Review: One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter

One Sharp Stitch (Nimble Needle #1)
written by Allie Pleiter
narrated by Carrie Coello

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
It’s only temporary. That’s what Shelby Phillips tells herself when she returns to excruciatingly harmless Gwen Lake after her graphic arts career—and the office romance blooming with it—get tossed like rejected design mockups. Her plan is as simple and fool-proof as a tent stitch: manage the family needlepoint shop during her parents’ RV vacation. It’s just a month. It’s not as if they’re retiring . . . right?

When Shelby becomes responsible for hosting a trunk show with local vendors, she’s determined to pull it off. Even if that means dealing with former classmate Kat Katsaros, a rising entrepreneur specializing in needlework scissors. Kat has changed since high school—and she’s angling to take over the Nimble Needle herself. The tension unspools when Shelby makes a terrible discovery on the morning of the event: Kat’s dead body.

Shelby can’t believe the death was an accident. That’s why she’s set on exposing who committed the murder with Kat’s own equipment. She finds help in a new friend, a potential crush, and the surprising support of her sister and the Nimble Needle stitchers. Still, Shelby must move quickly to stop the crafty culprit before her maybe not-so-temporary new life in Gwen Lake comes apart at the seams . . .

My Review

I received a free copy from Tantor Audio and voluntarily reviewed it.

I enjoy listening to cozy mysteries and this sounded like a fun new series to try. I haven’t read as many cozies with a crafting theme like this and I enjoyed reading about the craft shop as well as main characters Shelby’s creative endeavors with stitching and managing the shop.

At first I wasn’t quite sure whether this book was going to work out for me, I had a bit of trouble warming up to main character Shelby as she came across as pretty judgemental of Kat. I could relate more to Kat’s status as not quite fitting in. Luckily Shelby became more likable as I continued the story and I liked how she wanted to find justice for Kat and felt sad she never made more of an effort to get to know Kat. I liked how convinced she was that Kat’s death wasn’t an accident and wanted to figure out what happened.

The mystery was a twisty one that kept me guessing. There are some clear suspects, but it’s clear there are some missing pieces to fully make sense of it and they slowly come to light. Shelby looks a lot into the method that supposedly caused the accident, the knife sharpening machine as well as who would have a motive to kill her. I liked how she tackled the investigation and there are some interesting ways she investigates from involving her friends to the way she wanted to collect hand writing samples. Everything falls on it’s place toward the end. This mystery could feel quite gruesome and sad at times with the way this mystery and the secrets surrounding it tear apart some families. I liked how Shelby was instrumental in figuring it out and while the police seemed incompetent at first, it did became clear they were doing their own investigation.

I liked reading about the Nimble Needle craft shop and learning a bit about needlepoint as this is not something I know much about. I liked how Shelby gathers a group of friends around her and she starts her own needlepoint group with them. And seeing her tumultuous relationship with her sister slowly mend was great to see and it felt realistic too how they had some struggles. It also was fun to hear about their parents adventures in their RV as they travel.

This was a new to me narrator and I enjoyed her style for this audiobook with plenty of variation for the different voices.

To summarize: I enjoyed this start to this new series. I liked reading about the craft store The Nimble Needle and how Shelby manages it. I struggled a bit with the start as Shelby came across as judgemental, but I liked how she changed and then wanted justice for the murdered women. The mystery is a twisty one and I liked the twists and turns. There are some secrets that come to light and this mystery could feel quite gruesome and sad at times. I liked the needlepoint theme, seeing Shelby find her place in this town again with a cat and friends around her and a possible romance as well as slowly mending her relationship with her sister. I enjoyed reading this one and hope there will be more in the series.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.