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Annie's Attic Mysteries #16
The Key In The Attic
A Stitch in Time, owned by Mary Beth Brock and the home of the Hook and Needle Club, is in trouble! It is threatened by "progress" in the form of a fast-food restaurant planned for the middle of the quaint downtown landscape in Stony Point, Maine.
Mary Beth's problems seem to have a solution when Annie Dawson finds a key in a broken vase in the attic of Grey Gables, the Victorian home Annie inherited from her grandmother, Betsy Holden. The key, linked to an antique table and a beautiful mantle clock, leads Annie to clues that send her and her Hook and Needle Club friends on an adventure that takes them back to the Civil War and an ill-fated love between Mary Beth's great-great-grandmother and a young soldier.
When the owner of an antique store shows up with an insistent desire to purchase Mary Beth's the clock -- and when her home is then burgled -- Annie and her best friend, Alice MacFarlane, begin to suspect that their mystery may be tied into more than a coded love letter from the 1860s.
Mary Beth's problems seem to have a solution when Annie Dawson finds a key in a broken vase in the attic of Grey Gables, the Victorian home Annie inherited from her grandmother, Betsy Holden. The key, linked to an antique table and a beautiful mantle clock, leads Annie to clues that send her and her Hook and Needle Club friends on an adventure that takes them back to the Civil War and an ill-fated love between Mary Beth's great-great-grandmother and a young soldier.
When the owner of an antique store shows up with an insistent desire to purchase Mary Beth's the clock -- and when her home is then burgled -- Annie and her best friend, Alice MacFarlane, begin to suspect that their mystery may be tied into more than a coded love letter from the 1860s.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
229 people want to read
About the author
DeAnna Julie Dodson
50 books93 followersDeAnna Julie Dodson has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage. This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over adversity. A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with four spoiled cats and, when not writing, spends her free time quilting, cross stitching and watching NHL hockey. Her first books, In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered, are a trilogy of medieval romances and have just been redesigned and freshly edited for Kindle. She is also the author of the contemporary mystery, Letters in the Attic, and has recently signed on to write another Annie's Attic Mystery: The Key in the Attic, due out in 2012. Her newest books, yet to be released, are A Dinner of Herbs, a Civil War drama, and a 1930s English mystery, Rules of Murder. Civil as an Orange, her current work in progress, is the sequel to Rules of Murder. You can find out more about DeAnna and her books, including sample chapters, at her website: http://www.deannajuliedodson.com/
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 11, 2018
Another fun mystery in this series.
June 16, 2015
I love these little books with their little satin bookmarks. After 16 volumes the folks in Stoney Point, Maine have become friends. I love the mysteries that Annie Dawson uncovers in her home Grey Gables. Can't wait for the next volume.
May 3, 2024
It was awesome. Another great mystery.
August 29, 2016
Wow! Best one in this series I have read. Entertaining and emotionally charged until the end. I really could put myself in Mary Beth's place and felt her pain. Maybe because I have worked in businesses that have had to close through no fault of the owner or employees but because the economy was in such chaos that people just quit shopping for craft supplies and kept their money close for emergencies.
December 4, 2017
I know I have said this before, but "The Key in the Attic" has just become my favorite Annie's Attic Mystery! When Annie Dawson gathered up a few things from her grandmother's attic to sell on behalf of a friend, she tripped and fell, shattering a fragile vase. Amongst the shards of the broken vase she found a tiny key that started her on a journey filled with intrigue, greed, friendship and family.
January 13, 2018
Book # 16 in the series is read. Wow! Oh, how Annie, Alice and Mary Beth had to unlock this mystery!
Happy that this story ended well. Time was running out, but God helped them solve this mystery in the "nick of time".
Happy that this story ended well. Time was running out, but God helped them solve this mystery in the "nick of time".
August 3, 2016
The Annie's Attic stories put the "cozy" in cozy mysteries. DeAnna Julie Dodson delivers a satisfying tale.
February 13, 2017
Always enjoy Annie's adventures. This time there are secret clues in abundance! Can the girls crack the clues? Great!
September 14, 2018
Mary Beth, the owner of the local needlework store in Stony Point, received word that the owner of her building and the theater next door needed to sell both properties. His wife was ill and he needed the money to pay for her surgery. He told Mary Beth she would buy the property but she needed to buy both. He gave her until the end of the month to come up with the money. He also made a deal with a large burger chain that wanted to buy the property which was located on main street. They wanted to tear down the building where the Mary Beth's shop was for a parking lot and make the theater their newest Burly Boy Burger but they had to wait until the end of the month to honor the agreement with Mary Beth. The problem was that Mary Beth didn't have the money and had no idea where it would come from. Her friends all wanted to help and all started looking for things they could sell to help. Annie found a pretty vase in her attic she intended to sell but she dropped it and it broke. When she was cleaning up the mess she found an old key with a lion on it. She remembered that it was something Mary Beth have given her a long time ago and that she also had other antique furniture with the same lions that her mother had passed down to her. That old furniture had belonged to Mary Beth's grandmother and had been in their family for 150 years. She took it to Mary Beth and they looked at the antique furniture for a hidden spot for a key hole. They finally found one and inside a hidden cubby hole they found a message with a riddle. They started to try to solve the riddle and soon realized their was another clue in the antique writing desk, only Mary Beth had just sold it. They decided to try to track it down to ask if they could look for a hidden spot and see if their was another clue.
This story was so interesting but it kept losing me too. I liked the mystery of the antiques and the keys and messages and how it connected with family history but for some reason I didn't read right through it like many of the other books. I kept putting it down and forgetting about it. I think there was just too much going on that made it feel disjointed. When it got to the part where Annie got the idea about the trees I thought I'd missed a page or something. It finally made since later in the book but it still seems like odd leap. Still, I did like the writing style of this author more than some of the others. Her writing is more current and the characters felt more realistic. I think the story just needed a little smoothing out.
This story was so interesting but it kept losing me too. I liked the mystery of the antiques and the keys and messages and how it connected with family history but for some reason I didn't read right through it like many of the other books. I kept putting it down and forgetting about it. I think there was just too much going on that made it feel disjointed. When it got to the part where Annie got the idea about the trees I thought I'd missed a page or something. It finally made since later in the book but it still seems like odd leap. Still, I did like the writing style of this author more than some of the others. Her writing is more current and the characters felt more realistic. I think the story just needed a little smoothing out.
May 24, 2021
The book begins in Stony Point, Maine. The owner of a Stitch in Time is having money problems, having to sell off some of her much loved antiques that she inherited from her mother. Mary Beth Brock is a quiet, serious woman who loves her town and her shop where the group, Hook and Needle, meet. Mary Beth has never been married. She has a niece, Amy, who she loves very much as her niece loves her aunt, more than her mother. Sister Melanie is a high powered woman, works in the fashion industry, always busy, always travelling, who disapproves of Mary Beth's quiet life in a small town.
The ladies are getting together to help Mary Beth by gathering up articles to sell and possibly having a bake sale. Don't let Mary Beth know. She is proud, disapproves of being helped. She can deal with it herself. A large, popular, fast food restaurant, Burly Boys Burger Barn, wants to buy the land as stated in time, plus a movie house, to tear down the buildings. The landlord's wife has heart problems, the medical bills are large. Can Mary Beth buy the land? No! She is not wealthy. A business woman visits Mary Beth. She wants to do business quickly, and doesn't take no for an answer. Does Mary Beth want to buy the land or not?
The residents of Stony Point, a quaint, old, New England town, want their town to stay the way they love it and not just look like every other place.
Annie Dawson goes through her attic looking for things to sell and finds a pretty. old vase, which she accidentally drops and breaks and finds a key. Where does the key fit? So goes the tale!
Mary Beth has a beautiful, old clock which she will never sell. It is important to her and belonged to an ancestor. There is a man who wants to but the clock. He offers her a large sum of money. Never will she sell. The clock needs work done. Annie Dawson and side kick, Alice MacFarlane get together to help out. Annie takes the clock to be repaired, it is stolen from the clock repair shop. Annie feels guilty and pulls Alice into her scheme to make things better on all counts. Mary Beth doesn't approve, is it honest.
Story is about those who will deal with any thing, honest or not, to get ahead and make money.
But! Read the book.
The ladies are getting together to help Mary Beth by gathering up articles to sell and possibly having a bake sale. Don't let Mary Beth know. She is proud, disapproves of being helped. She can deal with it herself. A large, popular, fast food restaurant, Burly Boys Burger Barn, wants to buy the land as stated in time, plus a movie house, to tear down the buildings. The landlord's wife has heart problems, the medical bills are large. Can Mary Beth buy the land? No! She is not wealthy. A business woman visits Mary Beth. She wants to do business quickly, and doesn't take no for an answer. Does Mary Beth want to buy the land or not?
The residents of Stony Point, a quaint, old, New England town, want their town to stay the way they love it and not just look like every other place.
Annie Dawson goes through her attic looking for things to sell and finds a pretty. old vase, which she accidentally drops and breaks and finds a key. Where does the key fit? So goes the tale!
Mary Beth has a beautiful, old clock which she will never sell. It is important to her and belonged to an ancestor. There is a man who wants to but the clock. He offers her a large sum of money. Never will she sell. The clock needs work done. Annie Dawson and side kick, Alice MacFarlane get together to help out. Annie takes the clock to be repaired, it is stolen from the clock repair shop. Annie feels guilty and pulls Alice into her scheme to make things better on all counts. Mary Beth doesn't approve, is it honest.
Story is about those who will deal with any thing, honest or not, to get ahead and make money.
But! Read the book.
April 9, 2023
I found the book at a used book sale for a quarter! It was only 220 pages and a5 x 7 picture frame size. It really took me forever to read it. It was enjoyable. A nice reprieve from the two fantasy novels I previously read. A mystery that did not involve murder, but a little treachery. Very light and easy to follow. Would have made a great TV series. This was book 16 in the Annie’s Attic Series.
February 28, 2020
Always a pleasure to read these Annie's Attic mysteries to refresh my mind from some of the tragic reality we face each day in the real world. Great characters, strong visuals, and believable plots. Well done.
September 23, 2019
Book #16 in the series. I'm enjoying how the friendships/family relationships are growing.
July 22, 2020
For history buffs this ties in just pre-Civil War times and a location in Virginia. It is of course well written and the characters are developed a little bit more.
November 2, 2020
Fun and easy mystery where the characters become your friends.
December 18, 2022
Quick read
July 16, 2023
these attic mystery are very good reads
January 6, 2021
What goes around comes around!! This is one of my Dad's favorite sayings and one I live by! History can prove to be a great treasure and so is this book!!
November 9, 2012
A small brass key & an antique clock = a great mystery! But that's not all. There's the antiques that Mary Beth has had to sell to keep her store, A Stitch In Time, in business. Then there's the clues that are in hidden secret compartments of some of the antiques. Quite the adventures of the Hook & Needle Club members!
August 15, 2016
Cute little cozy mystery that centers around a yarn shop- curious about the other books in the series.
I told my husband that it reminded me of "Murder, She Wrote" minus the murder since it's about a grandmotherly lady in Maine trying to solve a (non-murder) mystery. Sure enough, at one point in the book a group of the women refer to themselves as a bunch of Jessica Fletchers! :-P
I told my husband that it reminded me of "Murder, She Wrote" minus the murder since it's about a grandmotherly lady in Maine trying to solve a (non-murder) mystery. Sure enough, at one point in the book a group of the women refer to themselves as a bunch of Jessica Fletchers! :-P
October 29, 2012
#16 in the Annie's Attic Mysteries Series. Excellent read and a real mystery. Mary Beth's landlord needs cash and is going to sell out to a chain fast food store, unless she can buy him out. Annie is looking thru the attic for treasures to sell and finds a key.
March 2, 2023
Charmingly mundane, this mystery is an easy read and is a glimpse into the "golden years" of a sweet but bland group of older women.
I enjoyed the scavenger hunt style mystery but was really disappointed with the dialogue.
I enjoyed the scavenger hunt style mystery but was really disappointed with the dialogue.
November 11, 2013
A good, quick cozy mystery read. The first time i have read this author and I will read another "Annie's Attic" mystery.
March 10, 2014
This time the mystery is started by a find in the attic but that is almost incidental to the mystery.
August 16, 2014
Great little mystery... This is the last book I have in the Annies Attic Series.. boo hoo
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews