Hems and Homicides

Vintage aprons, linens and other retro fabrics are so popular now, Iris Buckley decides to open a shop with her newly widowed grandmother in Blueberry Cove, Maine. In Hems & Homicides by Elizabeth Penney, while working on the repairs and renovations at her shop, Ruffles & Bows, Iris is shocked by find a skeleton in the wall of her basement. (Hems & Homicides will be published by St. Martin's Publishing on December 31.)

More shocking is the possibility that her grandmother knew the person. It seems Star Moonshine was one of her hippie friends from 40 years ago and the skeleton had on a bandana she always worn. Grammie remembers Star went missing around the Fourth of July and everyone thought she had just wandered away. 

With the shop closed as a murder investigation site, Iris frets about how she will finish the renovations before her opening, if there even is a Grand Opening. While she waits for the police to finish with the site, she decides to look through her grandmother's old scrapbooks and diaries to determine if in fact the skeleton is Star and who might have killed her. 

The police seem to be focusing on Grammie as their prime suspect and Iris knows she has to prove someone else committed the crime quickly. When the police clear the shop to reopen, Iris dives into completing the repairs, but before she knows it, another person winds up dead in the store. 

Sure she is never going to be able to open the shop, she throws herself into the investigation along with her best friend Madison Mason. 

A well-paced, terrific start to a new series.