Slay Bells by Annette Mahon

First Line: "Did you hear about Kathleen Romelli?" Clare Patterson asked the moment she walked in the door.

Christmas season is not off to a good start for St. Rose parishioners in Scottsdale, Arizona. First, Kathy Romelli and her son are murdered in their home. Then fellow Quilting Bee member Clare is the victim of an attempted carjacking. There is also a rash of thefts from parked cars in the area, and another parishioner has been charged with creating a Ponzi scheme.

Maggie was hoping to spend quiet sessions discussing holiday gifts and recipes, not puzzling out the identity of a murderer, but when the Quilting Bee's first choice as culprit is found dead, the members aren't going to be discussing anything else. Not until they have the killer behind bars.

Once again I've treated myself to one of Annette Mahon's St. Rose Quilting Bee mysteries as well as one of the quilts she makes. (Yes, that's her quilt on the book cover.) Mahon is adept at using local news items as grist for her mystery-making mill, and this practice makes for a very interesting read. 

One of the things I enjoy most about Mahon's mysteries is their gentleness. Yes, bad-- even horrible-- things happen to people, but they happen offstage. Also, the sleuths, who come from varying backgrounds and have very different temperaments, are retirees who don't wave guns around and jump half-cocked into dangerous situations. Even Maggie Browne's police officer son has learned how well her quilting group can gather valuable pieces of information, so he occasionally asks them to keep their ears to the ground. 

Annette Mahon's Slay Bells shows that it is possible to solve a mystery without fighting and gunfire. The St. Rose Quilting Bee is an entire group of Miss Marples who are fantastic at stitching, asking questions, and listening to the answers. I enjoy each and every book in this series.   
 

Slay Bells by Annette Mahon

ISBN: 9781432831301

Five Star Publishing © 2016

Hardcover, 262 pages

Cozy Mystery, #6 St. Rose Quilting Bee mystery

Rating: B+

Source: the author

An Ominous Death by Annette Mahon

First Line: Candy lay in the darkness, eyes open, ears alert.

Sometime member of the St. Rose Quilting Bee group Candy Breckner broke both her legs in a car wreck and is recuperating at the Palo Verde Care Center. When Maggie Browne and the other Bee members find out, they go for a visit and bring a gift-- a lap quilt they made especially for her. Candy is in an extremely agitated state, telling her friends that there is an "angel of death" working at the facility, but her worries are easily blamed on the side effects of medication. 

When Candy dies suddenly, Maggie and the others start having second thoughts-- especially when police seem to be very interested in Bee member Louise Lombard, a retired nurse who found Candy's body. With interest on the wrong person, it's up to the St. Rose Quilting Bee to piece and stitch all the clues together into a quilt of evidence strong enough to wrap up a killer.

If you like character-driven mysteries featuring women "of a certain age," I recommend Annette Mahon's St. Rose Quilting Bee series. The Bee members are a cross section of women from all walks of life and of all personalities. Maggie Browne gave her north Scottsdale ranch to one of her sons and his family, and now she's enjoying horseback riding, theater, her children and grandchildren, and doing volunteer work through her quilting group. Maggie tends to be the most level-headed and inquisitive of the group, which also contains a retired nurse, a woman who compares clues to the mysteries she's read, and the resident curmudgeon (among others). There may not be any physical descriptions of these women in this book, but that's really not necessary. Their voices and behavior distinguish each one quite easily.

Having a killer in a nursing home easing the elderly out of their lives of pain and into the hereafter is an excellent plot device and really kept me guessing, and Mahon's skill with the Scottsdale, Arizona, setting gives you a real taste of city living in the desert. 

You also get a taste for quilting (an art form I've always greatly admired) while reading An Ominous Death. Bee members even get several people-- women and men-- to take a class at the Palo Verde Care Center. I have to admit that my favorite part of the book was listening to all the women as they sat around the quilt frame, stitching together layers of fabric and batting and discussing each new scrap of information. It's like watching an entire group of Miss Marples, only these ladies don't pack knitting needles.

Annette Mahon has created a group of women that Miss Marple herself would be proud to know, and I think you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

An Ominous Death by Annette Mahon

ISBN: 9780373266098 

Worldwide © 2007

Mass Market Paperback, 255 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 St. Rose Quilting Bee mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap 

A Phantom Death by Annette Mahon

First Line: It was a glorious night, crisp and clear, with millions of tiny shards of light sparkling in the deep black of the desert sky.

Maggie Browne knew Jonathan Hunter when he was a child living close to their ranch outside Scottsdale, Arizona. Now he's an actor on tour with "Phantom of the Opera." When Jonathan is found bludgeoned to death in the desert not far from the ranch Maggie's son now owns, Maggie is in shock and shares her feelings with her beloved St. Rose Quilting Bee group.

The police are struggling to find clues, so when Jonathan's mother shows up and asks for her help, Maggie decides to do some sleuthing of her own, aided by her friends in the quilting group. Volunteering as theater ushers, Maggie and fellow quilter Victoria get to know the cast members and soon realize why the police are having problems: the suspect list is a long one filled with people who are grudging at best when it comes to coughing up the truth.

You know me-- when I hear of a mystery series set in Arizona, I have to get my hands on it. Annette Mahon's setting was a familiar one. I could picture myself traveling the streets of Scottsdale with Maggie, as well as on out into the desert where the ever present land sharks are buying up as much land as possible to turn into cookie cutter housing for the rich and not-so rich. Also easy to envision was Maggie's quilting group, which is filled with a variety of characters sure to play featured roles in future books. I liked the way quilting really played a part in events and felt as though I learned a good deal about how a quilting group works. But my enlightenment did not stop there. I also became acquainted with the theater through reading Mahon's book.

An excellent setting, the imparting of knowledge-- and a darned good cast of characters. Between Maggie's sons and their families and the "Phantom of the Opera" cast, Mahon has plenty of scope to flex her characterization muscles, and she does without getting me tangled up in names once. Maggie is a strong, intelligent, caring woman who's the heart of her family and also has a busy role in her community. She's perfect as the main character.

For some reason, I knew the identity of the murderer almost immediately. I'm not sure why because I don't think the author made it that obvious. (Perhaps I wasn't wearing my tinfoil hat as I read the book?) I enjoyed reading about this group of older (mostly retired) women solving crime on my own turf, and I look forward to reading more of their adventures.

A Phantom Death by Annette Mahon

ISBN: 9780373265916

Worldwide Library © 2007

Mass Market Paperback, 252 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 St. Rose Quilting Bee mystery

Rating: B

Source: Paperback Swap