The Long Stitch Good Night: An Embroidery Mystery
Read The Long Stitch Good Night: An Embroidery Mystery Online
Authors: Amanda Lee
PRAISE FOR THE
EMBROIDERY MYSTERY SERIES
Thread Reckoning
“Lee’s latest Embroidery Mystery will hook readers with its charming setting and appealing characters. Plenty of spunk and attitude follow Marcy as she solves this well-crafted mystery in a close-knit town full of colorful characters.”
—
Romantic Times
Stitch Me Deadly
“The writing is lively, and the pop culture references abundant.…This book should appeal not only to embroidery enthusiasts, antique hunters, and dog lovers, but to anyone who likes a smartly written cozy that neatly ties up all the loose ends surrounding the murder but leaves the reader wanting to know more about the amateur detective, her friends, her life, and her future.”
—Fresh Fiction
“A well thought-out, free-flowing story that captures your attention and keeps you interested from beginning to end. The comfort of being in a craft store seeps through the pages as Marcy shows her sleuthing side to figure out the town’s newest murders.”
—The Romance Readers Connection
“There are plenty of threads for readers to pick up and those who pick up the right thread will have the mystery sewn up in short order.”
—The Mystery Reader
The Quick and the Thread
“Lee kicks off a cozy, promising mystery series…a fast, pleasant read with prose full of pop culture references and, of course, sharp needlework puns.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“In her debut novel,
The Quick and the Thread
, author Amanda Lee gives her Embroidery Mystery series a rousing start with a fast-paced, intriguing who-done-it that will delight fans of the cozy mystery genre.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Stands out with its likable characters and polished plot.”
—The Mystery Reader
“If her debut here is any indication, Lee’s new series is going to be fun, spunky, and educational. She smoothly interweaves plot with her [main] character’s personality and charm, while dropping tantalizing hints of stitching projects and their history. Marcy Singer is young, fun, sharp, and likable. Readers will be looking forward to her future adventures.”
—
Romantic Times
Also by Amanda Lee
The Quick and the Thread
Stitch Me Deadly
Thread Reckoning
HE
L
ONG
S
TITCH
G
OOD
N
IGHT
AN EMBROIDERY MYSTERY
AMANDA LEE
OBSIDIAN
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First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
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First Printing, April 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-101-58019-6
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As always, I must thank God first and foremost. I thank my beautiful family—Tim, Lianna, and Nicholas—next. They’re wonderful and put up with a lot when deadlines sneak up on me. And I’d be horribly remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to Cooper, my own furry “little” muse who almost always helps me write. (He’s almost as small as Angus.)
Special thanks go out to Lieutenant Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police for his help in understanding the Oregon major crime team units and judicial procedures.
Thank you to my editor, Jessica Wade, who has made me a better writer since we’ve been working together. (I now hear you in my head as I self-edit!)
Thank you to my agent, Robert Gottlieb, for your guidance, patience, and support.
Great big bear hugs to all of you!
Chapter One
I
was ensconced in my favorite red club chair in the Seven-Year Stitch seating area listening to the rain drumming on the roof and the sidewalk. It was Saint Patrick’s Day, and I was reading a book on Mountmellick embroidery. I’d ordered several copies of the book on the traditional Irish craft to sell in my embroidery specialty shop this month, and I’d become really interested in it. I was eager to learn the stitches and make something using the technique.
I’d placed the phone on the ottoman in front of me before getting comfortable. My friend Riley Kendall, who was pregnant and had been on bed rest, had a doctor’s appointment today, and I was eager to hear how it went.
When the phone rang, I grabbed it quickly. “Seven-Year—”
“Marcy, it’s Keith. Riley wanted me to let you know she just checked into the hospital.”
“It’s time?” I asked, dropping my book onto the floor as I scrambled to my feet.
“Pretty close. We went in for her regular obstetrics appointment, and the doctor thought she should head on over to the birthing center.” Riley’s husband took a deep breath. “If she doesn’t go into labor by tomorrow morning, the doctor plans to induce. I could be holding Laura within a few hours.”
Laura was the name he and Riley had chosen for their daughter. She was their first child, and I could hear the anxiety in Keith’s voice.
“It’ll be great,” I said in what I hoped was my most reassuring voice. “Is there anything either you or Riley needs?”
“Your prayers and support,” he said.
“You’ve got it. I’ll be leaving for the hospital in—” I checked my watch. It was a little past four, and I closed the shop at five on Fridays. I’d left Angus, my Irish wolfhound, at home playing in the backyard this morning—it hadn’t been raining then—but I would still need to swing by, let him inside, and give him some fresh food and water. “—about an hour. Call
me if you think of anything you’d like for me to bring.”
“Okay. Thanks, Marcy.”
After talking with Keith, I called Sadie. She and I were planning on hanging out this evening while Sadie’s husband, Blake, attended a Saint Patty’s Day/fraternity reunion party thrown by Todd Calloway at the Brew Crew. Blake and Todd had gone to Oregon State University together and had been members of Alpha Sigma Phi. Blake had been chanting their motto all week:
Causa Latet Vis Est Notissima
—which is Latin for
The cause is hidden, the results well-known.
And he’d worn his phoenix-emblazoned sweatshirt at least three times this week. Sadie said every time she washed it, he wore it again. She’d been threatening not to wash it again but said Blake told her, “That’s okay. I know how to work a washing machine…probably.”
Todd might’ve been as excited about the reunion as Blake was, but I wouldn’t know. I hadn’t seen him this week. I hadn’t seen him much at all since I went to the masquerade ball last month with Ted Nash. Todd asked me after I’d already accepted Ted’s invitation. Todd had gone with Keira, a waitress at MacKenzies’ Mochas.
Sadie and I had been invited to the party, but
we felt it was really more of a guy thing. So we were going to make dinner and watch a movie at my house.
“MacKenzies’ Mochas,” answered Blake’s cheerful voice.
“Hi, Blake. It’s Marcy. Would you care to fix me up a muffin basket and let me speak to Sadie, please?”
“No problem. Anything wrong?”
I usually took muffin baskets to sick people or grieving families. I explained about Keith’s call and how I wanted him and Riley to have some food on hand there at the hospital. “I don’t think Keith will leave Riley’s side for anything…at least, not until after the baby is born.”
“Can’t blame him there. I’ll have the basket ready for you in just a few minutes,” he said. “And here’s my lovely wife.”
“From what I could gather from Blake’s end of the conversation, you’re getting ready to become a fairy godmother, aren’t you?” Sadie asked after she’d taken the phone from Blake.
Thanks to my somewhat petite stature and short platinum hair, both Riley’s father and uncle had dubbed me Tinkerbell after the blond, diminutive pixie from
Peter Pan
. Her uncle, Captain Moe—who ran a diner in nearby
Depoe Bay—teased that I’d be Laura Kendall’s very own fairy godmother.
“It looks like it will be that way pretty soon,” I told Sadie. “Riley isn’t in labor yet, but given her high blood pressure and the fact that she’s been on bed rest for the past month, the doctor has admitted her. If she doesn’t go into labor on her own, they plan to induce tomorrow.”
“So then you’re canceling on me?”
“Only postponing,” I said. “I just want to take the muffins by the hospital and check on Riley, and then I’ll be on home.”
“Cool. I’ll go on over to Todd’s party with Blake and say hi to a few of their friends. Do you mind swinging by there when you’re finished at the hospital? That way, I won’t get to your house too early or too late.”
I waited for Sadie to reveal her real reason for wanting me to stop by the Brew Crew.
“And you can say hello to Todd—”