A Murderous Yarn by Monica Ferris

In A Murderous Yarn, Betsy Devonshire, owner of Crewel World and amateur sleuth, must determine who killed one of the participants in an antique car rally. She becomes involved after she sponsors one of the cars and volunteers to record the cars arrivals and departures in the rally. When the murder occurs and she’s the alibi for the widow, Betsy starts poking around to find the killer.

Ferris presents a fairly good cozy mystery with some interesting characters. The story is more about antique cars than needlecrafts, but nevertheless enjoyable. I do admire antique cars when I see them on the street, but that’s not what I expected the story to focus on. The author does manage to keep at least part of the story in the needle world, but just barely. I did learn a something…I now know what “orts” are. Also, I was reminded that painted canvases and completed original works are extremely expensive.

I’ve read one other book by this author, but I think I preferred this one, even though the other focused more on needlecrafts. Click here for the review.

For more information on some of the cars featured in the book, there’s tons of information and pictures on the Internet. Here are a few that I found:
1) For the Stanley Steamer (warning the second one has sound):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Steamer
http://www.stanleysteamers.com/

2) For the Maxwell:
http://www.clanmaxwellusa.com/maxcars.htm
http://www.carnut.com/photo/list/_maxm1.html

[Disclaimer: These are the first sites I got when I did a search. I’m not affiliated with these sites and I don’t know that they are safe. Surf at your own risk.]

Recommended for cozy mystery lovers.