by Sandra Murphy

This week we are reviewing mystery author Maggie Seams first mystery novel, Seams Deadly. We also interviewed Maggie. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase the book from Amazon.

Seams Deadly by Maggie Bailey
Review by Sandra Murphy

Lydia and her dog, Charlie, are in Peridot, Georgia, after discovering her husband in a compromising position. Lydia works part-time at the quilting store and lives in one of the upstairs apartments Fran rents out.

Fran specializes in quilts but introduced Lydia to garment making. Lydia fell in love with sewing and is always on the prowl for ideas for new outfits. She encourages Fran to carry fabrics for fashion as well as for quilts. Her job is a great diversion from the disastrous end to her marriage. She hadn’t seen that coming!

Fran encouraged Lydia to have dinner with Brandon, one of the upstairs neighbors, just to get to know the town better. It didn’t take long for Lydia to figure out it was really a date. After an evening of listening to Brandon without an opportunity to comment, the evening ends with a fist bump goodnight.

Lydia walked Charlie and then decided to take Brandon brownies as a friendly gesture. When she knocked, the door swung open—and she found Brandon dead at his desk, a pair of shears in his neck. Shears embossed with the name of the quilt shop. As the person to have just been with Brandon, she’s a likely suspect. When another body is found inside the quilting store, she’s suspect number one.

This is the first book in the series. Readers will like Fran, the quilters, Lydia, Charlie, and a little cat named Baby Lobster. Lydia doesn’t include any patterns but does describe how she’s added her own touch to the outfits she makes.

The ending has a nice twist that will leave readers anxious to know what happens next.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s editor for Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s, with twenty-two cozy stories. She also edited A Murder of Crows, twenty-one stories featuring animals and crime (no animals were harmed). She also writes for magazines, newsletters, and the occasional guest blog. Both anthologies are available at the usual outlets, print or ebook.

Interview with Maggie Seams:

KRL: How long have you been writing?

Maggie: I have always loved writing, but poetry was my focus until 2019. I even have an MFA in poetry from Sewanee, the University of the South. I was on a poetry retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia when we were almost trapped in an ice storm. That weekend got me started thinking about a mystery set in a cabin, which then got me thinking about sewing, my other favorite hobby, and now four years later, I have two books in a mystery series about sewing, the second of which takes place in a cabin during an ice storm!

KRL: When did your first novel come out, what was it called, and would you tell us a little about it?

Maggie: My first novel came out on September 5, 2023. It is called Seams Deadly and is the first installment of the Measure Twice Sewing Mystery Series. It follows a woman named Lydia, as she moves to a small town in the North Georgia mountains, works at a fabric store, sews her own clothes, and tries to uncover a murderer killing her friends in her new hometown.

Maggie Seams

KRL: Have you always written mysteries/suspense and if not, what else have you written?

Maggie: I started writing poetry, rather than fiction. I have two poetry collections published, a chapbook and a full length. My full length, Visitation, was published by Tinderbox Editions in 2020. My poetry website, maggieblakebaileypoetry.com, has links to a lot of my work, including poems nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net awards.

KRL: What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book/series?

Maggie: I moved to Atlanta, GA 13 years ago, and one of my favorite things about living here is taking trips to the mountains. I love Dahlonega, and when it came time to imagine a small town for my series, I invented my own, Peridot, but based it heavily on Dahlonega, which has a lovely town square and a really welcoming atmosphere. As for my characters, the main character, Lydia, is very similar to me, just living a very different life. The rest are based on people I know or blends of various friends. I have been really, really fortunate to have some older women befriend and support me in my life, so I knew I wanted that to be a part of Lydia’s story, hence her best friend in the story, a woman named Fran.

KRL: Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to experience from your work?

Maggie: I definitely write to entertain. I also write to share my love of sewing. I hope that at least a few of my readers will consider taking a sewing class or trying out a new project after reading my books. Sewing is such a source of joy in my life. I have also taught high school English for most of my adult life, and I believe in writing your own stories, so I hope writing mine might encourage someone else to write theirs, whatever it might be.

KRL: Do you have a schedule for your writing or just work whenever you can?

Maggie: As a mother of two young children, I write whenever I can. I am lucky to have an incredibly supportive husband, who makes sure to support writing weekends or evenings when I can grab them. Similarly, my dad, step-mom, and both of my in-laws have been great about taking the kids on fun adventures so I can write, revise, and proofread as needed. I wish I had a set schedule, but I have never been good at that!

KRL: What is your ideal time to write?

Maggie: I love writing when I have time to get lost in the story as I see it in my head. When I was first writing this series, I took a short writing trip to Sewanee, Tennessee with a dear friend. Sitting by a fire pit, writing for hours, was a perfect set up for me.

KRL: Do you outline? If not, do you have some other interesting way that you keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to happen in your book when you are writing it?

Maggie: So, what tends to happen is that I get started and write what I can already “see” in my mind. Then, once I have some scenes down, I use Scrivener to create a sense of order and see where I need to fill things in. Sometimes whole scenes get moved around and don’t even end up in the book. For instance, I have the third installment of the Measure Twice series started. I know at least three scenes and one murder. Beyond that, I don’t know where it will take me!

KRL: Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?

Maggie: I was beyond lucky to have a friend who is an author, J. T. Harper, who walked me through the whole process, from pitching during #pitmad on Twitter to writing queries. I signed with my dream agent, Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency, about 14 months after I started submitting to agents. Dawn was able to get me a contract with my dream publishing house, Crooked Lane, about five months into shopping my manuscript. Working with Faith Black Ross, my editor, and Dawn, my agent, has been an absolute dream. We call the day Dawn offered to represent me, International Dawn Dowdle Day in my household.

KRL: Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?

Maggie: Since I started writing poetry, when I came to fiction, I was already used to rejection. Poems can get rejected within an hour of submitting them. My murder mystery did get a revise and resubmit from an agency I admire, and I was gutted when they didn’t end up taking it. Through the journey to get published, there were a lot of rejections. But I let myself have a cry, maybe buy some fabric, and then got back to sending it out. I will say, when I found out Crooked Lane wanted to sign me for a two-book contract, I screamed so loudly that some people walking in my neighborhood thought I was injured! I had to explain I was screaming from joy!

KRL: Most interesting book signing story-in a bookstore or other venue?

Maggie: I spent Labor Day Weekend on vacation with my family and my husband’s family in Lincolnville, Maine. My children love books, so we made sure to visit Camden’s The Owl and Turtle Bookshop and Café on our first full day. I had a wonderful conversation with one of the owners, Christin, while checking out our massive pile of books. I mentioned my new book and she was so lovely about it, so I gave her the advance copy I had with me. When I looped back to get one more thing a little later, she mentioned she would stock a copy of Seams Deadly in the mystery section of the store when it came out, which was more than I had dreamed! I was floating on air the whole day. Librarians, bookstore owners, and other advocates for writers are some of the most incredible people and it was so kind of Christin to offer to support my work! If you are ever in Midcoast Maine, it is a must visit shop.

KRL: What are your future writing goals?

Maggie: Well, I have two books in this series finished, and I hope that readers enjoy them, and I get the chance to keep telling stories about Lydia and her sewing adventures. I am working on my next collection of poetry, so I hope to start sending that out in 2024. And then, I also dream of publishing a YA novel. I love reading YA and working with teenagers, so that is my writing dream I still have on the horizon.

KRL: Who are your writing heroes?

Maggie: Ann Cleeves! I adore everything she has written. She is kind and encouraging to other readers, and it is a life goal to meet her one day. I also deeply admire and enjoy Elly Griffiths and Charles Todd and always and forever PD James and Agatha Christie. I am working on reading all of Christie’s works, even the novels she published under other names, and I am always on the lookout for her work at used bookstores when I travel.

KRL: What kind of research do you do?

Maggie: Research is so much fun, in my opinion. I have traveled to shops and small towns for inspiration, talked with people who are experts in various fields, like a woodworker when I wanted a character to be interested in woodworking, and I also enjoy just going down internet rabbit holes on various topics. I have even asked sewing groups about good ideas for sewing themed murders. It has led to some hilarious, and maybe a little frightening, conversations.

KRL: What do you like to read?

Maggie: I love to read mysteries, especially ones set in the UK or Nordic Noir. I also really enjoy fantasy. I have read some Rivers of London books lately, which are a blast—imagine Harry Potter as a cop in London solving murder mysteries. Siena Sterling’s latest, The Game She Plays, was a recent favorite. I love reading poetry, too. Currently, Anders Carlson-Wee and Ada Limon are my current favorite contemporary poets.

KRL: What are your favorite TV shows or movies?

Maggie: I am so glad it is September because that means that The Great British Bake Off is coming back, which is my favorite TV show. My husband and I enjoyed watching Ted Lasso together, and since he doesn’t love fantasy, I watch The Witcher when I sew or am traveling.

KRL: Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?

Maggie: I think you need to believe in your voice but not feel overly dedicated to any one line or scene. Editing and revising is not a sign of failure. Feedback can honestly make you a better writer. But at the same time, don’t let feedback make you lose faith in your voice. Only you can tell your story. Don’t give up. We need what only you can write.

KRL: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Maggie: I am very, very fast writer but I am a TERRIBLE speller. It would appall people to know how many times I will proofread something, only to find a million more mistakes when I ask my kind friends to help me. Then my amazing editor will find more mistakes, and so on. I love words, but I truly am a terrible speller.

KRL: Do you have any pets?

Maggie: We have two Golden Retrievers named Milly and Wilson. Sometimes I dream about a life on a farm with a lot of dogs. And it was important for my main character to have pets that she loves.

KRL: Is there anything you would like to add?

Maggie: Thank you for this chance to talk about writing and mysteries!

KRL: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us! Website? Twitter? Facebook? Instagram?

Maggie: Website: measuretwicemysteryseries.com

Instagram: @measuretwicemysteries

To enter to win a copy of Seams Deadly, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “seams” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen September 23, 2023. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode went up this week.

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