An Ominous Death
Annette Mahon
Five Star, Feb 2006, $25.95
ISBN: 1594143595

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 friends 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.