Thursday, June 28, 2012

"Threaded for Trouble"

Janet Bolin's love of sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting, and machine embroidery led her to invent the village of Threadville where the supplies for all these hobbies, and experts to untangle all those unavoidable snares, are only a short walk away. Bolin's love of reading, writing, and mysteries caused her to add some rather nefarious activities to Threadville, along with a slightly reluctant sleuth named Willow who co-opts her best friend, Haylee, and Haylee's three (yes, 3) mothers to help solve murders.

Dire Threads (2011), the first Threadville Mystery, was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and for a Bony Blithe award.

Bolin applied the Page 69 Test to Threaded for Trouble, the second novel in the series, and reported the following:
From Page 69:
"Don't you know the old saying? 'Bend over and touch your toes. I'll show you where the needle goes.'"

I covered my mouth to prevent a snort of laughter. Dr. Wrinklesides no longer shocked me, but he could still surprise me. "I'll give you a picture of a wing needle. It won't puncture you and let out all that hot air." I tore a photo from a catalogue and gave it to him.

He left with the picture, not a needle, in his shirt pocket.

The dogs and I had a quick dinner, then I kissed them good-bye and ran across the street for storytelling, undoubtedly mixed with a bit of gossip, at Tell a Yarn.
This short page ends a chapter and is fairly representative of Threaded for Trouble. It includes characters who do or say the unexpected, Willow's two dogs, and the setting, Threadville, a village of needlecraft stores where people love to get together and, yes, maybe even gossip. Willow's search for clues is threaded through this page and the rest of the book. A "killer" sewing machine lives up to its name; Willow can't let that machine shoulder the blame.

There. If I ever need to describe the story in a rhyming couplet, I'll be ready.
Learn more about the book and author at Janet Bolin's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Janet Bolin and Laddie and Lacy.

--Marshal Zeringue