Measure Twice Mystery Series
Seems Deadly
Seams Deadly is the first novel in Maggie Blake Bailey’s Measure Twice Mystery Series, a cozy mystery grounded in sewing, small-town life, and the complexities of starting over. The story follows Lydia Barnes, a seamstress who arrives in a North Georgia town looking for a fresh start, only to find herself at the center of a murder investigation.
Drawing on a deep knowledge of sewing and fiber arts, the novel brings the material world of fabric, tools, and making into conversation with character and plot. As Lydia works to piece together what happened, the story moves between craft and mystery, showing how attention, skill, and observation shape both making and meaning.
Blending small-town intrigue with a maker’s perspective, Seams Deadly offers a distinctive voice in the cozy mystery genre, one where sewing is not just a backdrop, but a way of understanding the world.
Praise for Seems Deadly
“Recently divorced Lydia Barnes is making a new start in a small town, working at a quilting shop by day and sewing her own clothing by night. After an awkward first date with her neighbor ends in a fist bump, she brings him some brownies, only to find him dead at his desk, fabric shears sticking out of his neck. With police suspicion on her, it’s up to Lydia to find the culprit amongst her new neighbors before she’s the next victim. What a fun, cozy read, and a promising start to a fabric arts-themed series! The story is peppered with names of indie pattern companies and patterns they produce, as well as descriptions of sewing techniques and supplies, which made me extremely happy as a fellow sewist. By the end of this book, I was ready to start solving murders, but only after I finished sewing a murder-solving dress.”
— Rachel Copeland, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“A binge worthy whodunnit stitched to perfection!”
— Holly Quinn, author of The Handcrafted Mysteries
“Seams Deadly is packed with all the right ingredients for this delightful new series: a lovable, talented heroine who sews her own clothes (and rescues a memorable ‘velociraptor’ cat); a charming small town filled with quirky characters; and a mystery that will keep you guessing.”
— Sally Goldenbaum, USA Today bestselling author of the Seaside Knitters Society Mystery series
“Readers will love Lydia, a woman who can sew her own clothes while stitching together clues for murder. Add a charming southern town with a few quirky residents and you have a cozy mystery to die for!”
— Emmie Caldwell, national bestselling author of The Craft Fair Knitters Mysteries

Visitation (Tinderbox Editions)
My debut full-length collection is a meditation on family, faith, and the cost of love. The poems move through rupture and repair, asking what it means to hold a life together while acknowledging its fractures.
Praised for its emotional intensity and lyrical precision, Visitation presents the body and the home as sites of both damage and devotion.
Bury the Lede (Finishing Line Press)
This earlier chapbook introduces many enduring concerns: memory, perception, and the quiet moments that reshape our understanding of ourselves and others.
A Body of Work
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