The Grub-And-Stakers Quilt a Bee

Grub-And-Stakers #2

by Alisa Craig, Charlotte MacLeod (AKA)

The Grub-and-Stakers, a gardening club in small town Ontario, receive a bequest to run The Aralia Polyphema Architrave Museum. But someone pushes their new curator off the roof. Dittany Henbit Monk and her Western-writer husband first solve an important clue - a bride quilt embroidered with little multi-colored bees.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Humor, Audiobook, Adult Fiction

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

A pseudonym used by Charlotte MacLeod.

Reviews

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022 bk 119. Perhaps my favorite of the series. The murder victim in book one did leave a will - and his house and its contents to the club! The one condition, that a museum be founded in his wife's memory. An energetic group of women set to work, establishing trustees, determining a purpose (a Victiorian Lobelia Falls home), and hiring a curator. Luck provided them with a recently retired museum assistant curator interested in the housing and small stipend. Misfortune provided them with his wife. A treasure clue, a death, and a man's crush all have their place in this beeautiful mystery.

[Karen Keyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ladies of the Lobelia Falls Grub-And-Stake Gardening and Roving Club are shocked to discover that the late John Architrave (the deceased from the first novel in this series) has left the club his house and it’s contents, with the understanding that it will used a a museum of Lobelia Falls life and history dedicated to the memory of his late wife — a champion archer and past president of the Grub-And-Stakers. This inheritance brings with it a heaping side of problems as the house is in poor condition and no money is included to bring about the renovations and stocking of the museum. Of course, Dittany Henbit Monk and the rest of the Grub-And-Stakers will find a way to prevail, even when murder makes an appearance.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 3/4 stars. I like Charlotte MacLeod, the other pen name for this author, other series but this one just didn't work for me. The mystery itself was ok, nothing special but nothing bad. It was the archaic language that many of the characters spouted that really annoyed me. No one spoke like that in the 1980s. Ok, one character wrote Regency Romances and I can see her speaking as she does and maybe some other characters speaking back to her in kind as a joke or mockingly but it isn't done that way. I had to slow down my reading to figure out some of what they were saying. It was just so artificial.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | I quite enjoy MacLeod's books, but a reader must be totally prepared for a story with tongue planted firmly in cheek. | Anyone who gets uptight about ridiculousness or insists on perfect realism is not going to enjoy any book written under the Alisa Craig pseudonym. The residents of Lobelia Falls are beyond silly, and their speech patterns are unlikely, and yet they're people recognizable to anyone who has lived in a very small town. The mysteries are good, I can generally tell whodunit but the plotting is still strong.

[Virginia Kessen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if the wonderful characters and delightful plots don't entertain you, books by Charlotte Macleod (or Alisa Craig) are worth reading because of her marvelous vocabulary and outrageous names for characters.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this series doesn't engage me as well as her other series, it was still a fun read. Her characters are a bit over the top in The Grub-And-Stakers, but then that is part of Charlotte's charm. She also manages to fit in the most obscure words, so be prepared with a dictionary or Google.

[Dogsandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, light and funny. Dpl e book via total boox

[Barb Czz]

This was a light hearted fun mystery. Sometimes we need something
to give us a chuckle. Thank You

[Denise Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 179 page quick read features the author's goofy characters and impressive wordplay in a murder at a new museum and a mysterious clue to a treasure.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and funny.

[Bea Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of want to live in a community like this. Not high art but a solid story. Engaging and fun characters.

[Kate Boots · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun!

The Grubs-and-Stakers mysteries are much the silliest of Charlotte McLeod's various series but are still quite fun. I hope you enjoy them.

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great series with great characters and murders!

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Somehow the characters got more two-dimensional and vapid since the first book. It became too cringe to continue.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all the literary references! You have to know something to get the most out of these books.

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reread this for the umpteenth time (I'm rereading the series). A charming-silly-slightly brooding romp--which is what one expects of MacLeod, and is certainly true of all the Grub-and-Stakers books. But I was struck this time around, because I have been doing a lot of thinking about the creative personality, and the nature of the pursuit of writing, by what it had to say about writers. Both Osbert Monk (husband of the protagonist, the former Dittany Henbit) and his aunt Arethusa are genre fictionists--he writes Westerns, she writes Regency Romances. MacLeod tended to trick her characters out with themed characteristics--so Osbert (who grew up in a big city) drawls and wears fringed buckskin while Arethua swirls around in velvet cloaks and uses Georgette Heyerisms left, right and rat's ramble. But when MacLeod talks about how they create, they become real: in one immortal exchange in this book another character remarks about an absurd declaration of love "I never heard such drivel in my life" to which Arethusa ripostes "Madam, I write such drivel!" One can't help but suspect that MacLeod's portraits of Osbert and Arethusa are in some sense portraits of her own writing persona.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Grub-and-Stakers, a gardening club in small town Ontario, receive a bequest--a house full of stuff, some worthless and some quite nice--to run as a museum. The Aralia Polyphema Architrave Museum, to be exact. But before they can get up and running, someone murders their new curator by pushing him off the roof.

Dittany Henbit Monk and her husband, who writes westerns under a pen name, help the local police solve the murder. But first she has to solve an important clue--the bride quilt, embroidered with little multi-colored bees.

I really liked this mystery. It is full of eccentric characters and a fun plot, even a little hint of romance. If you like Mary Daheim's bed and breakfast series, you'd probably like this.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in The Grub and Stakers series.

The Grub-and-Stakers gardening club has traditionally limited its activities to serving tea and gossiping about wildflowers, but when water department supervisor John Architrave is found murdered in the woods, club member Dittany Henbit turns to solving mysteries. After Architrave's will reveals that he bequeathed his ramshackle old house to the Grub-and-Stakers, with instructions for it to be turned into a museum, Dittany resigns herself to weeks of cleaning out the mansion and sorting through donated town "artifacts." The task turns interesting, however, the minute bodies start falling from the sky. The new curator is airing out the house's attic when he takes his tumble off the roof.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. MacLeod produces another zany adventure with Regency and Western novel references, intriguing characters, and another odd murder. My only question . . . Why would any upstanding Lobelia Falls native take an outlander's part over a long-time friend and associate's? That part just did not ring true. For the rest, I really enjoyed disliking Mrs. Fairfield, especially since Ms. MacLeod makes it so clear that she is trying to take over the museum by assuming that she will get the position after her husband's death. Sneaky, conniving, manipulative, pushy . . . all the things you love to hate. Great read!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Lobelia Falls' famous garden and archery club inherits a museum, their first job is to hire a curator. And when the curator dies in a fall, they are stuck with his overbearing widow, who wants to be curator herself. There's also the mystery of why group bete noire Andy McNaster is suddenly being helpful and providing them with workmen and supplies. Can he be trying to sabotage the project? Newly married Dittany Henbit and Osbert Monk (better known as successful Western novelist Lex Laramie) are on the case!

[Julie Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The grub-and-stakers quilt a bee by Alisa Craig
Mystery surrounds the new museum. Mr. Fairfield has passed away and others wonder if
it is the patterns on the quilt that leads to his death.
List of characters at the beginning of the book. Clues lead the quilters and others to ask more questions for the investigators.
Liked hearing of the quilts and the block making. Very confusing with all the characters as they are each working on different sections of renovating the museum.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light, quick, fun cozy mystery.
I've enjoyed other books by Charlotte Macleod - especially the Peter & Helen Shandy series, but this is the first one I've tried of The Grub-and-Stakers books.
And I'm glad I have.
It seemed to focus more on the quirky characters for a large portion of the book, rather than the mystery, but as they're so entertaining, that was fine by me. And I always like a good sprinkling of banter.
An easy reading 3.5*

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I want smiles and occassional chuckles and a pleasant feeling afterwards, I go to Charlotte MacLeod's books, and The Grub-and-Stakers Quilt a Bee is another in the long line of pleasers.


"'Well fry me for a doughnut!' cried Hazel Munson."
"Therese Boulanger whanged her gavel. 'May we have that in the form of a motion?'"

[L Greyfort · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Grub-and-Stakers: a loose group of friends in a Canadian town, who go in for archery, theatricals, history and detecting; studied goofiness, but if you’re in the mood for that, there’s none better! Enjoy this giggle-fest of a series for it's off-the-wall fun!

[Peter Barr · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a series of murder mysteries by Charlotte MacLeod. She wrote several series, this being about a small town in Ontario, Canada and the characters therein. The books are easy reads and humorous. This is one of the better ones although all have been pretty readable.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another outstanding book in this series. The characters are well developed and it is intelligently written.

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series. Quirky characters abound.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book in the series and I like these characters immensely. Now with more brogue!