The Alpine Quilt [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Mary Daheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2005

A USA Today Bestselling Author

Members of the Burl Creek Thimble Club, a quilting circle in small-town Alpine, Washington, are planning a fete to welcome back Genevieve Bayard, who left the group decades ago. But Gen's homecoming is cut decidedly short when she dies at a dinner party. Emma Lord, owner and publisher of the local newspaper, The Alpine Advocate, immediately arrives on the scene to report the incident and sleuth her way to the truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Quilters will especially enjoy Daheim's 17th cozy (after 2004's Alpine Pursuit) to feature Emma Lord, publisher of the Alpine Advocate, the weekly newspaper of rural Alpine, Wash. When Genevieve Bayard, who grew up in Alpine, returns for a visit after a long absence, Annie Jeanne Dupré, the gentle, heavy-handed organist at St. Mildred's, decides to hold a welcome-back party for Gen and the other members of their old quilting group. Gen's sudden death at the party (from eating poisoned cheesecake, an autopsy later reveals) upsets everyone, but Emma's House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, who was absent at the time of the murder, is unusually disturbed and starts to behave strangely. Break-ins, a stranger in the local motel, burned quilt patterns, an anonymous letter, suspicious medications and another death compound the mystery. Daheim sympathetically portrays the small mountain town and its denizens, particularly Emma and her brother, Ben, a priest who's serving as St. Mildred's interim rector. Readers will also be enticed by the food and drink the characters often turn to for comfort. Agent, Maureen Moran. (Apr. 26) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Emma Lord, owner and publisher of the Alpine Advocate, is back for another adventure featuring a small town in Washington State and its eclectic residents. What lifts this series above the typical cozy is Emma herself: a dedicated journalist who left Seattle to buy a small-town newspaper and who is trying to move on from the death of her fiance. Her occasional "no strings attached" sleepovers with Sheriff Milo Dodge are proof of Emma's independence, yet she is not immune to the dashing Rolf Fisher of the Associated Press. (That the frugal Emma will blow a fortune on a new outfit for her first date with Rolf is one example of why she is so lovable.) In this outing, a former resident is poisoned when she returns home for a visit. Suspicion is cast upon her best friend, church organist Annie Jeanne. To the chagrin of Emma's brother, Ben, a down-to-earth priest, some parishioners have stopped attending mass for fear of being poisoned during Communion. Daheim fans will welcome another encounter with the ever-enchanting Emma. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786276150
• ISBN-13: 978-0786276158
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,241,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death of a quilter, April 25, 2005

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alpine Quilt: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Genevieve Bayard returns to Alpine to have a reunion with the women of the Burl Creek Thimble Club, a quilters group to which she used to belong. The ladies seem to be having a good time until Gen dies at a dinner party with her friends. As always, newspaper editor Emma Lord decides to conduct her own investigation, in spite of being discoraged by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Sheriff Milo Dodge. Her investigation reveals some long-hidden secrets, including a possible affair, and the stealing of quilt patterns. All of the evidence points to Gen's best friends and to Emma's friend, Vida. Emma redoubles her efforts to exonerate Vida and along the way she discovers some things she wish had stayed hidden. Mary Daheim can always be counted on to write a good mystery with interesting characters, a dash of romance and some laughs along the way.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Clue Out Of The Past, June 2, 2005

By 

Beth D (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Alpine Quilt: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Genevieve Bayard is back in town for a visit with her son, local photo shop owner Buddy. It's been decades since she had quit the local Burl Hill Thimble Club and moved to Spokane, but her old friends threw a party to welcome her back.

But the next day Genevieve drops dead while having dinner with her oldest and closest friend, Annie Jeanne Dupre, local spinster and housekeeper at the rectory.

What at first looks like a heart attack turns into murder when it's found that insulin pills had been put into the dessert.

Who would want to kill Gen? Or maybe they wanted to kill Annie Jeanne, who was in the hospital, fortunate that she only ate one piece of cheesecake while Gen had scarfed down three pieces.

Emma Lord, owner of the local newspaper, The Alpine Advocate decides she has to investigate, after all, she didn't want any suspicion to come over the church, where her brother, Father Ben is currently the fill-in priest.

But investigation proves difficult when her usual partner in crime, House & Home editor, Vida Runkel refuses to have anything to do with the case. She hated Genevieve and couldn't care less that she was dead.

Suddenly suspicion seems to fall on too many people close to Emma and she wonders if the crime was the result of recent events or something that occurred a long time ago.

Highlights:

Emma is a very likable character. I love the interplay between her and her brother Ben.

The supporting characters are, as usual, wonderful. Scott, Ginny & Leo from the paper, Spencer Fleetwood, the radio station owner and Emma's son - Adam - a priest located somewhere near the North Pole and of course, Ed Bronsky. Although none of them have major storylines, they appear throughout the book, giving you a real feel of small town life, where you meet everyone, here, there and everywhere.

Milo Dodge - town sheriff. The perfect man for Emma although she hasn't realized it for a decade.

Lowlight:

Tom Cavanaugh - Long time Lover, Almost husband, who had been murdered before her eye's. (Emma's description of Tom)

Tom Cavanaugh - Two-timing creep who dumped a pregnant Emma to go back to his pregnant wife, ignored her & their son for 20 years, showed up and had many 1 night or 1 week stands with her, promised several times to marry her, dumped her several more times, turned out to be criminal who got killed by his own cohorts. (My description of Tom) But everyone thinks he was a great guy?

I loved the mystery. Never figured it out.

The ending was a real surprise and incorporated a lot of things you had learned from previous books. That is what I love about these books, that there is a consistency in the storyline, you hear about old characters and old plotlines, which makes everything seem so much more real.

This is a series that is best to start from the beginning and read through. Although, each book does work as a stand alone.

If you like these books, check out her other series - The Bed & Breakfast series featuring Judith & Joe Flynn, which I think is the best series in the mystery genre.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Please, no substitute for Tom is needed., April 30, 2005

By 

Puzzler (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alpine Quilt: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have really enjoyed the books in this series. Mrs. Daheim does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the village of Alpine and its inhabitants. I really like the way the characters develop from book to book (here Vida). I have only one complaint. Emma is so blind to the qualities of the men in her life. Please, Mrs. Daheim, let her grow up and realize that Milo is the man for her. You could develop an interesting story line of the life of Emma and Milo as a married couple both working to solve crime in Alpine.