Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Deadly Patterns-Melissa Bourbon

Deadly Patterns


Melissa Bourbon

Obsidian, Oct 2 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780451238245



In Bliss, Texas, Buttons and Bows dressmaker Harlow Jane Cassidy runs the fashion show for the annual Winter Wonderland Festival. She meets with other committee members at the historical Denison Mansion site of the gala. The mansion is undergoing renovations led by Arnie Barnett and his former brother-in-law Dan Lee Chisholm who will wear the Santa costume for the event. Arnie’s wife Hattie hates Dan Lee for deserting her sister and newborn. The house’s widow walk railing is loose and due to a comedy of errors Harlow Jane is pushed over the edge. She is injured by the fall but next to her lies Dan Lee in full Santa garb dead.



After Harlow Jane stops at the hospital, Sheriff Hoss McClaine and Deputy Gavin McClaine question her as she seems to land near too many corpses. Encouraged by the ghost of her late great-grandmother Meemaw, Will Flores, and the rest of the Texas posse, Harlow Jane searches for the killer who forced her to make a new Santa costume to replace the blood stained one Dan Lee wore.



The latest Magical Dressmaker's Mystery (see Pleating for Mercy) is an engaging amusing paranormal amateur sleuth. The lighthearted fun storyline does have a similar feel to the previous whodunit A Fitting End as the heroine seeks a killer in plain sight yet hidden behind respectability.



Harriet Klausner

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