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Harriet Truman / Loose Threads Mystery #4
Quilt by Association
An African woman with a blue-eyed baby arrives in Foggy Point looking for Aiden Jalbert. Within days, she's been murdered, and so is the man who claimed to be her husband.As if that weren't enough, the supposedly African toddler Loose Thread DeAnn and her husband adopted turns out to be from Samoa, and the social worker who helmed the deal has gone missing.Who was Neelie Obote, really, and who wanted her dead? What did Rodney Miller learn that earned him the same fate? And what part does Joseph Marsden play? Harriet and the Loose Threads are determined to find out, but as they dig deeper into the mystery it begins to appear the killer may not be finished yet.
- GenresMysteryCozy Mystery
278 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 20, 2010
36 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Arlene Sachitano
19 books52 followersArlene also teaches a group of creative women in the coastal town of Tillamook, Oregon how to make interesting things by wrapping string around two sticks. Supporting Arlene in her writing endeavors are her husband, children and her feline companion Lydia.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 30, 2021
This book was better than book 1. Harriet gets involved in a quilting show and an adoption scam.
September 27, 2025
Just loved this cute cover- the covers are what drew me to this series. I classify it as a cozy mystery with a quilting theme. Most of the recurring characters are associated with the Loose Threads quilting group of Foggy Point, Washington. They include Harriet Truman, the main character, who moved into her Aunt Beth's house and took over her long arm quilting business. Aunt Beth Carlson, Mavis Willis (most senior member), and Jenny Logan are the more mature members of the group. The other members include De Ann Gault who is in the process of adopting a baby girl, Robin McLeod who is an attorney by trade and also a yoga instructor, Carla Salter is the youngest member and fulltime housekeeper for Aiden Jalbert (Harriet's boyfriend), Lauren Sawyer is the best computer researcher in the group, Sarah Ness is the whiner of the group and works at the senior center for her parents, and Connie Escorcia. At the beginning of the book Aiden, who is the local veterinarian, is in Ephrata helping out in a bad pet hoarder situation.
The ladies have gathered in the local quilt store when a tall, slender black woman comes in with a baby on her hip and is looking for Aiden Jalbert. Aunt Beth notices that the baby has the same rare color of blue eyes that Aiden has. Later, Harriet stops at the new coffee shop where Aiden calls her. Her phone is snatched from her hand and she finds Neelie Obote, the woman who barged into the quilting store, holding it and asking Aiden when he will be back in town. She has something important to tell him. When Harriet grabs her phone back, she drops it on the floor and it breaks. She can't call him back. Neelie says she needs to find him and give him his child. Baby Kissa is not her baby but her sister's who passed away in Uganda a couple of weeks earlier. Aiden was in Uganda more than a year ago doing research and working in a free vet clinic. Harriet starts making all kinds of assumptions and not trusting in the relationship she has with Aiden. When they finally talk he denies that the baby is his, but he did meet the mother in Uganda.
Carla is concerned about baby Kissa not being properly taken care of, and takes the two to Aiden's house. Later, Neelie is found dead in the bushes outside the house. Then a man named Rodney Miller shows up claiming to be Neelie's husband. Harriet also finds him dead in suspicious circumstances at Joseph's (see below) house. Harriett is hit on the back of the head as she's trying to look in a window, gets a sprained ankle in the window well, and then the dead body falls on top of her from above. Kissa is passed around the quilting group so she won't be put in a foster home until they can find out what happened.
There are a few other threads to follow in this book:
- The Loose Threads are making quilts with dog themed material for a raffle to raise money for the Foggy Point Animal Shelter. A rival group named Small Stitches meets at the Senior Center and seems to keep coming up with the same designs as Loose Threads. This couldn't be a co-incidence, and who could the snitch be? The group heads into secrecy mode and makes an ugly design to see if it will be copied. Lauren goes undercover at the Senior Center to spy on the other group.
- De Ann and her husband are eagerly awaiting a three-year-old toddler from Africa. When Iloai arrives, she doesn't speak, respond to her name, and does not look African. Is this also adoption fraud? The only clue they find is a quilt that came with her which she won't let go of. Lauren, once again, uses her computer skills to discover that the child is Samoan.
- Joseph Marston is a social worker for the local Little Lamb Adoption Agency and put together Iloai's adoption. He disappears, but when later found is unwilling to speak but desperately wants to talk to Harriet. Phyllis Johnson is owner and President of the Agency and a quilter and asks for Harriet's help in finishing the quilt she is making for a present. Could they both be involved in international adoption scams?
- A lot of information on the dog rescue effort and how to socialize dogs who have been abused.
When everything is tied up at the end, what happens to the two babies? As in the previous books, there is a lot of tea drinking and eating going on. Harriet and Aunt Beth spend a lot of time eating or getting take out from Tico's Tacos, a Mexican restaurant owned by Jorge Perez. He even prepares food for her recovery and saves the day when Harriet is in danger in the climax. It's still a little difficult to figure out who is who in the quilt group as their characters haven't been well enough developed yet to keep track of them. Now who was that again? The series is still worth reading and recommended.
The ladies have gathered in the local quilt store when a tall, slender black woman comes in with a baby on her hip and is looking for Aiden Jalbert. Aunt Beth notices that the baby has the same rare color of blue eyes that Aiden has. Later, Harriet stops at the new coffee shop where Aiden calls her. Her phone is snatched from her hand and she finds Neelie Obote, the woman who barged into the quilting store, holding it and asking Aiden when he will be back in town. She has something important to tell him. When Harriet grabs her phone back, she drops it on the floor and it breaks. She can't call him back. Neelie says she needs to find him and give him his child. Baby Kissa is not her baby but her sister's who passed away in Uganda a couple of weeks earlier. Aiden was in Uganda more than a year ago doing research and working in a free vet clinic. Harriet starts making all kinds of assumptions and not trusting in the relationship she has with Aiden. When they finally talk he denies that the baby is his, but he did meet the mother in Uganda.
Carla is concerned about baby Kissa not being properly taken care of, and takes the two to Aiden's house. Later, Neelie is found dead in the bushes outside the house. Then a man named Rodney Miller shows up claiming to be Neelie's husband. Harriet also finds him dead in suspicious circumstances at Joseph's (see below) house. Harriett is hit on the back of the head as she's trying to look in a window, gets a sprained ankle in the window well, and then the dead body falls on top of her from above. Kissa is passed around the quilting group so she won't be put in a foster home until they can find out what happened.
There are a few other threads to follow in this book:
- The Loose Threads are making quilts with dog themed material for a raffle to raise money for the Foggy Point Animal Shelter. A rival group named Small Stitches meets at the Senior Center and seems to keep coming up with the same designs as Loose Threads. This couldn't be a co-incidence, and who could the snitch be? The group heads into secrecy mode and makes an ugly design to see if it will be copied. Lauren goes undercover at the Senior Center to spy on the other group.
- De Ann and her husband are eagerly awaiting a three-year-old toddler from Africa. When Iloai arrives, she doesn't speak, respond to her name, and does not look African. Is this also adoption fraud? The only clue they find is a quilt that came with her which she won't let go of. Lauren, once again, uses her computer skills to discover that the child is Samoan.
- Joseph Marston is a social worker for the local Little Lamb Adoption Agency and put together Iloai's adoption. He disappears, but when later found is unwilling to speak but desperately wants to talk to Harriet. Phyllis Johnson is owner and President of the Agency and a quilter and asks for Harriet's help in finishing the quilt she is making for a present. Could they both be involved in international adoption scams?
- A lot of information on the dog rescue effort and how to socialize dogs who have been abused.
When everything is tied up at the end, what happens to the two babies? As in the previous books, there is a lot of tea drinking and eating going on. Harriet and Aunt Beth spend a lot of time eating or getting take out from Tico's Tacos, a Mexican restaurant owned by Jorge Perez. He even prepares food for her recovery and saves the day when Harriet is in danger in the climax. It's still a little difficult to figure out who is who in the quilt group as their characters haven't been well enough developed yet to keep track of them. Now who was that again? The series is still worth reading and recommended.
October 10, 2021
It is October here and we are heading into weather good for reading and this book fits. Sachitano's quilting group members are making quilts from materials with dogs for a raffle to raise money for the Foggy Point (Washington) Animal Shelter. Alas, a rival group seem to be copying their patterns.
Aiden is a veterinarian who is going to Eastern Washington to rescue dogs from a pet hoarder. I don't know the word for his relationship (girlfriend?) but Harriet and Aiden are a couple. She is involved in the unexpected two murders.
Beyond this a member is adopting a child and another mysterious woman appears with an
unexplained infant.
The author's writing is fluid and very chaste. It will be fine with a cup of hot chocolate.
Aiden is a veterinarian who is going to Eastern Washington to rescue dogs from a pet hoarder. I don't know the word for his relationship (girlfriend?) but Harriet and Aiden are a couple. She is involved in the unexpected two murders.
Beyond this a member is adopting a child and another mysterious woman appears with an
unexplained infant.
The author's writing is fluid and very chaste. It will be fine with a cup of hot chocolate.
June 21, 2019
I enjoy the pace of this series, but the formula writing is becoming too predictable. The mystery is somewhat predictable and always miraculously solved by Harriet being almost killed in the last chapter. This one was particularly frustrating as no one seems to suspect Phylis because she quilts. Harriet is suppose to be smart.. she came off as very stupid in this book.
June 7, 2018
Another good episode in Harriet Truman's life. These are light, fun reads that I really enjoy. I alternate the series with another book but then come back to Harriet. I am a quilter so I really enjoy the quilting part of these books.
August 15, 2020
Great
I love this series and this one especially with the it's adoption theme. From baby trafficking across international borders to down right kidnapping, it really pulled at the heartstrings.
I love this series and this one especially with the it's adoption theme. From baby trafficking across international borders to down right kidnapping, it really pulled at the heartstrings.
September 20, 2017
These are enjoyable fun mysteries that keep you guessing. Harriet sometimes gets on my nerves but all the characters are likable. I would like to live there and join the Loose Threads.
September 1, 2018
Best in this series. A very complicated mystery with an unexpected outcome.
January 22, 2019
I find I am loving this series. I have some other books to read but I want to get the next book and start right away. I love the characters. I love the setting. It is just a fun book to read.
March 15, 2022
Continuing the trend: light, fluff reading, with lots of great quilting references. This is the kind of book that I need in my life right now, and I am grateful for it.
June 22, 2022
Lots of quilting, kind of a dumb plot that was never cleared up as to who was the snitch on the quilt blocks
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2016
Quilt by Association by Arlene Sachitano is the fourth book of the Harriet Truman / Loose Threads crafty-cozy mystery series, set in contemporary Washington state. Quilter protagonist Harriet Truman is teased by a fellow quilter of being a one-woman crime wave, due to the rash of murders she has been sleuthing, in only seven months of living in her small town, Foggy Point. As summer turns to fall, Harriet comments that she has not taken the coming cold weather seriously enough yet to buy a jacket, or had the time for shopping (strong hint of more books to follow in the series).
The story has two plot lines: a con game involving babies, and the Loose Threads quilt group's efforts to win an upcoming quilt contest. One quilter in the Loose Threads group has adopted a baby from Uganda, which connects the otherwise unrelated plots. Neither held my interest.
The Loose Threads usually have the best quilt design to win the annual auction to benefit the animal shelter. However this year a competing quilt group is stealing their design, a dog theme. It's easy for a quilter to follow the repeated group discussions of possible quilt blocks to feature dog prints, but may not make much sense to a non-quilter. Sketches and block patterns would help to explain to a non-quilter, but the designs discussed and selected are so simplistic, it might not add much interest. The contest intrigue and quilt strategy meetings serve as delays to Harriet's sleuthing of the baby plot, as well as fill out the slim volume (262 page total in paperback).
A black woman arrives with a baby at one of the Loose Threads meetings. She demands to see Aiden, the town veterinarian (and Harriet's love interest). Aiden is out of town rescuing abused animals. The woman claims to bring her deceased sister's baby from Africa to Aiden. The baby has striking light blue eyes like Aiden. Harriet fears the baby is Aiden's. She knows he was in Africa before on a research mission. This implies Harriet has a complete lack of trust in Aiden's character, that he could abandon a child in Africa and never mention it to her as they build a serious romantic relationship to last...but it's the plot device used to justify Harriet's immediate actions (to shelter the woman and baby) which trigger her subsequent sleuthing of the baby con game plot.
The woman turns out not to be as she claimed (no surprise, it was obvious from the start). The man who searches for the woman and likewise ends up dead is not who he said he was either, again no surprise. The baby 'from Africa' isn't, and the baby 'from Uganda' isn't either. It's quite clear to the reader early on that the adoption baby and the ransom baby were switched. The suspicious activities of the adoption agency staff bear that out. However, in an extremely unsatisfying manner, the perps are killed off before how they managed the scam is revealed. Only part of the mystery is solved, in a sudden violent conclusion. Perhaps due to a rush to meet a publishing deadline, or maybe an inability to actually work out how and why the 'bad guys' would pull off a baby switch to run their scam, or how they profit from it.
The story has two plot lines: a con game involving babies, and the Loose Threads quilt group's efforts to win an upcoming quilt contest. One quilter in the Loose Threads group has adopted a baby from Uganda, which connects the otherwise unrelated plots. Neither held my interest.
The Loose Threads usually have the best quilt design to win the annual auction to benefit the animal shelter. However this year a competing quilt group is stealing their design, a dog theme. It's easy for a quilter to follow the repeated group discussions of possible quilt blocks to feature dog prints, but may not make much sense to a non-quilter. Sketches and block patterns would help to explain to a non-quilter, but the designs discussed and selected are so simplistic, it might not add much interest. The contest intrigue and quilt strategy meetings serve as delays to Harriet's sleuthing of the baby plot, as well as fill out the slim volume (262 page total in paperback).
A black woman arrives with a baby at one of the Loose Threads meetings. She demands to see Aiden, the town veterinarian (and Harriet's love interest). Aiden is out of town rescuing abused animals. The woman claims to bring her deceased sister's baby from Africa to Aiden. The baby has striking light blue eyes like Aiden. Harriet fears the baby is Aiden's. She knows he was in Africa before on a research mission. This implies Harriet has a complete lack of trust in Aiden's character, that he could abandon a child in Africa and never mention it to her as they build a serious romantic relationship to last...but it's the plot device used to justify Harriet's immediate actions (to shelter the woman and baby) which trigger her subsequent sleuthing of the baby con game plot.
The woman turns out not to be as she claimed (no surprise, it was obvious from the start). The man who searches for the woman and likewise ends up dead is not who he said he was either, again no surprise. The baby 'from Africa' isn't, and the baby 'from Uganda' isn't either. It's quite clear to the reader early on that the adoption baby and the ransom baby were switched. The suspicious activities of the adoption agency staff bear that out. However, in an extremely unsatisfying manner, the perps are killed off before how they managed the scam is revealed. Only part of the mystery is solved, in a sudden violent conclusion. Perhaps due to a rush to meet a publishing deadline, or maybe an inability to actually work out how and why the 'bad guys' would pull off a baby switch to run their scam, or how they profit from it.
October 22, 2012
In this fourth novel of the 'A Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery' series, Harriet finds herself involved with an adoption scam. There are two new babies (3yrs old and 18 months,) in Foggy Point, Washington. DeAnn, a Loose Threads member and her husband are eagerly awaiting their new toddler from Africa, but the issue is, the baby does not look, nor speak, as though she is African.
Next, a woman barges into the quilting store demanding to find Aiden Jalbert, Veterinarian and boyfriend of Harriet. Why? Because she claims the baby she is holding is his and her late sisters. Aiden is out of town and the Loose Threads smell a con.
What is going on? When Harriet and Mavis find the young woman dead under Aiden's front yard's bushes, the situation becomes even more confused. Next, a man saying he was the woman's husband is found dead and the police are hot on the case.
This was a good murder mystery and also very contemporary for today's world of adoption. The added flavor of the quilts and pet adoption are equally vital to the storyline. Animal adoption is critical and this book deals with the subject well.
Next, a woman barges into the quilting store demanding to find Aiden Jalbert, Veterinarian and boyfriend of Harriet. Why? Because she claims the baby she is holding is his and her late sisters. Aiden is out of town and the Loose Threads smell a con.
What is going on? When Harriet and Mavis find the young woman dead under Aiden's front yard's bushes, the situation becomes even more confused. Next, a man saying he was the woman's husband is found dead and the police are hot on the case.
This was a good murder mystery and also very contemporary for today's world of adoption. The added flavor of the quilts and pet adoption are equally vital to the storyline. Animal adoption is critical and this book deals with the subject well.
July 19, 2012
Light reading - I read it on my Kindle and kept thinking there must be illustrations. It's the choice of the book club I joined. I'm looking forward to my first meeting to hear what they have to say.
September 15, 2013
Good read. I feel like this author is getting better at developing the story with each book she has written in this series. The course of action is predictable from one book to the next with the major investigator getting attacked as clues come together.
September 8, 2014
Enjoyed this series. Was recommended by my daughter-in-law. Will most likely read more of them. Fun!
May 6, 2016
No,no,no! Where did baby Kissa come from???
March 19, 2016
Fun, cozy reading.
January 26, 2017
Adoption is the main theme of this Loose Threads murder mystery. Two babies and a dog hoarding rescue are involved.
July 14, 2015
Light fun easy "summer read" ... very Quilty!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews