She is thwarted at every turn, however, by simpering sister-in-law Kym, who felt she should have been left the shop. While Dewey recognizes how talented Kym is, she also knows that her conniving ways are undermining the store and Dewey’s authority. Being featured on a national quilting show just before the store’s annual sale and the launch of the new website makes Dewey think everything may be ok. 

Until she finds a dead man in the alley behind her store, two of her quilting ladies begin bickering over a man, an argument Dewey suspects runs deeper than the affections of one man, and a strange man joins one of the quilting classes and seems to have taken up residency in the alley behind the store.  In addition, Dewey has agreed to boyfriend Buster’s suggestion that the two of them hold off having sex until they get to know each other better after landing in bed twice after just meeting. 

All of this together is enough to make a girl look for her sharpest rotary cutter.  Some bad press on a quilting listserv causes Dewey more concern for her store, of which she has grown very fond, especially when she starts adding her touches to her mother’s. Dewey decides she must solve the man in the alley’s murder so quilters aren’t afraid to come to the store, and must mend fences between the feuding friends, and take a stand with Kym once and for all. Oh yes, and start having sex with Buster again.  

A fun mystery with as many pieces as a complex quilt, Old Maid’s Puzzle has much to offer readers. There are several different subplots running though the story are neatly sewn together in the end. Dewey’s relationship with her family is complicated. She is the only daughter in a man’s man family and has a difficult relationship with her only sister-in-law. While Kym’s actions where the store is concerned are not those of a stellar employee, she does have the store’s interest at heart, and perhaps the way Dewey deals with her stems from some feelings of jealousy toward Kym. Dewey is very loyal to her new found quilting friends and is sure to become a favorite with crafty readers.                        

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry