Lea Wait

Thread and Gone

Third in the Mainely Needlepoint Series

Back to Mysteries for Adults


Order from Amazon. Order from Indie Bound. Order from Barnes and Noble.

Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN-13: 978-1-61773-008-5
Also available as an e-book

Angie Curtis is hosting the Mainely Needlepointers at a Fourth of July dinner in Haven Harbor, Maine, when seventeen-year-old Mary Clough and her fiancé stop in to ask about a piece of old needlepoint Mary’s found in the attic of her old home. What is it? Is it valuable?
Excited, Angie and her friends suspect the needlework is medieval, and very valuable, so while they’re checking it out, they entrust it to Angie’s lawyer’s safe. But when the lawyer is found dead, and her safe empty ... murder unravels the town’s holiday week.

How can links to the past do so much damage today? Angie is determined to find out – especially since the needlepoint disappeared on her watch.

“Village cozy, populated with sympathetic characters and framed by details of the history of needlepoint as well as a smattering of English and French history” …  Booklist

“Historic embroidery is a motive for murder in a small Maine town. It’s a big jump from needlework to homicide, but Wait combines a plausible plot with the same rockbound coastal atmosphere as in Shadows on a Maine Christmas.” … Kirkus Reviews 

New: read the three-page prequel online now.

Author’s Note:

A Maine-based plot to free Marie Antoinette from the Bastille? Yes, indeed. There was one. Or at least that’s what old timers in Maine tell us. Of course, if there was such a plot, it failed. But a Maine ship sailing from Le Havre, France, during the French Revolution did arrive in Boston filled with exquisite French furnishings. I based part of the plot of Thread and Done on the history of my own home, locally called The Marie Antoinette House. But I haven’t found any old needlepoint. And the rest of the story is fictional … and was a lot of fun to research and imagine!

Questions and Topics for Discussion:

Mary Clough’s home is filled with the treasures of past generations, some valuable, and some just filled with memories. Does your family have such treasures? Are they valued today? Should they be? Do you think Mary should keep anything from her family’s home? What would you keep? Mary is seventeen and in love. She’s planning to drop out of high school, get married, and sell the home she’s inherited from her family, and most of its contents. Is she making the right decision? What would you advise her? Would she listen to you? Characters in books set in Maine often include lobstermen (or women.) Did you learn anything about lobstering from this book? Would it be a career you’d recommend to someone in your family?

Mary’s not the only one in Haven Harbor faced with difficult situations. What do you think Nicole and Henri Thibodeau should decide about his mother? What about Captain Ob Winslow and his wife, Anna … their son Josh has many problems. Could they have anticipated what happened, and stopped it? Can well-meaning parents control their son’s or daughter’s actions?

Who was most ambitious? Uma Patel? Josh Winslow? Jude Curran? Rob Trask? What did they do toward achieving their ambitions? Did they make the right decisions? Lenore Pendleton and her husband Charlie have an interesting relationship. Did it seem realistic to you? Haven Harbor is a small town, and this is the third book in the Mainely Needlepoint book set there. Each book tells a little more about the Mainely Needlepointers, and other people in town. Do you want to know what happens to these people in future books? Are you concerned about the “dreaded Cabot Cove syndrome” – in which eventually most of the town will be killed off? Why or why not?

All contents Copyright ©2019 Lea Wait. All rights reserved.
No text or images may be reproduced without the express written consent of the owner. Site managed by Finestkind Web Design