Cozy Wednesday - Welcome Amanda Lee

If you are a follower of this blog you know I love Cozy Mysteries!! This year I hope to have at least one cozy author guest post here each month at Dollycas's Thoughts. The post will also include a giveaway! The post will usually be on the Wednesday right after New Release Tuesday, but I am trying to leave Wednesdays open for guest posts so that I can work around the author's busy schedules.  Don't worry if there is not a guest post the Wednesdays will then be filled with a Book Review and maybe even a Giveaway. You know I love surprises!


Today I am thrilled to welcome Amanda Lee.   Her book STITCH ME DEADLY was released yesterday.  You will find my full review after her Guest Post, but I LOVED!!!!! this book.  


Welcome Amanda or should I say Gayle, I'll let her explain.

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First off, let me assure you that I don’t have multiple personalities. I just have a multi-dimensional personality. I write a cake decorating mystery series as Gayle Trent; I write an embroidery mystery series as Amanda Lee; and both my main characters blog—sometimes even interviewing Gayle Trent! But it’s still all me. In fact, a reviewer on Amazon (J. Weinberg) said: LOL! I was going to come on here and write about the similarities to this book and those of Gayle Trent. One Google search later and I find out that Amanda Lee and Gayle Trent are actually the same person!

When my agent asked me if I’d be interested in writing an embroidery mystery series, I said, “Of course!” After all, the research would be better for my waistline (if not for my pin-pricked fingers) than the cake decorating series, right?


I’ve always loved needlecrafts, so the series was a good excuse to blow the dust off my cross-stitch books and to also learn some new techniques. (Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough of an incentive to finish the horses-coming-out-of-the-ocean cross-stitch project I started soooo long ago. I’m talking years here, but it’s really, really HARD! And yet, I don’t have the heart to simply toss it out. I’m planning to finish it someday…maybe. Did I mention it’s HARD?)


Anyway, since beginning the embroidery mystery series, I’ve reconnected with candlewick, cross-stitch, needlepoint, and redwork. I’ve learned ribbon embroidery, and I’m learning other types of embroidery (satin stitches, beading, etc.). And I’ve tried hardanger. I laboriously completed a “hardanger for kids” project—even though I think I missed some stitches—and, although it’s pretty, I doubt I’ll try another. (Please refer to previous paragraph where you’ll see that I tend to give up on things that are really, really hard.)


I’ve also learned that perfection is not a necessity. Sometimes “good enough” truly is good enough. When I was trying to cross-stitch on a tote bag without a cross-stitch grid and it turned out wonky, a huge purple flower appliqué came to my rescue. And the tote bag is cute. (http://www.gayletrent.com/2011/01/sew-deadly-issue-21/). No one who hadn’t seen the pattern would know there was supposed to be a rabbit in place of the flower. (In my defense, there is a partial rabbit beneath the huge purple flower.)

If you enjoy cross-stitch, please see my embroidery patterns page at http://www.gayletrent.com/books/embroidery-patterns/.

Please also visit “Marcy’s Shop” 

(http://www.gayletrent.com/marcys-shop/) 

where you can find embroidery retailers and free projects (hint: hover your mouse all around the red chair where there are four free project sites). You can also learn about the Oregon coast and Irish wolfhounds, go to my Facebook page, and use Petfinder to adopt a pet!


Thank you so much for your encouragement and support! And, thank you, Lori, for allowing me to be a part of your spectacular blog!
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Gayle,
Thank you for the lovely compliment and for spending some time with us today.  I love your website and blog!


Your Cake Decorating Series sounds tasty and entertaining too.  I have included Links to all 4 books below so all my readers can check them out.

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An Obsidian Mystery
A Division of Penguin Publishing
An Embroidery Mystery
2nd in Series

• ISBN-10: 0451232518
• ISBN-13: 978-0451232519

Marcy and her Irish wolfhound, Angus are making themselves right at home in Tallulah Falls, Oregon.  She loves running the Seven Year Stitch, making new friends and reconnecting with her old friend Sadie.


Things are going well until an elderly woman comes to the shop to ask for Marcy's help and shows her a wonderful, antique, embroidery sampler.  Before she can tell Marcy anything about the sampler she dies suddenly of an apparent heart attack, right there in one of the chairs in the "sit and stitch" area of the store.


It doesn't take long for the authorities to find out the elderly woman, Mrs. Ralston's, heart attack was caused by a very unnatural cause. She had been murdered.  Marcy thinks the sampler holds the key to who and why this nice, sweet woman was killed.  She also finds out a very tangled web of clues must be sorted out to solve this crime.

Marcy has such a big heart, she can rarely say "no" to anyone and her character is wonderfully written as are all the other characters in this series.  I feel like an invisible person perched in the "sit and stitch" area watching this story unraveling before my eyes.

Every small town has a place like the Seven Year Stitch, a place where the local people go to catch up on gossip and find out what's happening with their friends, foes and neighbors. It may not be an embroidery store, maybe a local garage, tavern, coffee shop or bookstore, but a true gathering place. That is what makes this series and this book so relate-able. 

This story was a pure delight for me to read, making my brain work to untangle the mystery right along with Marcy.  Holding my breath as she figures it out and putting herself in danger. Pages turning fast and furious to the very end.  

While these stories have a needlework theme, set in a beautiful town, they are for anyone who enjoys a good mystery.  A story that touches all of your senses, from the feel of the floss and yarn, the view of the Oregon coast, the smell and the taste of the goodies from MacKenzies' Mochas, the sounds of the falling rain, it also engages your mind with the cleverly written mystery.  This is a book that should definitely be on everyone's must read list.

Be sure to check out the links above.  Gayle's web page and blog are fantastic.  The pictures of the cakes are amazing as are the needlework patterns and pictures.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Obsidian, a Division of Penguin Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”