This is the 8th Mainely Needlepoint series after Thread Herrings. In this book we find Angie back in Haven Harbor, this time in spring. Ike Hamilton has been a fixture in the community for years, picking up deposit bottles for the community and getting enough cash from them to subsist on. Now he has a high school kid helping him (Leo). Unfortunately, when Ike is murdered, suspicions turn to Leo who has a complicated past. Since Angie is with her friend Dave when Leo reports the murder, she feels vested in finding out who killed Ike. What did Ike know that made him lose his life?

If you like the Mainely Needlepoint series, you will like this one. It is typical for the series. All the regular characters are back (Gram, Tom, Patrick, etc.) with enough newbies to create a cast of suspects. Lea Waite is able to paint a picture of the area of Haven Harbor, as well as of the characters. If you are looking for a series that sets the reader in a typical cozy atmosphere with a hometown feel, this is it.

I am a big fan of the Mainely Needlepoint series! I love following Angie and her friends as they do their needlepoint and solve murders!

This book follows the murder of Ike Hamilton, a local man who is often seen around town scavenging for cans and bottles to recycle. Normally a solitary man, he surprises some of the locals when he attends the Blessing of the Fleet with a young man, Leo, at his side. Soon after, Leo stumbles onto the doorstep of Dave, a local high school teacher and member of Mainely Needlepoint, covered in blood and saying that Ike has been murdered.

Dave and Angie must work together to find the killer before the local police arrest Leo for Ike’s murder!

I enjoyed the plot for this book — I was happy that it uncovered a lot of backstory for one of my favourite secondary characters in the series.

I think I have mentioned in previous reviews of the Mainely Needlepoint series that I wish Angie and Dave would get together. But we didn’t know much about Dave beyond that he was in the Navy, is a high school teacher, and has a fascination with poison plants. In this book he takes a prominent role, as he lets Leo move in with him in order to give him a safe place to stay. It turns out that Leo is only 16 and has a troubled past, but that Dave appears to have gone through something similar and wants to help guide Leo onto a good path.

I enjoyed the mystery plot of this book — I wasn’t able to figure out who the killer was until just before the reveal, though I did find the reveal to be a little rushed.

I still wonder about Angie and her boyfriend, Patrick. She really doesn’t seem to be that invested in her relationship with him (when he gives her earrings as a gift she gets frightened thinking it’s an engagement ring), so why is she with him? I’m just not sure that their relationship is going anywhere.

I thought this was a really great mystery — it seemed so difficult to find many people who would want to murder Ike, and then it started to seem like there were too many suspects! Very good page-turner.

The Haven Harbor Community has turned out in mass for the Blessing of the fleet. It is an annual event where the names of those lost at sea are read and the fleet receives a blessing asking for a safe and productive year. Angie attends and Patrick accompanied her in the eighth book in the Mainly Needlepoint series. There they see Ike Hamilton and friend, Leo. Ike is disabled and collects empty bottles to add income. Leo is new to the area and very young, he has been helping Ike to collect bottles. Angie is picking up needlepoint and is present at Dave's when a bloody Leo seems help from Dave. Ike has been stabbed to death. Is Leo guilty? Angie and Dave feel he is not guilty and set out to aid him. Who is Leo? Why is he homeless? I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AND SERIES.
Recipes are included.

Disclosure: Thanks to Kensington Books for a copy through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

Although this is part of a series its easy to read as a stand alone novel.

Ike has fallen on hard times and survives on disability cheques and returning bottles for their deposit, most of the town are happy to help him out so who would want to kill him? A young teenager Leo is suspected but Angie believes he's innocent. Can Angie prove Leo is innocent and find the real killer whilst continuing to run her needlepoint business?

Thread on Arrival is the eighth book in Lea Wait’s Mainely Needlepoint Mystery series. This is a clean, quick read with a well-plotted storyline and well-developed, likable characters. The books in this series can be read as standalones. This is a quick, smooth read with twists and turns and a satisfying ending with all the ends tied up nicely. The reveal of the killer was a surprise to me. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading a well-crafted cozy mystery.

Angie Curtis moved back to Haven Harbor, Maine about a year ago, is managing Mainely Needlepoint for her grandmother, and dating Patrick West, who is preparing for the upcoming opening of his art gallery. Angie and Patrick, as well as almost all of Haven Harbor’s residents, are attending the annual Blessing of the Fleet day, which remembers those lost at sea and prays for the safety of those who make their living from the sea or enjoy being at sea. When Angie sees Ike Hamilton, a local man with disabilities who many residents help, she notices a young man with him who she doesn’t recognize. Angie and her friend, Dave Perry, a high school teacher, approach Ike and learn that the teenager, Leo, is helping him collect and redeem recyclable items in exchange for room and board. Dave believes the teen is troubled and tells him to come to him if he ever needs anything. When Leo discovers someone has murdered Ike, he rushes to Dave’s house, his shirt and hands covered with blood. Sergeant Pete Lambert of the Haven Harbor Police Department calls in Ethan Trask, the Maine State Police homicide detective who handles murders in this area of Maine. Angie and Dave believe Leo is innocent; Dave takes the now homeless teen into his home, and Angie uses her investigative skills to find out more about Leo and hopefully clear his name. Angie discovers Leo isn’t who he says he is and uncovers secrets held by several residents, which may prove to be the reason for Ike’s murder. Angie also learns that several people had been angry with Ike because he’d threatened to tell the police or their spouse about what was going on. Angie is having trouble narrowing down her suspect list, and Patrick offers his help.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Ike Hamilton is a man who seems to blend in the background. He's a homeless man who doesn't have much to lose and spends his days collecting bottles from people in order to earn money. Most people in town don't mind giving him their empty bottles and do what they can for Ike. Things take a mysterious turn when harmless Ike is found stabbed and dead. All fingers point to Leo, a seemingly newcomer to the town and the boy Angie saw with Ike at the annual Blessing of the Fleet, an event to commemorate the people they have lost at sea.

Angie is convinced that Leo is innocent, but as the story unfolds we find out that Leo isn’t who he says he is. As Angie starts investigating the cause of Ike’s mysterious death, she unravels a spider web of secrets different members of her town are keeping. It seems like Ike may have known a few of these secrets, but could that be the driving force that pushed someone to kill Ike him to keep him quiet and for their secrets to remain just that- secrets.

When I had requested this on NetGalley I regretted it soon after as this is the 8th book in this series. However I read it anyway because the synopsis really intrigued me, and I’m glad I did. This book can be read as a standalone. The author does a great job of describing and introducing the setting and the characters that you don’t feel like you missed out on anything from the previous books.

‘Thread on Arrival’ shows the lengths some people would go when you threaten to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets. It just goes to show that even the people in your tight-knit community, your neighbours could seem like strangers sometimes.

The mystery was lagging at times but then it would pick back up again and present the reader with more clues to make sense of and piece together. Aside from the occasional repetition of events and sequence, the mystery was good. The secondary characters were well written and I did enjoy reading about them, but what I really appreciated was how the author managed to capture the small town ambience so well in the novel. Makes me want to live in a small town myself. Wait also did a good job scattering the clues throughout the story and making it hard to single out just one perpetrator.

4 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and would recommend this to anyone who is in need of a good, whodunit cozy mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of ‘Thread on Arrival’ by Lea Wait.


This review will be posted on my blog 'Chapters and Chats' (linked) on March 5 2019.

As a lover of both Maine and needlepoint, I always look forward to another book in this entertaining series. It is filled with Maine lore (I especially loved the beginning pages with story of the blessing of the fleet), interesting and intelligent characters and, of course, good food and good needlepoint. Angie Curtis has returned to her home in Haven Harbor, Maine after spending ten years as a private investigator in Arizona. When she and her boyfriend Patrick meet up with their needlepoint friends a the blessing of the fleet, they run into Leo, a runaway who has teamed up with Ike, a local man with disabilities who is cared for by many in the town. When Ike is killed and Leo becomes a suspect, Angie's friend Dave decides to take him under his wing, and Angie uses her investigative skills to find out more about Leo and to track down the real killer, This is another compelling mystery in an outstanding series.