Cross-Stitch Crisis, The: A Cozy Mystery of X-marked Clues and a Sampler of Suspicion

?? Cross-stitch shop owner and sampler expert Xandra Stitch is preparing for the National Needlework Exhibition when the head judge—a notoriously harsh critic—is found dead in her shop, a rare antique needle protruding from a priceless historical sampler. The police suspect a crime of passion, but Xandra notices the cross-stitches in the sampler have been altered to form a coded message and the victim's critique notes contain hidden patterns. With her shop's reputation hanging by a thread and the needlework world watching, Xandra must cross-stitch her way through the investigation. Assisted by her stitching circle and the handsome museum curator authenticating the sampler, Xandra uncovers a scheme involving forged historical samplers, stolen embroidery patterns, and a black market for antique needlework. From suspicious floss colors that don't match the period to stitch tension that reveals multiple crafters, every X tells a story. But when Xandra discovers the victim was systematically discrediting authentic samplers to devalue them for a collector's scheme, she realizes the killer is protecting a textile legacy more intricate than any embroidery. With the exhibition opening soon and the real culprit still stitching deception, Xandra must unravel this tangled thread before her own design gets permanently frogged.