Lie of the Needle: Review

Daisy Buchanan is the owner of Sometimes a Great Notion, a vintage sewing notions and antique specialty shop. She's also a keen amateur sleuth who's been of help to Lieutenant Serrano on several occasions. When the Millbury Historical Society decides to save a 200-year-old farmhouse from destruction at the hands of a greedy and ambitious developer, the ladies come up with an ideal plan. Selling a risque Men of Millbury calendar--just in time for Christmas! They line up a talented photographer and talk everyone from Daisy's husband and a few firefighters to Daisy's friend Cyril and Lieutenant Seranno to baring it all (or, well, nearly all) for a good cause.

But their plans are thrown into disarray when the photographer is found dead and his camera is missing. And where is Cyril? He was the last hunky model scheduled to be captured for posterity by the murdered cameraman. Daisy is positive that Cyril didn't do in the photographer--but if he didn't, then why has he disappeared? Did he see something that has put his life in danger? When an elderly member of the Historical Society is put into a coma from a hit-and-run accident, it begins to look like the mystery has deeper roots than Daisy or Seranno thought. And what does the stitching on an antique sampler in the home of the accident victim have to do with it all?

One thing I really liked about Daisy Buchanan is that she doesn't run to type for amateur detectives in a cozy mystery series. When she finds clues--she tells Lieutenant Serrano. It doesn't matter whether he immediately believes her or not, she tells him. She doesn't run around trying to figure things out all on her own and then get into trouble because of it. I mean, sure, she still runs into trouble in the end--but it isn't because she's kept things back from the police and she gets out of danger pretty quickly without there being a bunch of "luck" involved to keep our plucky heroine alive.

The story has a nice historical background that gives an added layer of interest and Daisy and the recurring characters are well-rounded and believable. I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Millbury. ★★★ and 1/2.

[Finished 7/28/17. Thanks to Melissa Caldwell for gifting this to me in the 2014 Bookish Secret Santa exchange. Sorry it took so long for me to get 'round to it.]