Review – A Stitch in Crime

Thea has accepted the position as co-chair of her town’s first “Annual Quilt Show.” But at the potluck supper days before the main event, things are not going smoothly. Prudy Levasich, her co-chair, is conspicuous by absence, and their honored guest and to-be judge of the quilt contest does not show up. Then an elderly lady, one of the chief sponsors of the quilt show, receives a blow on the head and is hospitalized. Due to concussion, she can’t remember if someone hit her or if she just fell. And her expensive jeweled brooch is missing.

And on the following evening, the famous quilt “Larkin’s Treasure,” borrowed for the exhibition at the quilt show, is stolen out of its glass case in the local museum.

At the request of her friend in the hospital, Thea takes on the added role of detective to find out what is behind the difficulties. From there, the novel recounts Thea’s adventures and misadventures, leading up to an unexpected and satisfying climax at the quilt show.

Throughout the narration, though, it is Cathy Elliott’s love of language and wordplay that provide much of the reader’s enjoyment. Every page or two contains an inimitable sentence such as the understated “The string quartet sawed with vigor.” And the character Thea is herself an expert punster (punstress?). The result is a thoroughly delightful novel that will keep its readers smiling on every page.