Review: The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch-Up by Kate Solly

I love crafting and I love books about women and their friendships, and I’m quite partial to a cosy mystery too, so picking up Kate Solly’s brand new novel, The Paradise Heights Craft Strore Stitch-Up was kind of a no brainer. This one was on my list this week of new books that I think will make perfect summer reads, and after whizzing through this one over a few of the lazy days between Christmas and New Year I stand by that! Check out the blurb from the publisher then scroll down for my thoughts below.

What is Kate Solly’s The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch-Up about?

Meet Fleck Parker: Mother, Crafter and Amateur Detective.

Fleck loves a good puzzle. She spends most of her time feeling invisible, caring for three small children, and that’s fine, really. But it does make her brain itch occasionally.

When Trixie, fellow school-mum and avid crafter, is accused of stealing money from Many Hands, the women’s charity known for its charming store full of handmade crafts, Fleck feels compelled to investigate and clear Trixie’s name. From playground stake-outs to tailing cars while nursing the baby to sleep, Fleck and Trixie uncover a case more complex than either of them could have imagined.

Will they crack the case?

My thoughts about The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch-Up

This book was an absolute delight. The characters, the setting, the mystery and its resolution were just all spot on for me. I found Fleck and Trixie both relatable in different ways, and Kate really writes the mum of young kids vibes so perfectly which adds to the authenticity of the characters. I really liked seeing the relationship between Fleck and her husband – I think often husbands in these sorts of books might be either hopeless or perfect, and I really liked the way Fleck and her husband had a few minor hiccups when he touches a nerve with some teasing but they resolve it sensibly and are clearly on the same page and working as a team.

I love a good cast of secondary characters in a cosy mystery, and the setting of the story in the charity craft store was perfect for providing a good range of people who were given enough substance to feel real. The quirks of the characters and the way they interacted in the store also felt true to the relationships and tensions between people in real life situations. I really liked the threads we got of the characters back-stories and the way they all came together at the end.

Sometimes the trickiest thing for a cosy mystery can be to nail the resolution and I thought that was so well done here. There were red herrings and clues through-out and it made sense. There was also just enough stakes at the end to make me nervous for Fleck and Trixie and bolt through the last few chapters to see how it would work out.

Overall this one was a solid fun and friendly read. It felt like a perfect escape, but still with some thinky bits to reflect on in terms of families and friends and community. I’ll definitely be recommending this one to friends and adding Kate’s first novel, Tuesday Evenings with the Copetown Craft Resistance, to my tbr too (I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet!). Big thanks to Affirm for sending me an early copy!

Let me know if you pick this one up!

xo Bron
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The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch-Up by Kate Solly
Out now from Affirm Press.
Source: The team at Affirm kindly sent me an early copy for review.
Category: Australian Contemporary Cosy Mystery Fiction

The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch-Up on The StoryGraph and Goodreads

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