2.5 stars. While I've enjoyed this series up to this point, this book was a chore to get through with an ending I didn't *at all* appreciate. I'm not a fan of books that take place "on location" and this one proved the rule for me. A whole cast of characters that aren't worth investing time in getting to know, since they won't be around for the next book, and all the normal characters you've gotten to know and like are absent. The story got more interesting towards the end, but author ruined it for me by killing the Mountain Lion.

I'm looking forward to the next book and seeing what happens with Dewey's new hire, as that part of the story line did interest me a bit.

( )

A woman named Dewey goes to the Monterey Coast to attend a week long quilting conference to help her with her quilting business in San Jose. While there she sees a woman who she thought committed suicide by jumping into the ocean. Then the woman who was in charge of the conference is found murdered in her room. Dewey begins her own investigation knowing that everything was tied together by a missing antique bird from a sewing kit. ( )

You cannot blast through this book. I did and I didn't get it at all, which meant that I turned back to page one and started over as soon as I finished it. Terri once told me that every word has to count so writers these days prune, prune, prune. I may have realized that with her other two books, [b:Old Maid's Puzzle|2878222|Old Maid's Puzzle A Quilting Mystery|Terri Thayer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ewidEiCKL._SL75_.jpg|2904408] and [b:Wild Goose Chase|920785|Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase (Henry and Mudge Ready-to-Read)|Cynthia Rylant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179466825s/920785.jpg|3018613], but it came home to me with this book when I knew the killers and didn't understand the ending.

Dewey's character is developing and I like to be able to see that in the book. I also enjoyed seeing her develop as a quiltmaker and am glad she didn't bail on her class.

Terri has a knack for characters I love to intensely dislike and this book was no exception. One was a control freak and the other had a huge chip on his/her shoulder. I am glad I won't be seeing THEM again.

This was a pretty exciting book. The ending was fabulous. Terri did not fulfill my fantasy of killing off Kym, but I liked what Terri did with Kym in terms of moving her along with her life. I would have liked a little more background on what has gone in Kym's life since she was fired from QP, especially since, despite Dewey's heroics, Kym doesn't move beyond her self centeredness.

The sad part about books, though, is that we only get a few days of Dewey's life and I could really use more. Perhaps Terri should write a blog by Dewey...in her copious amounts of spare time! ( )