Book Review: QUILTING CALAMITY - A Quilting Cozy Mystery by Kathryn Mykel

About the Book (from Amazon)

Can Alex untangle the knots before she’s keeled? After the death of her beloved grandmother, Alex Bailey’s life is left in tatters. As she struggles to stitch things back together, she takes solace in one final gift—a cruise—booked before the quilting matriarch's death. 

To weave the quilting community back together, Alex convinces her friends on Spruce Street to join her on the cruise. With all hands on deck, a mysterious quilt, and an unknown destination, she must trust that everything will go according to plan. Until a death onboard the Tranquility puts a wrinkle in Alex’s idyllic quilting vacation. 

Unraveling the mysterious threads that surround the young man’s death, Alex must determine if it's a terrible accident or death by design. Determined to catch the culprit, she loosens the knot of suspicion and provides the bait needed to hook a ruthless killer.

Will Alex be able to follow the pattern and untangle this nautical mystery before there's a storm at sea? 

Review 

Alex isn't too sure about the whole cruise idea but that was what her grandmother (Nona) dictated in death. Nona's best friend, Betty, has all the directions. Only they didn't include a murder on the cruise or indicate who the quilt named "Henrietta" was to go to or what the keys left behind opened. A murder, keys, and a quilt, not to mention the one they're all working on.

The story is well-written and the characters, especially Alex, are likable and down to earth. There are multiple mysteries and although Alex is supposed to be in charge, she doesn't have a clue what Nona had planned. Hopefully, not the murder. The pace is quick and there are times Alex doubts what's happening with no logical explanation.  

This is the second in the series and the first I've read. I enjoyed it, but I think I'd have had a better understanding if I read the first one, first. There are unanswered questions left at the end, though the major issues are addressed. I suspect these and other mysteries are answered in the later books. 

The Quilting Cozy Mysteries

Sewing Suspicion

Quilting Calamity

Pressing Matters

Treading Trouble

Stitching Concerns*

* Available for pre-order; releases August 17, 2023

About the Author 

Inspired by the laugh-out-loud and fanciful aspects of cozies, Kathryn Mykel aims to write lighthearted, humorous mysteries that play on her passion for the craft of quilting. She’s an avid quilter, born and raised in a small New England town. 

For more fun content and new releases go to: www.authorkathrynmykel.com          

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