Lea Wait (1946–2019)

Angie encounters a man locals call "The Solitary" when she visits the harbor. She learns his name is Jesse Lockhart and that he lives on King's Island, about 3 miles off Haven Harbor's coast. The man moved to his family's island to protect the Great Cormorant which nests there. He comes into town to pick up mail and shop occasionally. A rich man wants to buy the island, and the local realtor wants to make it happen. Dave, a Mainely Needlepointer and Jesse's friend, and Angie go to warn the man that his cousin who co-owns the island is being flown in by the rich man, but two in the boat confuses Jesse and he shoots an arrow which pierces Dave's leg. When Angie goes with law enforcement to talk to Jesse the next day, they find him dead. The rich man is Patrick's uncle. Patrick has recently returned from convalescing in Boston following the fire in the last installment. Angie and Dave line up support from environmental groups to launch a campaign to "save the Great Cormorant." The plot's pretty convoluted, and it takes a long time to get to the murder. Angie uncovers the clues that lead to an arrest. The setting is pleasant, and I love the needlepoint angle. I wish needlepoint figured more prominently to the story. I felt the author failed to include the needlepoint discussed early in the story when concluding her plot. I listened to the audio book.… (more)

I like this series. They're not traditional cosy mysteries as such. Your typical cosy mysteries are a lot faster with a smaller cast and less character development. This series has a more serious vibe, focusing more on the characters and less on the mystery. That said, when the mystery starts it's a lot more involved and with better pacing than most.

Unfortunately this wasn't as strong a read as the rest of the series. There was one major editing flaw (when Angie informs Charlotte of Paul's death and then 2 chapters later does so again) I was surprised hadn't been picked up. The mystery wasn't paced as well as the other books in the series either. It all ends very abruptly with no real aftermath. Plus the motives were kind of weak and the culprits pretty obvious. And there's not as much investigating as there was in previous installments. One thing I really liked about the rest of the series was the cold case aspect. Most of them (I think all of them bar, Dangling by a Thread?) have involved a cold case and has a mix of past and present intertwining and I think it's something the author does really well. This mystery though was mostly set in the present and I don't think it worked as well because of it.

Character wise - I love Angie. And Charlotte. And all the Mainely Needlepointers. I would've liked to see more of them and more of their needlepointing. I like the history excerpts at the beginnings of the chapter but apart from that there was only really the discussion at the beginning about the antique needlepoint collection Sarah picked up for her shop. I enjoyed that - I spent a bit of time googling chatelaine's after that - it was fascinating. But we didn't even get to see Charlotte unwrap her presents - I wanted to know her reaction to the needle and thimble cases. I really enjoy the needlepoint part of the series so I wished there was more present in this volume.

The romance in this series is kind of lackluster. It doesn't really add anything to the plot. Patrick and Angie are pretty lame. They hug a lot and they have a few kisses but I'm not really seeing why either of them like the other. In the earlier books I found it easier to ignore because they didn't spend much time together - but since they spend more time together in this one I found it more annoying that they were so meh together.

Still I do really enjoy this series and while this was not my favourite I'll definitely be reading the rest. 3 stars.… (more)