Assault and Batting

A Taylor Quinn Quilt Shop Mystery, Book 1

By: Tess Rothery

Narrated by: Shaina Summerville

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Too many suspects are hiding under the covers. Can she blanket the culprit before they stitch up more victims?

Taylor Quinn is full of love and living it up in the city. But when her mother dies suspiciously, and she rushes home to take over the family’s small-town quilt shop, her whole world unravels. Discovering her grieving young sister who blames herself, she vows to prove everyone’s innocence.

In way over her head, Taylor’s investigation pulls a thread of quirky suspects, a tight knot of envy, and a patchwork of gossip. But as she weaves the evidence together, she unwittingly reels in the killer’s attention....

Can Taylor sew up the case before everything comes apart at the seams?

Assault and Batting is the first book in the delightful Taylor Quinn Quilt Shop cozy mystery series. If you like classic puzzles, poignant family relationships, and heartwarming surprises, then you’ll love Tess Rothery’s humorous tale.

Buy Assault and Batting to unpick a crooked caper today!

©2019 Traci Hilton (P)2020 Traci Hilton

Was a pretty story

Narration was good and easy to follow. Story was pretty good. Could have used a little more mystery and less feelings.

Imperfect but enjoyable

Taylor Quinn has been building a life for herself in Portland, Oregon--a good job she likes, a home, a boyfriend--and then her mother dies.

She's back in the small town of Comfort, suddenly responsible for her sixteen-year-old sister, Belle, their grandfather, and her mother's quilt shop, Flour Sax. Oh, and her boyfriend broke it off and found a new girlfriend almost immediately, when she said she was moving back to Comfort.

The official verdict is that her mother, Laura Quinn, tripped and fell, possibly due to one drink too many, on the dock near the B&B she and some old friends were staying in. Belle has a different theory. She thinks she accidentally triggered one of her mother's friends to push Laura into the water. She has a reason for this that is almost as much a shock to Taylor than just the theory that their mother was murdered.

What follows includes Belle being a typically difficult teenager with something more than the standard teenage reason, Taylor discovering just how much she had cut herself off from her family and thus lost all awareness of their challenges, Belle and Taylor attempting their own amateur murder investigation, the realization that Grandpa Ernie (Laura's father) has been having memory problems, and the discovery that Grandma Quinn doesn't regard Belle, whom Laura adopted after her son, Taylor's father, died, as her "real" granddaughter.

And that's barely scraping the surface.

Taylor has to learn how run, not just any fabric store, something she has professional experience doing, but Flour Sax Quilt Shop, a small but specialized shop that she really knows only as her mother's daughter, helping out after school. Both her mother's YouTube video program and the small town gossip speculating that Laura may have had a serious drinking problem are major surprises to her.

The characters here are complex and interesting, and some that don't seem likeable prove to have surprisingly solid characters when they're put to the test. It's not a perfect book, but it is interesting and enjoyable.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Pretty Good

Assault and Batting is a pretty good cozy mystery with engaging characters and an interesting plot. I look forward to the next book.

Depressing

I’m not sure why this is considered a cozy mystery this book is depressing I’m not even finished with it and I’m depressed
Nothing cozy about it a serious downer.

Enjoyable but ….

Enjoyable story, likable characters. I am a quilter so I especially enjoyed the quilt shop being at the heart of the story. The narration was not my favorite. Lots of breathy voices that really were quite irritating. I will listen to the second one and hope there will be narrator change going forward.

Please no troubled teenager angst … please!

I enjoy cozying up with Carol Dean Jones quilt cozy mysteries .. however as title of the review says. No troubled teens please. Oh please! Enough of that on tv, news shows etc.
Can’t return this … told it is not eligible for return.
Just blew a credit. Oh Carol🧵✂️🧵

Great book!

What a great book! I loved the characters as well as the plot. Would recommend to everyone!

Entertaining-new to mystery. Enjoyed it.

Enjoyed the book. Look forward to Book 2. Started out slow but picked up later on.

unpleasant

These were unpleasant people in ugly surroundings. Resolutions were few and far between. Raccoons! Really?

Shows promise

The story was good but not great. The narrator got a little better as the book progressed. I will read the next book to see if improvement is made.