Pinned for Murder
A Southern Sewing Circle Mystery
By Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Paperback, 278 pages, $6.99

Once, when I was a child, I took a sewing class and made a really horrible jumper — in bright orange. It was so badly made — despite the many Saturdays mornings I spent taking this sewing class — that I refused to wear it once it was finally finished.

That was my first and last attempt at sewing anything with a machine. So, I’ve never been a member of a sewing circle, but I know people who are, and I’m told in addition to serving really good food, the members also create projects for really good causes.

So do the many members of the Sweet Briar Ladies Society Sewing Circle of South Carolina in “Pinned for Murder” by Elizabeth Lynn Casey.

I think, perhaps, if these ladies ever invited me to join their sewing circle, I might reconsider my sewing-machine aversion.

A bad storm has blown into town and whenever damaging weather makes its way into a town, drifters are close behind. These are “folks that move around, chasing work. They have no ties anywhere. They just show up, get work fixin’ things, and then shove off to the next town, the next tragedy.”

Several sewing club member’s homes sustained damage in the storm, including Rose Winters, “the oldest in their sewing circle, who was stubborn on a good day and downright ornery the rest of the time.”

But when one of their own turns up dead, in the third of this Southern Sewing Circle series, the group must close up the seams to find a murderer.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter at www.annarbor.com. Her Cozy Corner book reviews run every Wednesday.