Two Purloined Pillows (A Nimble Needle Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – North Carolina
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kensington Cozies
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 31, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
Hardcover

Synopsis

When 30-something graphic artist Shelby Phillips reluctantly returned to her small hometown outside Asheville, North Carolina to manage her mother’s needlepoint shop, she thought it was temporary. But getting entangled in murder investigations has a timeline of its own…

It’s been a little over a year since Shelby started managing Nina’s Nimble Needle following her office-romance and career implosion, and Shelby’s mom has finally handed her the reins—technically, at least. Next, Shelby is excited to oversee two well-known needlepoint designers who will be participating in the town’s first two-week-long arts festival . . .

Laura Bitters and Paul Bardo have each stitched up one-of-a-kind pillows that should be big wins for the Nimble Needle at the festival’s auction . . . until the pillows vanish amid a sudden string of shoplifting incidents.

To add to the knot in Shelby’s stomach, Laura proves highly anxious, while Paul is an egomaniac who believes Laura has been stealing his customers for years. But things go from bad to tragic when Laura behaves oddly at the auction dinner, then collapses—dead.

Soon after, Shelby makes a shocking discovery in Laura’s room at the local inn. Then tests reveal that Laura was poisoned. Resolved to piece together the truth, despite the police chief’s determination to keep her on the fringes, Shelby rallies her personal team, including her sister, Jessica, her friend Deb, and Jake, her potentially more than a friend. As an extra twist, a magazine reporter arrives with unsettling—yet useful—dirt that includes Laura and Paul.

What unravels is a skein of suspects, long-held resentment, bitter jealousy, and betrayal, from which Shelby will have to pull the one crucial thread tied to the killer: a murder-worthy motive . . .

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Guest Post

Shelby and the Police Chief

Lots of people have opinions about how cozy mystery amateur sleuths interact with the local law enforcement. Do they cooperate? Confound each other?

I think the answer is “both.”

Shelby isn’t the kind of person to go off and do something foolish, especially if she’s been warned by Gwen Lake Police Chief Evan Tallen, and Chief Tallen isn’t the type to readily offer case details to Shelby. But they have come to a unique partnership. Does it help that Shelby usually brings coffee and baked goods when she stops in to offer a clue or a theory? Probably. Is it useful that the chief’s wife, Gwen Lake Mayor Rose Tallen, is grooming Shelby for a bigger civic role? Probably. I like crafting the give-and-take balance their relationship has—it feels realistic and has  just enough depth to be interesting. I didn’t ever want to put them at odds.

It helps that Shelby has an expertise Chief Tallen lacks—mainly skills in and an understanding of the needlepoint world. When you’ve got two massive crafting egos clashing and the battle ends up in death, you need all the help you can get. And, as Chief Tallen puts it, people tell Shelby things they might not reveal to the Chief of Police. Tallen also brings his methodical nature to the theories Shelby poses. It works because each of them recognizes the skills and world of the other.

Most of all, they are human. They have friends and family who support and exasperate them. They admit when they’re wrong and acknowledge when the other is right. It was important to me to get the sleuth-police dynamic right in this series. After all, Shelby and Chief Tallen have made it through two books together, and they’re not done yet.

When you read TWO PURLOINED PILLOWS, feel free to let me know how the relationship with Shelby and Chief Tallen strikes you—and any other sleuth/police duos you love or hate.

After all, what’s a good cozy mystery without a lovable amateur sleuth and the local police who either help or hinder her quest for justice?

Excerpt

I stared in disbelief at my mother. “We are talking about grown adults here, aren’t we?”

Mom offered me one of her more dubious looks. “I guess that depends. Behavior or chronology?”

Based on the series of warnings Mom had just given me about the two supposed grown adults in question, it was a valid distinction. We were discussing an upcoming event at Nina’s Nimble Needle, the needlepoint shop my mother owned and I’d taken over as manager. Event? Maybe. Circus of clashing egos? More likely. “Can’t we expect grown adult behavior from actual adults?”

“With those two? Not a chance!” came a declaration from an outlandish older woman named Dot, seated at the large gathering table in the back of Nina’s Nimble Needle. All the rest of the NYAGs—the Not Your Average Grannies, who have been shop fixtures for as long as I can remember—nodded in agreement. These women gathered nearly every day at the shop to work on their needlepoint and flex their considerable gossip skills. The NYAGs knew about all the goings-on in town and had opinions on most of them. They were some of our best customers, staunchest allies, sources of endless amusement, and some of Mom’s closest friends. I adored them as much as they frustrated me. And I knew enough to take their warnings to heart as much as Mom’s.

Evidently my worry showed on my face, because Dot consoled, “Don’t worry, hon,” with a dismissive wave. “You’re up for it. The trick will be to keep ’em apart.”

“Far apart,” added Tilly, another NYAG, as she looked up from the Christmas stocking she was working on for her fifth grandchild. It’s not at all uncommon to see people working on Christmas stockings in June here at the store. Or baby items the minute a pregnancy is announced (if even before). Needlepoint takes time to accomplish. Lots of it.

“Dot’s right. You can handle ’em,” cheered Livvy, another NYAG, in her musical Charleston accent.

I welcomed the consensus of NYAG support. After all, I’d been taking time to accomplish my work here, too. I’d been stepping farther and farther into my role as the permanent replacement for my mother, Nina. I’d been back in my hometown of Gwen Lake, North Carolina, and running the shop for just over a year now, and almost everyone considered me in charge.

Almost everyone.

About the  Author

An avid crafter, coffee junkie, and firm believer that “pie makes everything better,” Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction, working on as many as four books at a time.  The bestselling author of over seventy books, Allie has enjoyed a twenty-plus-year career with over 1.9 million books sold.  In addition to writing, Allie maintains an active writing productivity coaching practice and speaks regularly on the creative process, publishing, and her very favorite topic—The Chunky Method of time management for writers. She lives in the Charlotte area with her husband and the world’s most adorable dog.

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