Kristin Eckhardt

Family Patterns is the first of Guideposts' Patchwork Mysteries series. Kristin Eckhardt gives us an intriguing prologue set in 1920, where young wife Molly Drayton fears she will not survive the night.

Then the book shifts to 2010, in which Molly's granddaughter, Sarah Hart, and her twin granddaughters, Amy and Audrey, find a clue to the mystery of Molly's disappearance in the first chapter. Yes, that's disappearance, not murder. Ms. Eckhardt is definitely not making it easy for veteran cozy show more mystery fans. We don't know if Molly survived and was never able to return for her six-year-old son, William, or if her bones have been hidden for 90 years. The author also gives us some information that would mean the chief suspect at the time is no kin to our heroine and her descendants if guilty -- but the suspect could still be innocent. (I don't know if the author came up with those plot points herself or to the Carolyn Greene she thanks in her dedication. Kudos to the writer responsible.) show less

A good start to a new mystery series--though most of it is set up to the premise that the main character will use books from her bookstore to help her solve mysteries. (The bookstore opens at the close of this book.)

I liked the small town atmosphere and it made me nostalgic for those times and places where everyone really is a neighbor.


I was intrigued by the realistic portrayals of uprooting one's life to start over in a new location (no matter how much one was looking forward to realizing a show more dream) and in following a dream vocation. show less

This is probably my favorite entry so far in the Mysteries of Sparrow Island series. I don't remember how I came to hear of the series--I think a friend recommended it to me. In any case, a friend sent me this book from the series.

Unlike other books in the series, most of this book takes place away from Sparrow Island. A small group of Islanders travels to have items appraised by Antiques Adventures (similar to Antiques Roadshow).

On the way to the show, we get to hear what most/all of the show more Islanders plan to get appraised. I'm not sure we get to learn what all the appraisers say about the items--it sounds like one of the Islanders skipped out on the appraisal to go to a baseball game instead.

Mystery ensues when Abby's painting is stolen from her hotel room. Abby and the hotel's detective rub each other the wrong way as each tries to figure out who did it.

We also get a bit of insight into traveling as a disabled person and some of the challenges that they can face.

WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW. READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

*****

There's a complication when it seems Betty's teapot that is a match to Thelma's tea set is stolen. I didn't catch on to what really happened with that until about the time Abby revealed it.

I didn't catch on to who stole the painting and why until right around the time that Abby revealed it.

At the end, I felt like the locket should go back to its original owner's family (or at least be offered to give it to them), just as they sent the diary/journal back to the descendants of its original owner. We're not told if Ellen decides to do that or not--or even if she thinks about it. show less

A friend sent me this book in a box of books. I've read others in the series, but not necessarily in order.

The plot seemed very similar to a book I've read in the past though I don't know if it was a book in this series or a different book. I was expecting the thief to be a bird who was attracted by shiny objects (though I didn't quite see how Hugo's journal fit that category). I was wrong about the thief.

I didn't like that the plot had me questioning most male characters in the book to see show more if he was the con man. I thought Hugo's side of the plot in leaving the island so often was a bit contrived since we've never heard much about this part of his life in the other books from the series that I've read. It was an interesting twist that the investigator turned out to be a bit of a con man himself. I didn't guess who Howard Barnaby was until just before it was revealed by the author.

I knew chocolate was bad for dogs, but didn't realize it was also bad for ducks. show less