ONE SHARP STITCH

Now that Shelby Phillips has lost her job as office manager for a graphic design firm, she agrees to manage Nina’s Nimble Needle while her parents leave North Carolina for their dream RV trip. Shelby is sure that Jessica, her perfect older sister, could do it better, but her mom insists she’s the one for the job. Her mom’s friends, known as the NYAGs (for “Not Your Average Grannies”), are eager to help, especially with a trunk show featuring the work of Gina “Kat” Katsaros, a geeky type Shelby knew in high school, who now makes beautiful needlework designs and craft scissors that are “closer to silverware or jewelry than to standard scissors, fashioned as birds or flowers or delicate, ornate shapes.” The new Kat is totally different than she was in school, driving a wildly decorated van, sporting a purple streak in her hair, and giving off a vibe that unsettles Shelby, who’s been told by her mother that Kat would like to take over the Nimble Needle someday. On the morning of the trunk show, Kat is late, and when Shelby goes looking for her, she finds her dead in the van she uses for sharpening knives, an expensive one in her chest. The police seem to think she had an accident while she was sharpening it, but Shelby has her doubts, especially since the prickly Kat had quite a few enemies, even among her own family members. Kat’s brother has always wanted her van and is happy to have Shelby sell his sister’s valuable designs and scissors so he can score some cash. With help from old and new friends and even her sister, whose perfect life is spiraling out of control, Shelby searches for answers to her many questions about Kat’s death.

Mar 25, 2025 - 07:42

Now that Shelby Phillips has lost her job as office manager for a graphic design firm, she agrees to manage Nina’s Nimble Needle while her parents leave North Carolina for their dream RV trip. Shelby is sure that Jessica, her perfect older sister, could do it better, but her mom insists she’s the one for the job. Her mom’s friends, known as the NYAGs (for “Not Your Average Grannies”), are eager to help, especially with a trunk show featuring the work of Gina “Kat” Katsaros, a geeky type Shelby knew in high school, who now makes beautiful needlework designs and craft scissors that are “closer to silverware or jewelry than to standard scissors, fashioned as birds or flowers or delicate, ornate shapes.” The new Kat is totally different than she was in school, driving a wildly decorated van, sporting a purple streak in her hair, and giving off a vibe that unsettles Shelby, who’s been told by her mother that Kat would like to take over the Nimble Needle someday. On the morning of the trunk show, Kat is late, and when Shelby goes looking for her, she finds her dead in the van she uses for sharpening knives, an expensive one in her chest. The police seem to think she had an accident while she was sharpening it, but Shelby has her doubts, especially since the prickly Kat had quite a few enemies, even among her own family members. Kat’s brother has always wanted her van and is happy to have Shelby sell his sister’s valuable designs and scissors so he can score some cash. With help from old and new friends and even her sister, whose perfect life is spiraling out of control, Shelby searches for answers to her many questions about Kat’s death.