Suede to Rest: A Material Witness Fabric Shop Cozy Mystery

Diane Vallere

Dec 2022 · Material Witness Cozy Mysteries Book 1 · Polyester Press

About this ebook

Enjoy this crafty, cozy small-town series starter by national bestselling author Diane Vallere…

Unraveling family secrets can be murder...

When Polyester Monroe was young, she loved playing in her family's textile store. But after a fatal tragedy, Land of A Thousand Fabrics was boarded up and Poly never expected to see the inside again. These days her time is spent designing prom dresses from cheap fabrics and covering the flaws with a glue gun.

When her great uncle passes away and leaves her the fabric store, she sees it as a sign to change her life. But when a man connected to her family’s tragedy is found dead in the parking lot behind the store the day after she moves in, her illusions of reopening the glamorous fabric store are shredded. Poly pulls at threads to unravel the truth, but can she keep herself out of the fray?

Suede to Rest is the first charming cozy mystery in this series, although all books in the Material Witness series can be read as a standalone. For readers of Jenn McKinlay, Tonya Kappes, London Lovett, and Marty Wingate, this is a fair-play cozy mystery whodunit with strong family ties, a sweet romance, and a fun cast of recurring characters. If you like small-town settings, killer textiles, and crafty killers, then you'll love Diane Vallere's delightful, fabric-themed series. 

“There’s a new material girl in town…[A] resourceful and gutsy sleuth.”—Krista Davis, New York Times bestselling author of the Domestic Diva Mysteries

“Vallere weaves a tapestry of finely knit characters, luxurious fabrics, and…murder.”—Janet Bolin, national bestselling author of the Threadville Mysteries

Ratings and reviews

As a huge fan of Ms. Vallere's work, I was very excited to find a new-to-me series with characters I had not yet met! As with every character Ms. Vallere creates, the protagonist of this book, Poly Monroe, is marvelously quirky character who rapidly became a new friend. The other characters are very believable and make me want to know them even more, the story is well-crafted and compelling, and the kittens are adorable. The whodunit is solved surprisingly and very satisfactorily, but I want to read the next book immediately to see what this new chapter in Poly's life will contain. I have read the book and listened to the audiobook. If I had imagined the voice of Poly, it would be this narrator. Very well done. I highly recommend this book!

Polyester Monroe arrives in San Ladron to revisit the fabric store she inherited from her great-uncle before selling it but fate has other ideas. Her car is vandalised and an elderly man is murdered outside her building. Poly suspects the events might be connected to her great-aunt’s murder in the shop ten years ago. This is a good start to a series. What’s not to love about a heroine named Polyester? There are twists and plenty of suspects. I like the names of the kittens.

this was a great concept for a mystery series, and it works well overall. I enjoyed the way Diane Vallere wrote this and getting into this world. It was a great concept for the Material Witness Mysteries series. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

About the author

National bestselling author Diane Vallere writes funny and fashionable character-based mysteries. After two decades in luxury retailing, she traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. As past president of the national Sisters in Crime organization, she edited the Agatha-Award-winning essay collection PROMOPHOBIA: Taking the Mystery out of Promoting Crime Fiction. Diane started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since.