Guest Post: Jeanne and Treadmill Books-- Lea Wait: An Appreciation

It has been quite some time, but Jeanne of the BPL is back today with another post in her Treadmill Books series….

Lea Wait: An Appreciation

Sometimes I get in a reading rut.  There are books I trudge through, grimly determined not to give up, but I find myself looking for excuses not to read. This is a horrifying state of affairs.   In order to get my reading mojo back, I horde books that are guaranteed to get me happily reading.

One sure-fire jump starter is Lea Wait’s Mainely Needlepoint series.  I picked up Twisted Threads,  the first in the series,  almost by accident because the large print version featured a fine looking Maine Coon cat on the cover and it is one of Mma Ratmoswe’s  well known facts that I am a sucker for a book with a cat on the cover.  (Sadly, this is how I get into some of my reading ruts: the writing inside the book doesn’t live up to the cover.  While I actually do not require a cat to be part of the action, I do require interesting characters, some sort of a mystery, and decently good writing, preferably all three.)

I was quickly introduced to Angie Curtis, a young woman from Maine who was working as an assistant to a private investigator in Arizona.  Like many young people, she had fled the town where she grew up as quickly as she could and rarely looked back.  Angie’s mother had left her when she was a child, and while Angie was brought up by a loving grandmother, she still had to face the schoolyard taunts about her mother’s virtue—or lack thereof—and Angie’s unknown father.

A call from her grandmother, Charlotte, brings the one bit of news could cause Angie to come back to her former home:  her mother has been found. More precisely, her mother’s body has been found.

So began my introduction to a set of intriguing characters and an even more intriguing locale.  Angie is a strong and capable woman who has the courage to face the demons from her past.  As the series continues, Angie acquires a number of friends who form the supporting cast, each an individual not a cardboard character.  There’s Sarah Byrne, the Australian born antiques dealer who has an Emily Dickinson quotation for every occasion; Rev. Tom, a good-hearted minister who has befriended Charlotte; Patrick, the artist son of a famous actress; and a whole crew of ordinary folks who supplement their incomes by doing needlework to order: fishermen, a teacher (who has his own poison garden) and even a senior citizen who writes erotica under an assumed name. 

The town of Harbor Haven is almost a character in itself; Wait does a beautiful job of showing the reader around, as Angie rediscovers and remembers the place she grew up.  It’s more than just a picture postcard view, though, as we learn about the economic rhythms of a working seaside town.  Most cozy mysteries are content to give readers generic shopkeeping, not lobstering.  

For the first time in my life, I think I might like to visit Maine.

As an added attraction, every book features real quotations from antique samplers and information on the history of needlework, all presented in a very palatable manner for someone whose needle skills are fairly non-existent.

The mysteries are well done but even if a solution rings a bit false, I don’t care.  I’m too engaged in the lives of Angie, Charlotte, Sarah, et al to care.  Sadly, I have read the latest published one, Thread Herrings, in a desperate attempt to get steps on the treadmill since the cold and dark has driven me indoors, so I will have to wait until April for the next one to appear.  Of course, I can always start her first series, Antique Print Mysteries….

And while I prefer to read series in order, I think a reader could pick up any title and enjoy it.  This is also a good place to mention that I particularly admire Wait’s ability to obliquely refer back to previous important events (such as, oh, the last murder) in such a way that the book isn’t spoiled for those who haven’t read it and yet shows the ripple effect that the event had on the community.

Thank you, Lea Wait, for creating such a lovely place to visit. Also, for helping me to get the last 4-6,000 steps per day on that blasted treadmill.

Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series

Twisted Threads

Threads of Evidence

Thread and Gone

Dangling by a Thread

Tightening the Threads

Thread the Halls

Thread Herrings

Thread on Arrival (April 2019)

Guest Post: Jeanne and Treadmill Books: Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series by Lea Wait

Last Wednesday Jeanne of the Bookblog of the Bristol Library started something new with her Treadmill Books Review. These are books that she reads while on the treadmill. Such books have to fit her criteria of “…. A  book has to be entertaining without being too demanding. If I’d rather walk than read, that is not a good book. On the other hand, if the book is so enjoyable that I end up walking extra steps just so I can read another chapter, then that is a fine book indeed.” 

Treadmill Books:  Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series by Lea Wait

Angie Curtis is an independent young woman who never knew who her father was, and whose mother disappeared when she was still a child.  She was reared and loved by her grandmother who gave her stability, but there’s still a bit of a void in her life. She left her grandmother and Maine far behind, taking on a variety of odd jobs, including acting as an assistant to a private investigator.  Finding herself at loose ends, she’s not sure what her next step should be—and then comes word that her mother has been found.

Or what’s left of her.

Angie had always believed that her mother simply abandoned her, so the revelation that her mother died all those years ago shakes her to her core.  She heads back to Maine to face her memories, and maybe to reconnect a bit before she moves on again.

Then she discovers that her mother was murdered.

Naturally, I picked up the large print version of the book based on the cat on the cover.  My theory is that if I don’t like the hero/heroine, maybe I’ll like the cat enough to finish. In this case, the cat is mostly false advertising. There is a cat in the early books, Juno, but she belongs to Angie’s grandmother and merits only brief mentions.  (Later on, Angie ends up with a cat of her own who is a bit more involved in the story.) 

Luckily, this was a book that held my interest even without a cat. The plot allows the reader to get to know Angie very well as she searches her childhood memories for anything that might be, in hindsight, an important clue. This is a good time to note that Wait is very good with characterization.  She creates memorable characters instead of stereotypical ones and uses the coastal Maine setting to quite well.  I like her use of sensory descriptions, from the gritty feel of the sand to the smell of frying seafood, making Haven Harbor feel tangible. Because Angie has spent time in Arizona, there is ample opportunity for Wait to have Angie re-experience her hometown through all her senses: new and yet familiar.  It gives readers a good feel for the place.

There’s a fine blend of character, place, and plot.  Over the course of the series, Wait constantly introduces new characters while fleshing out old ones.  This makes the books somewhat sequential and yet I don’t think this is a series that has to be read in order as each book is self-contained. (Though I would recommend starting with Twisted Threads for Angie’s background; after that, it’s easier to jump around.)  I admire the way Wait handles the possibility that someone may read out of sequence: acknowledging an event obliquely but without so much detail that the older book is spoiled, giving a sense of continuity to those who have read the previous books but not spoiling it for newcomers.  It’s a delicate balance and Wait navigates it well.

This is a favorite treadmill series because the books keep me so involved that I don’t mind as much that I am on a trail to nowhere.  In fact, I have been known to walk for “just one more chapter,” which is quite the achievement. My Fitbit thanks you, Ms. Wait.  

At the moment, I’m all caught up with the series but Thread the Halls is due out in October 2017.  

The rest of the books are:

1.      Twisted Threads

2.      Threads of Evidence

3.      Thread and Gone

4.      Dangling by a Thread

5.      Tightening the Threads