A drunkard's path

Nell Fitzgerald, a 26-year-old New Yorker who's made a new life for herself in the Hudson River town of Archers Rest, looks into two murders in O'Donohue's artful second quilting mystery (after 2008's The Lover's Knot): that of Lily Harmon, a young woman found floating in the Hudson's icy waters, and that of Sandra Thomas, an art student whose strangled corpse turns up two feet from Nell's back door. The abrasive Sandra may have been having an affair with her teacher, Oliver White, a notorious womanizer and former drunk, who Nell suspects is the killer. Meanwhile, Nell and her quilting group worry about the romance developing between Oliver and Eleanor Cassidy, Nell's quilt shop-owner grandmother. Despite a warning from her new boyfriend, Archers Rest's police chief, Nell throws herself into the investigation, which also draws the attention of a nearby town's police chief. O'Donohue deftly weaves clever crime-solving with valuable quilting tips. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

An aspiring artist and her admirer on the force find themselves at odds over a murder case. Looks as if Nell Fitzgerald's first date with Police Chief Jesse Dewalt will have to wait; she's stood up when a young woman's body is found in the Hudson River. After accepting Jesse's apologies, Nell busies herself helping in her grandmother's Someday Quilts shop, working on her own first quilt and signing up for art classes at a local college. She manages to worm her way into the already full drawing class of famous artist Oliver White, who's taken a shine to her grandmother. Despite Jesse's disapproval, Nell can't resist looking into the river death. Nor is she deterred when the corpse of a fellow drawing student who seemed uncommonly friendly with Oliver is found in her grandmother's yard. Nell hates to suspect Oliver or her new friend Kennette, an impoverished art student who somehow ended up working at the quilt shop and living with Nell and her grandmother. But both of them have mysterious backgrounds. Nell ropes in all her grandmother's friends to do research and snooping. Jesse turns a cold eye on her amateur detective work, but Nell will do anything to protect her grandmother from a possible murderer. As before (The Lover's Knot, 2008), O'Donohue aims to make those who love quilts feel right at home. A surprise ending adds to the appeal. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.