The Mainely Needlepoint Mysteries Lea Wait (2015-present)
I’ve recently dipped into this popular American cozy mystery series. In the initial book, Twisted Threads, we learn that the first-person narrator, Angie Curtis, was raised in Maine by her grandmother (“Gram”) after the disappearance of Angie’s mother. When the mother’s body is found after 17 years, 27-year-old Angie heads back to Maine from Arizona, where she’s been working as an assistant to a private detective. Angie’s skills come in handy with the investigation into her mother’s death and other mysteries in the small Maine tourist town of Haven Harbor. After these are solved, Angie agrees to stay on for six months to help Gram run her home-based business, Mainely Needlepoint, which produces high-end custom pillows, chair covers, and wall hangings.
Of course, in subsequent books in the series, other crimes in Haven Harbor bubble to the surface for Angie to tackle. She finds herself pretty happy to be back in Maine with her delightful Gram, the eccentric cast of needle crafters who work for Mainely Needlepoint, and potential romantic partners.
The dialogue in these novels is realistic, and the plots move quickly, resolving in the final few pages, though I did detect signs of haste in the writing. The setting on the coast of Maine comes to life with descriptions of ocean views and luscious seafood. I guessed some of the perpetrators of crimes early on, but I liked learning more about Angie as she weighs whether to stay on in her native Maine or return to the sunny Southwest.
You can read the books in any order, but chronologically works best. The series titles are
Twisted Threads (2015)
Threads of Evidence (2015)
Thread and Gone (2015)
Dangling by a Thread (2016)
Tightening the Threads (2017)
Thread the Halls (2017)
Thread Herrings (2018)
Thread on Arrival (2019)
For other cozy mysteries, see my reviews of Alexander McCall Smith’s novels (also here).
Graham Norton’s Holding is another great cozy, reviewed here.