A mysterious abandoned quilt. A sinister string of murders. Can this amateur sleuth follow the pattern to catch the killer?
After much hard work, Taylor Quinn is finally finding relief from the trauma of losing her mom. Invited to help solve the mystery of an abandoned quilt, she agrees to take on the pleasant distraction. But her innocent investigation leads her straight to a dead body with a … straight to a dead body with a pair of sewing shears stuck in its back.
When two journalists reporting on the stabbing are taken out the same way, Taylor faces her worst fear: A monster is targeting everyone she’s talked to about the quilt. Desperate to prevent more deaths, she starts building a patchwork of clues. But piecing them together might land her in an early grave.
Can Taylor uncover the villain before her life is cut short?
Emperor’s New Quilt is the exciting fifth book in the quirky and lovable Taylor Quinn Quilt Shop Mystery Series. If you like witty dialogue, charming settings, and stitching together the truth, then you’ll love Tess Rothery’s page-turning whodunit.
Buy Emperor’s New Quilt today to sew up a chilling case!
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Emperor’s New Quilt is the fifth novel in this series about Taylor Quinn and the 3rd generation quilting store that her grandmother had started many years earlier. The character development is great; I feel as if I learn more about Taylor and her family each time, and even some of the new characters pop off the page. Dialogue is excellent and well-balanced. The mystery included red herrings and the whodunits was somewhat of a surprise.
It has been nearly three years since Taylor moved from Portland, back to the lovely little town of Comfort, Oregon. Her mom, who had run Flour Sax Quit Shop for several years along with a taping YouTube videos that showed various quilting techniques. Laura had been murdered; the police didn’t think so, but the question was raised by teenage sister Belle. That was the first time Taylor worked on a murder and was able to prove her mom didn’t die accidentally and identify the killer.
Taylor is at the Comfort Quilt Shop Owners Guild meeting when she learns about a quilt that was unclaimed after the recent Cascade Quilt Expo. It was left behind with no provenance or information on the current owner, only a tag indicating it was made in Oregon Territory between 1820 and 1840. Based on the age and known history of Oregon, that left only one possible woman who made it. It will be displayed at the Comfort Flour Mill Museum. Taylor will meet with Shawna, a volunteer with the museum, and Lorraine, who runs the museum, to study and identify the quilt and its artisan. A couple days later, Taylor joins the group who are examining the quilt, which contains mysteries of fabric use and design that will take time to solve.
Taylor returned to the museum the next day and entered the new storage building to look more closely at the quilt. Instead of finding the quilt laid out again on the table, however, was Shawna, dead, with a pair of scissors in her back.
This intriguing mystery quickly becomes more complicated with additional murders and the thoughts that the serial killer called “The Cutter” from the mid-1970’s cold cases had come back to Comfort. There are more questions than answers and held my attention throughout. To me, however, the relationship dramas, particularly between Taylor and Hudson and between right—hand person Roxy and Clay became distracting due only to the time they consumed. That is my personal preference, however, and may not be an issue for other readers. I enjoyed catching up with their families a bit, including Belle and Jonah, yet wanted a little more focus on the mystery.
Overall, this is a great cozy mystery and series, and one does not have to read prior novels in the series as the backstories were woven in seamlessly. There was at least one excellent red herring, and plot twists that kept changing my pet suspects. I was very surprised to see whodunit with regards to the murder, as it was someone I had briefly considered and discarded. With regards to the origin of the quilt, I was less surprised based on the clues throughout. I highly recommend this to those who appreciate well-written cozy mysteries with quilts, Oregon Territory history, and romance.
From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this novel, and this is my honest review.
Book Five in Rothery’s series, delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect of this author – murder, intrigue, and more than a little knowledge on the history of quilting. A bang-up combination already, but as we’ve seen with the other Quinn Quilt Shop Mysteries, there’s always a bit of romance too. This time Taylor has almost decided when a few unexpected “old flames” show up to gum up the works. Can the mystery be resolved while her romantic life is up in the air?
Another great read from Rothery here, I’ve loved the four previous volumes, BUT each one of them – and Five is no exception – are easily read as standalone too. I highly recommend the whole series!
[I received an Advanced Reader Copy of the book from the author with no obligation to review. The opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.]
Emperor’s New Quilt is a well written cozy mystery set in a small town. This book works as a stand alone, but I have read them all in order. The recurring characters have come to feel like extended family members. There are several plot twists, possible motives, and suspects in this entertaining mystery. I did not guess the murderer. Once I started reading, I could not put the book down!
Book Five in A Taylor Quinn Quilt Shop Mystery Series
If you enjoy reading a clean whodunit, then this story will be perfect for you. The story is free of sex scenes, profanity, and graphic violence. I nice read for a quiet evening. It can be read as a standalone, but I find reading the series – in order – is preferred to understand the full backstory.
I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. This review is my honest opinion of the book.