A Fitting End: A Magical Dressmaking Mystery (A Magical Dressmaking Mystery, #2)

by Melissa Bourbon

Former Manhattan fashion designer Harlow Jane Cassidy has a gift for creating beautiful dresses. But when Harlow becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation, she’ll need more than her sewing skills to unravel the mystery…
 
Business is booming at Harlow’s custom dressmaking boutique, Buttons & Bows, even with the presence of her great-grandmother’s ghost hanging around the shop. But thanks to the fast approaching Margaret Moffette Lea Pageant and Ball, Harlow has her work cut out for her when Mrs. James hires her to make her granddaughter’s pageant gown.
 
With the debutante ball getting the whole town of Bliss, Texas, into a tizzy, Harlow knows her dress has to be perfect. But when a local golf pro is found stabbed to death with dressmaking shears, the new deputy thinks Harlow and Mrs. James conspired to commit the crime. Now, Harlow has to finish the dress on time and clear her name, before the next outfit she designs is a prison jumpsuit…

• ISBN10: 0451236149
• ISBN13: 9780451236142
• Publish Date: 7 February 2012
• Publish Status: Inactive
• Out of Print: 4 November 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
• Imprint: Signet
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451236142

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I really like this author and the first book in this series - and I really liked a lot of things about this book. The mystery plot was excellent. But... there is so much of this story line that has left me utterly confused. Specifically concerning one of the characters, Gracie. I really feel like a page was missing from my book or something. Throughout the second half of the book, Harlow and her family keep referring to Gracie's relationship to them and the secrets and how are they going to tell her about her charm, etc. etc. But it's never explained HOW she is related to them or why she should be charmed. So much of the storyline feels disjointed and confusing - I even re-read the book before writing this review, thinking I must not have paid enough attention to the storyline and missed key points - but nothing became clearer after the second reading.

I really wanted to give this book 4 stars, but there were too many threads that I felt weren't tied up at the end of the book and no indication that they are meant to be part of an ongoing story in the next book. Even so, I eagerly await the next book. And hope my confusion clears.