Skip to content
1981
Adaptations, Reboots and Remakes in Popular Culture
  • ISSN: 2045-5852
  • E-ISSN: 2045-5860

Abstract

Perhaps it is apt that people who knit and sew are drawn to solving puzzles, including fictional and actual crimes. The word is an archaic spelling of our modern-day . It is derived from the old English or , meaning a ball of thread. It may also be a nod to the ball of yarn that Theseus used to escape from the minotaur’s labyrinth in Greek legend. Without his clew, Theseus would have no clue how to escape the labyrinth. Its modern-day association with detective work first began with Edgar Allen Poe’s detective C. Auguste Dupin who followed ‘clues’ to solve his crimes and was popularized by Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. In the past, and more recently fictional and real-life detectives follow clues to solve crimes, and many of them are crafty. This article considers how adaptative the mediums of knitting and sewing are when they are freed from their utilitarian or creative purpose and instead becomes a device to solve crimes.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00100_1
2025-01-22
2025-03-15
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. All Things Puzzles (2023), ‘A brief history of puzzles: Unlocking the mystery’, 15 May, https://allthingspuzzles.com/history-of-puzzles/. Accessed 5 August 2024.
  2. Annie’s Fiction (2023), ‘Threads of Deceit club’, Annie’s, https://www.anniesfiction.com/products/threads-of-deceit. Accessed 25 June 2023.
  3. Anon. (2017), ‘75 years of crosswords’, New York Times, 14 February.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Baker, Margaret P. (1998), ‘“Knits up the raveled sleeve of care”: Images of the knitter in literature’, Popular Culture Review, 9:2, pp. 12938.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bohde, Stefanie (2005), ‘The underground railroad quilt code: A history of African-American quilting from ancient practices to the Civil War times’, Oakland Journal, 8, winter, pp. 7079.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. British Museum (2021), ‘Top 10 historical board games’, The British Museum Blog, 26 February, https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/top-10-historical-board-games. Accessed 26 February 2023.
  7. Calamity Quilter (2023), ‘Calling all mystery quilt lovers guess who done it! Starts in September 2023’, Home of the Calamity Quilter, https://calamityquiltstudio.com/pages/murder-mystery-quilt-2023.
  8. Cara (2021), ‘Murder mystery quilt block of the month’, https://sewingsociety.com/murder-mystery-block-of-the-month/. Accessed 25 June 2023.
  9. Coghlan, Jo (2019), ‘Dissent dressing: The colour and fabric of political rage’, Media/Culture Journal, 22:1, https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1497.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Coghlan, Jo and Hackett, Lisa J. (2023), ‘Parliamentary dress: Gendered contestation of the political uniform’, M/C Journal, 26:1, https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2963.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Danesi, Marcel (2002), The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. DiSilverio, Laura (2017), ‘Formula for writing a cozy mystery, part 1: A good “hook”’, Career Authors, https://careerauthors.com/formula-for-writing-a-cozy-mystery-1/. Accessed 27 May 2023.
  13. ejoy28 (2022), ‘I love that they really try to get a variety of piecing methods to complete the overall…’, Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/quilting/comments/yijcyf/comment/iuk5n0m/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button. Accessed 23 June 2023.
  14. Fear, Jenna (2017), ‘The knitting war spies of history’, Handwoven, 5 October.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Flood, Alison (2015), ‘Murder most cosy: Why mystery novels involving quilts and cats are big business’, The Guardian, 4 August, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Franks, Rachel (2011), ‘May I suggest murder? An overview of crime fiction for readers’ advisory services staff’, The Australian Library Journal, 60:2, pp. 13343.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Gavin, Adrienne (2010), Feminist Crime Fiction and Female Sleuths, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Glassenberg, Abby (2022), The Size of the Quilting Market: Quilting Trends Survey Results 2022, Wellesley, MA: Craft Industry Alliance, https://craftindustryalliance.org/the-size-of-the-quilting-market-quilting-trends-survey-results-2022/. Accessed 27 May 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Goodman, Lizbeth and Gainor, J. Ellen (1996), ‘Gender and drama, text and performance’, in L. Goodman (ed.), Literature and Gender, London: Routledge in association with the Open University, pp. 179206.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Groeneveld, Elizabeth (2010), ‘“Join the knitting revolution”: Third-wave feminist magazines and the politics of domesticity’, Canadian Review of American Studies, 40:2, pp. 25977.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Guinness World Records (2023), Most Expensive Board Game of Monopoly, London: Guinness World Records, https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-expensive-board-game-of-monopoly. Accessed 30 January 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Hackett, Lisa J. (2021), ‘Sewing history: Consuming culture’, Clothing Cultures, 8:1, pp. 2748.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Hart, Anne (1995), Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple, New York: HarperCollins.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Hume, Tim (2015), ‘Can this quilt solve mystery of Australian girl dumped in suitcase?’, CNN, 28 July, n.pag.
  25. Hunter, Clare (2019), Threads of Life: A History of the World through the Eye of a Needle, New York: Abrams.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Jewel’s Fabric Stash (2021), ‘Dark skies murder mystery quilt retreat’, https://www.jewelsfabricstash.com/module/class/422202/dark-skies-murder-mystery-quilt-retreat. Accessed 25 June 2023.
  27. Lohr, David (2014), ‘Mystery quilt may help solve 25 year old murder of Cathy Zimmer’, HuffPost, 7 February, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cathy-zimmer-murder_n_4747480. Accessed 17 October 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Lucy Worsley Investigates (2022, USA and UK: PBS and BBC Two).
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Nadelstern, Paula (1991), Color Design in Patchwork: With Plastic Templates for 10 Pairs of Blocks, Chelmsford, MA: Courier Corporation.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Naseer, Sarah and St. Aubin, Christopher (2023), True Crime Podcasts Are Popular in the U.S., Particularly among Women and Those with Less Formal Education, Washington, DC: Pew Research Centre, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/20/true-crime-podcasts-are-popular-in-the-us-particularly-among-women-and-those-with-less-formal-education/#:~:text=A%20majority%20(57%25)%20of,to%20shows%20about%20true%20crime. Accessed 8 August 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Nolan, Huw, Wise, Jenny and McLean, Lesley (2023), ‘The clothes maketh the cult’, M/C Journal, 26:1, https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2971.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Pastan, Elizabeth Carson and White, Stephen D. (2014), ‘Introduction’, in E. C. Pastan and S. D. White (eds), The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Context: A Reassessment, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, pp. 18.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Peabody-parasol (2022), ‘I did the MMQ for the first time this year and signed up for next year’s…’, Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/quilting/comments/yijcyf/comment/iurudwq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button. Accessed 23 June 2024.
  34. Pigs in Pyjamas (2016), ‘Meadow mist midnight mystery quilt finish!’, https://pigsinpajamas.com/2016/03/06/meadow-mist-midnight-mystery-quilt-finish/. Accessed 6 March 2023.
  35. Plain, Gill (2010), Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction: Gender, Sexuality, and the Body, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Rees, Kathy (2018), ‘Worsted, weave, and web: The cultural struggles of the fictional knitting-woman’, E-rea: Revue électronique d’études sur le monde anglophone, 16:1, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Schaffer, Rachel (2019), ‘Quilts and community in Barbara Graham’s southern cozies’, The Journal of Popular Culture, 52:2, pp. 27795.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Serial (2014), ‘The Alibi’, USA, https://serialpodcast.org. Accessed 8 August 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Smith, Sue and Coghlan, Jo (2022), ‘Othering the “bag-lady”: Examining stereotypes of vulnerable and homeless women in popular culture’, The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 11:1–2, pp. 8197.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Stocking, Galen, Matsa, Katerina Eva, Naseer, Srah, St. Aubin, Chritopher, Shearer, Elisa, Jurkowitz, Mark and Ghosh, Shreenita (2023), A Profile of the Top-Ranked Podcasts in the U.S., Washington, DC: Pew Research Centre, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2023/06/15/a-profile-of-the-top-ranked-podcasts-in-the-u-s/. Accessed 6 August 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Sullivan, Anne, Salter, Anastasia and Smith, Gillian (2018), ‘Games crafters play’, in Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 7–10 August, New York: Foundations of Digital Games, pp. 19.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Tausig, Ben (2013), The Curious History of the Crossword: 100 Puzzles from Then and Now, London: Race Point Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Turney, Joanne (2009), The Culture of Knitting, London: Berg.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Victoria & Albert Museum (2023), An Introduction to Quilting and Patchwork, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/an-introduction-to-quilting-and-patchwork. Accessed 27 May 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Warren, Nancy (2018), The Vampire Knitting Club, Ambleside: Ambleside Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Whipstitch (2016), The Murder Mystery Quilt, Deborah Moebes/Whipstitch Industries, https://whip-stitch.com/murder-mystery-quilt/. Accessed 25 June 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00100_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): cozy mysteries; craft; literature; puzzles; sluething; television; women
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test