Thai Die (Needlecraft Mysteries, No. 12) [Hardcover]

Monica Ferris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2008

The USA Today bestselling Needlecraft mystery series returns to pick up another deadly stitch—includes a free needlepoint pattern!

As full-time owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, Betsy Devonshire has become skilled at weaving suspicious threads. But when one of her regulars unwittingly becomes involved in a deadly delivery of exotic antiquities, Betsy fears something is seriously warped.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thai silk to die for plunges Betsy Devonshire, the proprietor of Crewel World in Excelsior, Minn., into danger in Ferris's winning 12th needlecraft mystery (after 2007's Knitting Bones). Among the many souvenirs Betsy's friend Doris Valentine brings home from a Thailand vacation is a stone Buddha to be delivered to a St. Paul antiques dealer. When Doris discards the dirty cloth the Buddha was wrapped in, Betsy rescues the cloth, which turns out to be valuable silk more than 2,000 years old. Has Doris become an unwitting pawn in an international antiquities theft operation? After someone ransacks Doris's apartment and murders the antiques dealer, Sgt. Mike Malloy of the Excelsior police and civilian detective Betsy find themselves involved in a case more complicated than any needlework pattern she's ever attempted. With more action and a stronger plot than Knitting Bones, this entry in the popular cozy series offers such choice knitting tidbits as how to spin hair from a 14-pound angora rabbit. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

In this twelfth adventure for the owner of Crewel World in Excelsior, Minnesota, Betsy Devonshire and the other Monday Bunch regulars eagerly welcome back Doris Valentine from a trip to Thailand—and are happy to accept scarves, and skeins of floss as gifts. Doris also shows them a small stone Buddha that she has agreed to deliver to an antiques store in St. Paul. Then the store owner is murdered, the statue stolen, and some of Doris’ Thailand souvenirs go missing. Excelsior police officer Mike Malloy and Betsy are soon trying to unravel the clues. The story line features a Minnesota blizzard and a crazed, gun-wielding villain, but one of the novel’s most endearing scenes involves weaving directly from a giant angora rabbit. This mixture of believable action, cozy scenes, and commentary on the problem of priceless artifact theft makes this one of the strongest entries in the series. --Judy Coon

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425223469
• ISBN-13: 978-0425223468
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #981,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Monica Ferris is the USA Today bestselling author of several mystery series under various pseudonyms.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful cozy, December 4, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thai Die (Needlecraft Mysteries, No. 12) (Hardcover)

As the owner of a building containing three apartments, one of which she lives in, and where the Crewel World needlework shop is located, Betsy Devonshire is once again in the middle of a murder case. When Doris Valentine returned from Thailand, she is eager to show Betsy and the Monday Bunch all the beautiful things she found in Bangkok especially silk.

Doris also promised an American living in Bangkok that she would deliver a package to an antiquities dealer who has a buyer. She opens the box to find a stone Buddha wrapped inside bubble plastic and a filthy cloth. She throws the cloth out but Betsy sees a beautiful design on it and saves it. The dealer is unhappy that she opened his package; when Doris returns to her apartment she finds it ransacked. Needing to get away, she and a few friends stay at an inn only to have a person with a gun demanding she give up the Thai silk. With the antiques dealer murdered and Doris' life threatened, Betsy turns amateur sleuth to uncover who is behind the crime wave and why.

Monica Ferris consistently writes delightful cozies with her latest being another fun bloodless tale. Readers are treated to a wonderful cerebral whodunit with clues out in the open so that audience has a chance to solve the case. Betsy (and the audience) is dealing with a difficult inquiry because of the numerous red herrings, false leads, and the threat to her friend. Doris is glad to have her in her corner.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The series seems to be slipping ................, February 5, 2009

By 

Karen D. Larry-Moyer "Pages & Print" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thai Die (Needlecraft Mysteries, No. 12) (Hardcover)

I have read the series since the first and for the most part enjoyed it. I think that Betsy Devonshire is a fun sleuth to follow not to mention I enjoy learning about the various needlecrafts. This one though was too easy to solve - since so many folks had been killed off it was easy to figure out who the bad guy was.

I think it was nice to see the characters away from the shop - the trip to the natural wool store etc but it was too little of Betsy in this one. I listened to the audio version of the book - usually makes my long commute more pleasurable BUT alas not only did the plot have holes and was not much of a mind tangler but the woman that read this book was horrible. The cover of the audio case was loaded with accolades for her reading prowess but I have to wonder how hard the publisher had to twist the arms of the reviewers to get these glowing reviews.

This is the 3rd book of Ferris that has been done as an audio book and I wish they had been able to get the lady that read the first two. This one read like every character was over the age of 97 with those light wispy voices of the aged and she seemed to add in a healthy dose of whining in he dialogue. Since the woman reader seemed to have a deeper natural voice she did a better job with giving character to the men in the book but for any woman it was almost painful to listen to - Betsy never really got a "voice" since each paragraph of dialogue for Betsy had a different range - so Betsy either has a voice like a strangled soprano or bordering on being a deep bass male. It was so distracting to listen to this reading that I think that may have taken away from my enjoyment of the text. I did love the scenes in the book with Doris and Phil since I think it is warming to think that love is still fun when you are over 70 ! Here's hoping that book 13 will be a better mystery and that the publishers find a better narrator - and please bring back Jill I love her personality.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, and education in one book, June 23, 2009

By 

Plain Jane, (Smalltown, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Thai Die (Needlecraft Mysteries, No. 12) (Hardcover)

There are twists and turns in all of the Ferris books, and the casts of characters are always interesting. Ferris always adds information on subjects in her stories that educate the reader, and Thai Die is no exception. I didn't realize I knew so little about silk until I read this book. Well worth reading, and I truly look forward to her next book.