Brenda H. (booksinvt) - , reviewed on 10/21/2018 + 464 more book reviews

Thread Herrings is the seventh installment in the Mainely Needlepoint series featuring Angie Curtis and set in the small town of Heavenly Harbor, ME. Things are quiet in February so Angie agrees to accompany best friend and antique shop owner, Sarah Byrne to an estate auction in neighboring Augusta.

Fascinated by a variety of needlework both Sarah and Angie bid on a few items with Angie taking home a faded, half finished Coat of Arms. Upon getting the piece home Angie disassembles the frame and discovers a folded paper receipt and accompanying billet for a boy named Charles who had been left at the London Foundling Hospital in 1757. Realizing that there isn't much she can do to repair the needlework, Angie decides to learn more about the baby boy and his parentage.

A subsequent trip to the Maine Historical Society proves uninformative, so Angie stops in to visit her high school classmate and Portland TV reporter, Clem Walker. Upon hearing the story Clem convinces Angie to do a short segment on the local news in hopes that someone might recognize the story of the Coat of Arms. That evening, immediately after the news airs, both Clem and Angie begin receiving death threats - someone is determined to stop them from discovering who Charles was.

Within a few days, Clem has been murdered, someone has blown up Angie's car, and strange people are lurking in Haven Harbor trying to find Angie. On the advice of Pete Lambert, Haven Harbor's Police Chief and State Police Officer Ethan Trask, Angie agrees to move in temporarily with boyfriend Patrick West behind the locked gates of the West compound.

Determined to try and solve the mystery but unable to leave the house, Angie relies on a couple of the Mainely Needlepoint workers for background and genealogical discovery. The author has done quite a bit of research regarding needlepoint and embroidery and historical snippets once again start each chapter, the workings of Foundling Hospitals are explained in detail, and a brief description of auction protocol is included.

I am not a fan of Patrick, and sorry to say but I still did not warm up to his character after this latest installment. I was also disappointed that there was not much interaction with the Mainely Needlepoint workers, and only brief conversations between Angie and her grandmother. All in all fast paced story line and well developed plot that will leave series readers happy and looking for the next installment.

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