In the second installment of the Southern Quilting Mystery series, the two quilting groups in the small town of Dappled Hills, North Carolina, are vying for members. More specifically, the Village Quilters, has a dwindling membership, while the rival Cut-Ups quilting guild enjoys a more robust roster of quilters. Meadow Downey, the leader of the Village Quilters has decided to actively recruit members and she does so with the blessing of friend and co-Village Quilter member, Beatrice Coleman. However, when Meadow sets her sights on Jo Paxton, Beatrice wonders whether Meadow has made a wise decision.

Jo is the local mail carrier who also frequently judges local quilting shows and she has a penchant for attracting trouble. Jo is not the most tactful person, quilters question her objectivity in judging, and the only person who seems to get along with her is the town's eccentric elderly woman who believes that Jo visits her daily (when Jo delivers the mail).

When Jo is killed in a car accident that police later deem to be not-so- accidental, Meadow is sure one of the Cut-Ups wants to eliminate the Village Quilters. Beatrice, however, believes that someone was targeting Jo specifically. But she had made so many enemies, it seems nearly impossible to narrow the suspect list. Once Beatrice starts piecing together the clues, she uncovers more motives than she initially thought possible, including blackmail! And when one of the suspects ends up dead, Beatrice knows she needs to step up the investigation.

The mystery was interesting and intriguing, although it was never quite clear to me why Beatrice got involved in the investigation. In most cosies, the amateur detective is either accused or a close friend is, but that was never the case here; it's true that the local detective was more interested in reading Thoreau than in investigating, but it was never explained why Beatrice was sleuthing around. However, the way the mystery unfolded as far as clues and time made sense, and the reveal of the culprit was rather delicious.

Unfortunately, most of the characters were difficult to like. Beatrice is likeable enough, and she is clearly meant to be the central figure, but Meadow is extremely unlikeable and her personality overtakes every scene. If Beatrice were able to stand up to her, there could be some potential for comedy, but instead, Beatrice comes across as a doormat, which doesn't work well when she's supposed to also be the person solving mysteries when the authorities are unable to. Likewise, it seemed that most of the characters spent more time trying to tolerate each other than they did sharing their craft together and enjoying each other's company, which is what most crafting groups do, at least when they meet.

If some simple tweaks in character development were made, I think this series has a lot of potential. As is, however, the story telling must be much stronger to overcome characters who are memorable for all the wrong reasons.