Quilted In Blood

A quilting cozy mystery where an heirloom entry hides a body—and every stitch deserves a second look.

Back on Iowa ground for the harvest fair at Amboy Flats, Dorothy Meade is looking forward to a hall full of quilts, familiar friends, and honest work. The guest of honor is Gene Tolliver, a celebrated judge with a spotless reputation and a long trail of people who remember his decisions differently.

When volunteers try to hang an unusually heavy heritage quilt, they discover Tolliver's body inside. The entry card names a maker nobody can find. The quilt claims a history Dorothy isn't sure she believes.

Stitches, binding, and batting become evidence as Dorothy searches for the hands behind the exhibit. Beyond the quilt racks, she finds wounded pride and grievances reaching back to a livestock scandal that ruined a family years ago. Knowing how to recognize a maker's work is one thing. Deciding what to do with the truth is another.

With Bunny Frantz close, Del Rourke steady beside her, and Reserve vindicated in his interest in the odd exhibit, Dorothy faces a case that tests more than her judgment. Someone has brought an old injustice to the harvest fair, and the distinction between sympathy and proof has never mattered more.

Quilted in Blood is Book 8 of The County Fair Mysteries, a craft-centered whodunit with warm community ties, dry humor, and a formidable older sleuth confronting the human cost of an unfair decision.

For readers who love:

•   Quilting mysteries and textile clues

•   Heritage exhibits with disputed histories

•   Old grievances and questions of justice and mercy

•   Older sleuths, loyal friends, and an observant beagle