death of her brotherAwith the present, plotting a course for the reader to see how these two women came to be who they are today. Schieber writes with workmanlike directness. One glaring flaw is that none of the men ever seem to have a clue ("He would never understand... what made women love men in spite of the persistent disappointment"), leaving the reader to pity them as they stumble around in a testosterone cloud. Readers looking to parse the mystique of female friendships, however, and why they are sometimes the most satisfying in a woman's life, will find much to reflect on here.

Fat Chance by Rhonda Pollero ~ Finley Anderson Tanner just landed a quaint new cottage on posh Palm Beach. Not bad for an underachieving, sample-sale-shopping paralegal -- until she finds the place in shambles. She should have known better than to accept her overbearing mother's offer to sell her a house unseen at a bargain-basement mortgage rate. Good-bye Rolex dreams. At this rate, she'll be shopping designer outlets forever. When Finley discovers a skeleton in her new closet, right where her Jimmy Choos should be, a total home renovation is the least of her worries. Sure, she knows how to catch a crook, but when a girl's sandwiched between sexy P.I. Liam McGarrity and her hot new boss, defense attorney Tony Caprelli, she can only be headed for commitment. To an institution. With her fabulous (but slightly more successful) friends to keep her sane and her interfering mother out of town, Finley vows to get this bad guy -- and decorate her new house -- even if she has to pay full price.