It's been a hectic holiday season in small-town Glen Lake, North Carolina, and after managing her mom's busy needlepoint shop, Nina's Nimble Needle, Shelby Phillips is looking forward to a relaxing January—but a killer has different plans . . .

All of Gwen Lake is ready for a month of restoration—including the actual lake. Every January, the lake level is lowered for dock repairs and other maintenance. This year, however, an unwelcome surprise surfaces: a woman's body . . . bound with what appears to be needlepoint thread, likely from the Needle's "Holiday Magic" supply . . .

To add to the shock, the victim is wearing one of the local yacht club's famous doubloon replicas around her neck, meaning she's a Gwen Laker. Still, who is she? Helen Thompson, creator of the doubloons, retired history teacher, and talented Needle regular, would know best, but she's on a treasure-hunting cruise.

Shelby is looped into the case when a quirky bit of information enables her to help identify the woman . . . as Helen herself. Why would anyone hurt sweet, widowed Helen? It's a knot Shelby and the shop's stitching group, "Not Your Average Grannies," aka the NYAGs, intend to untangle.

The pattern gets more intricate when Shelby helps Helen's stepson and his daughter clear out her craft-filled home—and unravels a trove of secrets. To crack the case, Shelby will have to keep her discoveries to herself. And when two nosy true-crime podcasters show up, she'll need to throw them off the trail, with help from the NYAgs, and the one man she may want a future with—unless a killer snips it short.