I’ll admit I did it. I rarely buy fiction, but when my friend Lisa Lickel came out with her e-book, The Map Quilt, I actually PAID to have it on my kindle. I know. I need help.

I’m more of a comedy and/or romance kind of girl. I’m not big on mystery and there is certainly one in The Map Quilt. Murder. Fire. Enemies. Buried Treasure. Midnight visitors. But there was also a sweet romance between Hart and Judy. Lighthearted bantering that made them seem so real. And cupid also decided that one romance just wasn’t enough! Drama, suspense and mystery as well.

So what’s it about? Hart has developed a new technology for the farming industry but before it can reach production a mysterious fire, death of a hostile co-worker and the missing invention raise all kinds of questions. How does that weave in with a mysterious quilt and a missing deed to a property in another state and this unusual speaker who has come to share information as well as seek answers to an age-old mystery?  A skeleton, gold-coins and the smell of gasoline. Lisa ties all these elements together into a beautiful package.

It was also a wonderfully complex book. Lisa really knew her stuff and had obviously researched things well to weave history of the underground railroad as well as current issues with technology into her book against the backdrop of a small Wisconsin community. A cozy mystery.

I enjoyed this book. I got so sucked into it I couldn’t go to bed until I finished it. It is the second book after The Gold Standard, which I have not read (yet). It stands alone though and it is not necessary to have read the first book to fully enjoy this one.

Lisa, I’m blessed to call you a friend and happy to say I loved your book (she knows me well enough that if I didn’t, I would say so – or just avoid posting a review!).

It’s not out in paperback yet, but will be in time. But the e-book is worth the price. So go get it.