Elderberry Bay, Pennsylvania is well known for its quaint village feel, and for the shops that cater to every type of sewing or crafting need -- so much so that it has been nicknamed "Threadville." It seems like the perfect place for machine embroidery enthusiast Willow Vanderling realize her dream of having her own business. So she packs up and leaves the stress of New York City, and recent troubles at her former job, and heads to the mecca of all things made beautiful -- Threadville.

But paradise always has a snake among the beauty, and in the case of Elderberry Bay, that snake comes in the form of village zoning commissioner Mike Krawbach. Willow has found the perfect shop for her business, dubbed "In Stitches," but the commissioner is determined to tear the building down to make way for an ATV trail.

With support from his rowdy buddies, Krawbach is sneaky about gathering names on a petition to do just that, and Willow is furious about it and the two have words in public, with a lot of witnesses around! So when Mike is found dead in Willow's backyard, the police automatically point the finger at Willow as the prime person of interest.

It's up to Willow and her new friends to piece together the clues to who killed the bully Krawbach before Willow finds herself hopelessly tangled in the threads of deceit.

DIRE THREADS is the debut novel for author Janet Bolin's Threadville Mystery series, and it is a winner right from the beginning. With a vast cast of personable, likeable characters populating a lively, mesmerizing storyline, Bolin keeps the action moving along, and the humor bubbling as well.

I loved the premise of an entire village of craft-inspired shops, with cute names such as Tell A Yarn, Buttons and Bows, and Batty About Quilts. As a special treat, readers are sure to love the addition of embroidery patterns in the back. This will certainly be a great, fun series to keep your eye out for.

Book Summary

Threadville, Pennsylvania has everything - a fabric store, yarn shop, notions store, quilting boutique, and Willow Vanderling's brand new shop, In Stitches, a hit with tourists eager to learn embroidering in the latest way, with software and machines.

But when the village's bullying zoning commisssioner picks a fight with Willow and turns up dead in Willow's yard, the close-knit community starts unraveling at the seams.

Willow must stitch together clues and find the real murderer, or the next thing she embroiders may be an orange prison jumpsuit . . .

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