Kath and her needlework group TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Fiber) are preparing to teach a workshop at the Holston Homeplace Living History Farm, but their lesson in crazy quilts is no match for the crazy antics of the assistant director, Phillip Bell. Hamming it up with equal parts history and histrionics, Phillip leads an archaeological dig of the farm’s original dump site—until one student stops the show by uncovering some human bones.
When a full skeleton is later excavated, Kath can’t help but wonder if it’s somehow connected to Geneva, the ghost who haunts her shop, and whom she met at this very site. After Phillip is found dead, it’s up to Kath to thread the clues together before someone else becomes history.
My Family was Haunted
. . .
As a character,
the ghost in my Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries arrived and developed the way
characters tend to. They take up residence in my head. They move in with their
belongings, set up housekeeping and actually pay very little attention to me,
their host. The ghost arrived in my head that way, bringing only her tears, her
television addiction, and vague personal memories. I’ve had to tease her story
out of her along the way. But her name I knew immediately. For years, my family
was haunted by a woman named Geneva. It happened like this.
For a month or
two after we moved into our house on Maple Street in Johnson City, Tennessee
(in 1993), we received letters addressed to the previous owners. We forwarded
them, or just walked them over, because the family moved just a couple of
blocks away. We also received the occasional letter addressed to Geneva Bowman.
Those I marked “deceased” and put back in the mailbox. The family we bought the
house from had bought it from her estate. Ms. Bowman had been gone for quite a
few years.
In 2002, when we
moved to Illinois, I filled out change of address forms for all of us. We were
still receiving the occasional piece of mail for Geneva Bowman, but I didn’t
fill out a change of address for her, because she was . . . you know . . .
dead. Her mail followed us anyway.
We lived in an
apartment in Urbana, Illinois, for the first five months, and envelopes
addressed to Geneva dropped into our mailbox right along with envelopes
addressed to the rest of us. I marked hers “deceased,” and put them back in the
mailbox, even her invitations to join the AARP. When we bought a house in
Champaign, Urbana’s twin city, I filled out change of address forms for all of
us again. But not for Geneva Bowman, because she was still, well . . . you know
. . . dead.
Geneva’s mail not
only followed us to the house in Champaign, but someone—the post office?—changed
her name. She was no longer Geneva Bowman, she became Geneva Thompson (Thompson
being my husband’s and our children’s last name), and she received notices
about retirement plans, ads for motorized scooters, and offers for time shares
in Florida and the Carolinas. (I made that last part up. There were no offers
for time shares in the Carolinas, only for Florida.) And so our family settled
into our new Midwestern lives. Our family—Molly, Mike, Gordon, Ross, and Geneva
(who took up residence in our lives and who received more mail than the rest of
us on most days). How could I not name the ghost in my books Geneva?
So I did.
And shortly after
the first book, Last Wool and Testament, came out, an interesting thing
happened. Interesting and, surprisingly, a little bit sad for me. Geneva’s mail
stopped arriving.
I like to think that
means Geneva Bowman/Thompson is happy now. That she’s content, even if I did
turn her into a somewhat depressed and TV obsessed ghost. That she’s found a
cozy place in the Weaver’s Cat in Blue Plum, Tennessee—and the Haunted Yarn
Shop Mysteries.
Molly MacRae
spent twenty years in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of
Upper East Tennessee, where she managed The Book Place, an independent
bookstore; may it rest in peace.
Before the lure of books hooked her, she was curator of the history museum in Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town.
MacRae lives with her family in Champaign, Illinois, where she connects children with books at the public library.
Before the lure of books hooked her, she was curator of the history museum in Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town.
MacRae lives with her family in Champaign, Illinois, where she connects children with books at the public library.
One of the things that makes this series unique, is the presence of something paranormal. And in Plagued by Quilt, the story's protagonist, Kath, visits the very place that she met Geneva, the ghost that haunts her shop. It's a very detailed, intriguing visit that leaves Kath investigating the mystery behind the scenes of the Living History Farm.
LOVE. This book was fantastic. It had history, mystery and all of the usual charm of the previous books in the series. I love the feel of these books. They truly do take you to an entirely different place and make you feel as if you've been planted right in the middle of the story, living amongst the characters. It's such a relaxing and exciting escape :)
With each book written, they get better and better. And Plagued by Quilt is my favorite thus far.
Rating: 5 stars
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All conclusions reached are my own.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment