The Mystery of the Tea Cup Quilt

Rating 4 out of 5

Dove used to be a successful clothes designer in New York until her business partner used the business to sell drugs; which was even more terrible considering she made children's clothes! So with her reputation ruined Dove had no other option but to return home to the town of Harland Creek. Everything was going fairly well, all things considered, until she found the body of Gertrude Brown on the floor of her mom's quilt shop. Now rumors are flying all over town and she's a murder suspect! Her ex-boyfriend, also the police chief, is even suspicious of her. With the investigation going nowhere and with her the prime suspect, Dove, the Harland Creek Quilters (a group of her mom's friends), and a goat named Petunia, work to find the real killer.

So this book was my first cozy mystery and it was great. The book was fast paced and easy to read. I really didn't put it down until I finished. The characters are well written and each is incredibly unique. The best part is they truly do fit the idea of the small town southern old woman haha. Really the quilting group who helps Dove are just a bunch of busy bodies with nothing better to do, but they try their best to be of help. The help they give of course generally causes more laugh out loud predicaments for Dove than anything.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I loved that the most able bodied investigator of Dove's group was in fact the goat Petunia. She is the one who found the most clues after all! I spent a lot of time laughing at this one because the group just kept getting into the most insane situations. The decision to break into Gertrude's house to find clues being one of them. Or the gas station hot dog catastrophe. Best of all I think was that I was generally surprised by the revelation of the murder.