Two Purloined Pillows (Nimble Needle #2)
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 been a little over a year since Shelby started managing Nina’s Nimble Needle following her office-romance and career implosion. Next, Shelby is excited to oversee two well-known needlepoint designers who will be participating in the town’s first two-week-long arts festival . . .Laura Bitters and Paul Bardo have each stitched up one-of-a-kind pillows that should be big wins for the Nimble Needle at the festival’s auction . . . until the pillows vanish amid a sudden string of shoplifting incidents.
Laura proves highly anxious, while Paul is an egomaniac who believes Laura has been stealing his customers for years. But things go from bad to tragic when Laura behaves oddly at the auction dinner, then collapses–dead.
Resolved to piece together the truth, Shelby rallies her personal team, including her sister, Jessica, her friend Deb, and Jake, her potentially more than a friend. As an extra twist, a magazine reporter arrives with unsettling–yet useful–dirt that includes Laura and Paul.
What unravels is a skein of suspects, long-held resentment, bitter jealousy, and betrayal, from which Shelby will have to pull the one crucial thread tied to the killer: a murder-worthy motive . . .
My Review
I received a free copy from Tantor Audio and voluntarily reviewed it.
I really liked the first book in this series and started this one shortly after I received it. Two Purloined Pillows was even better than the first book. It had everything I liked from the first book and then more. I liked how this one takes place a year after the first book and Shelby is more settled running the needlepoint shop as a manager.
The mystery in this one was a solid one. This was a poisoning mystery with the victim being poisoned by a smoothie someone brought her. There are plenty of solid suspects and it was fun seeing the mystery play out and more clues come to light. I managed to guess the murderer pretty early on, but that was mostly as I remembered another mystery I read were that type of character was the murderer. I turned out to be correct and it was interesting seeing more clues to that person come to light and how I could interpret that information differently knowing who the murderer was.
It took me some time to guess the motive and it was satisfying when that guess turned to be correct as well. The motive and means all made sense when it came to light and it was also kinda sad. Again I liked the way Shelby investigates and how she has some help from her friends and how they come up with some unique ways to get some information. I liked how Shelby was the one to figure things out and was essential for solving this mystery.
I loved the craft theme in this one, there’s a lot of focus in various arts and how they help people and what it means to various people. And I just loved reading about this. I liked seeing how Shelby encouraged her nephew’s interest in art. And I like how she has some crafty friends she does needlepoint with. This book has an art festival and some various type of artists that are in town, which was fun as well.
I liked reading more about Shelby and seeing her interact with the other characters. Her blossoming romance with Jake is so sweet and I liked reading about them. There are still some struggles with her sister Jessica, but I liked how they try to communicate and figure things out. This one also has their parents be more present and it was interesting to see how Shelby interacts with her parents and seeing how her mother is doing with Shelby taking over the shop.
The narrator was a great fit for this book and I really enjoyed listening to this book. She does the various voices well and it was pleasant to listen to this one.
To summarize: I really enjoyed this book, it was even better than the first book with Shelby being more settled into her new job and being back home. I liked the mystery and there were some interesting twists and turns. I did guess the murderer relatively early on due to a similar character type being a murderer in another mystery I read. I managed to guess the motive correctly too, but that took some more time. I liked seeing some clues in a different light due to knowing who the murderer was. I liked how Shelby investigates and is essential in figuring things out and solving the case. I like reading about these characters and seeing them interact. Shelby is a likeable main character and her romance with Jake is sweet. I also like the crafty theme, there’s so much focus on art and what it means to people and different artsy characters in this one. The narrator is great too and I enjoyed listening to this one. I hope there will be more books in this series.
I’m glad you liked this one.
It was such a great read, I hope there will be more in the series.