Graphic artist Shelby Phillips reluctantly returned to her small hometown in North Carolina to manage her mother's needlepoint shop--temporarily. But getting entangled in murder investigations has a timeline of its own . It's been a little over a year since Shelby Phillips started managing Nina's Nimble Needle following her office-romance and career implosion, and Shelby's mom has finally handed her the reins--technically, at least. Next, Shelby is excited to oversee two well-known needlepoint designers who will be participating in the town's first two-week-long arts festival . Laura Bitters and Paul Bardo have each stitched up one-of-a-kind pillows that should be big wins for the Nimble Needle at the festival's auction . until the pillows vanish amid a sudden string of shoplifting. To add to the knot in Shelby's stomach, Laura proves highly anxious, while Paul is an egomaniac who believes Laura has been stealing his customers. But things go from bad to tragic when Laura behaves oddly at the auction dinner, then collapses--dead.

What unravels is a skein of suspects, long-held resentment, bitter jealousy, and betrayal, from which Shelby will have to pull the one crucial thread tied to the killer: a murder-worthy motive .