Customer Reviews

An Ominous Death

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As a quilter, I liked the special information about the details of quilting, and could picture the ladies sitting around the quilt, trying to solve the mystery, as they took their tiny stitches. Very much surprised at the ending-the murderer.

AN OMINOUS DEATH is a light mystery read with both a lovable victim and sleuth. The various clues lead in several directions and maintain the reader's interest. Readers who loved A PHANTOM DEATH will be happy to see another Arizona mystery.

Maggie Browne and the members of the St. Rose Quilting Bee visit their friend Candy Breckner at the Palo Verde Care Center in an attempt to cheer her up after having broken both her legs in a car accident. Agitated, Candy tells them that she fears for her life. An angel of death is taking her friends at night and sending them to their death. Although most of the Quilting Bee ladies attribute Candy's stories to her medication of the accident, Maggie does love a mystery after solving a murder in A Phantom Death. When Candy dies unexpectedly, the police begin questioning their friend Louise Lombard and Maggie is drawn deeper into the case...
Although the local police probably wish she would leave the crime solving to the professionals, Maggie feels she owes her friend and must take on the case when the police do not seem quite as concerned as she is.

Maggie Browne's friends all call her the Jessica Fletcher or the Miss Marple of Scottsdale, Arizona. The label fits--just add an occasional horse ride through the less urban land to think through her cases. Many mysteries gloss over the victim but this mystery develops her character so that the reader, like Maggie, wants the culprit caught and punished. AN OMINOUS DEATH Death can definitely be read as a stand alone with very little reference to the first, or even in reverse order, except of course, Maggie Browne fans will want another read after discovering this sleuth and her quilting bee. AN OMINOUS DEATH includes some twists and surprises despite the possible hints in the beginning. A PHANTOM DEATH had a few less red herrings and the threads seemed tied together a bit more but these are minor compared to superb characterization, the great scene setting and the intriguing mystery that unfolds. This reader eagerly awaits the next Maggie Browne mystery.

In Scottsdale, Arizona part-time member of the St. Rose Quilting Bee, Candy Breckner breaks her legs in a car accident. Since no one is available or willing to care for her, Candy checks into the Palo Verde Care Center. When her quilting bee partners visit her, she hysterically tells them she fears for her life from an "angel of death" employed at the nursing facility.

Her friend write off her trepidations as drug induced until Candy is found dead by bee member Louise Lombard. The Scottsdale police believe a homicide occurred with Louise as the prime suspect. Maggie Browne and the other Bees, already horrified and feeling guilty over Candy's death, vow to find the real culprit before Louise is locked away.

Though the Quilting Bees know not to investigate after their previous homicidal escapades (see A PHANTOM DEATH), led by magnificent Maggie they cannot leave Candy's death alone especially when one of them is the suspect. Thus readers obtain a picturesque cozy as the Bees swarm all over the Arizona desert in between a stitch or two. The who-done-it is cleverly devised, but that takes a back seat to the busy Bees butting into police matters.

Harriet Klausner