Unraveled Sleeve: 11/11/15

Unraveled Sleeve by Monica Ferris is the 4th of the Needlecraft mystery series. The three murders Betsy has had to solve have taken their toll. She isn't sleeping and Jill is worried. She convinces Betsy to go with her to a Stitch-In at the Naniboujou Lodge in East Cook.

Good intentions though don't always pan out. Completely exhausted, and frankly, half asleep Betsy, stumbles upon yet another body. But this time, her powers of observation are questioned when the body she believes she has seen is missing. The set up is thus a blending of The Spanish Prisoner and Gaslamp but this is the fourth in a long series of cozy mysteries, so a complete change in direction isn't to be expected.

Unraveled Sleeve is set in a remote location and most of the story takes place within the bounds of the lodge and the surrounding woods. As it is such a small area, the mystery set up is similar to that of a classic locked room story.

After the discovery of the body I half expected the book to follow in the direction of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Thankfully, it didn't. Nor was there a freak storm to keep everyone isolated and driven insane as in The Shining.

After the rather intense, action packed plot of A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve was a nice break. To the genre and trope savvy, the course of events isn't that hard to figure out. That said, it's still a satisfying read.

Four stars

Comments (0)