Skein of the Crime (A Knitting Mystery)

If you're reading to escape from your financial worries you may want to skip this one. I like the author's work and it's a good story but I started to count how many times the word "foreclosure" came up and how many references there were to the bad housing market and its consequences. If you can drown all that out you'll enjoy it.

I have read all of Ms Sefton's books in this knitting series and I have loved them all. I just finnish them too quickly. This one is a real cliff hanger. I can't wait for the next book to see how things are resolved between Kelly and Steve.

Maggie takes us back again to Fort Connor and our favorite knit shop and yes, of course, there's another murder to solve. If you're already addicted to these Lambspun Knit Shop mysteries, you won't be disappointed, in fact, this one has stepped it up a notch and isn't quite as predictable. Knit addicts new to this series will love this and the previous books. Maggie takes us to a knit shop that has the welcoming atmosphere of our realtime favorite LYS and makes us part of the family. She touches everything that causes us to be addicted to the craft, the yarn, the colors, the feel of it, the experience of trying something new and the friendships gained when becoming part of the knitting world and throws in a great mystery to boot. Though you can read them out of order, this series is one that is very worth stashing and reading from the first.

She used to work at an East Coast CPA firm, but moved to the university town of Fort Connor where she opened up her own consulting service. She comes home one night and opens her patio door to let her Rottweiler Carl in when she sees a young woman nearby. When she speaks to her, the woman fails to respond or react to her surroundings. It is rather quickly that Kelly realizes the college student is very high; she calls 911 and the responders take the female away by ambulance. A month later Kelly goes to the knitting store in the House of Lampspun to help the proprietor. Also there is Holly, the girl on the porch, who is sober and no longer attends so many parties. A few days later, Kelly hears that Holly died of an overdose near the path to the golf course by Kelly's home. Holly's boyfriend Tommy, who she was dependent on, is upset and intends to find the seller. His mother begs him not to get involved because he can lose his medical scholarship. Kelly volunteers to snoop and keep Tommy informed. She asks Patty, a party girl, who was friends with Holly, to ask around to find out who was selling. Kelly follows up with each clue Polly provides and her own questioning of others until she concludes that Holly did not die from an accidental overdose; but to prove it remains seemingly out of reach. The readers will quickly be engaged in Maggie Sefton's latest amateur sleuth (see Drop Dead Stitch) due to the plight of the college student. Putting aside why Kelly investigates, she conducts a believable inquiry when she asks questions by having someone accompany her when she interviews someone. Enhancing the story line is the deteriorating relationship between Kelly and her boyfriend Steve the architect. Readers will enjoy the latest case as the protagonist knits together the death of a college student. Harriet Klausner

Fort Connor, Colorado had been a peaceful place ever since the murder of Kelly Flynn's Aunt Helen three years before. Some things aren't forgotten, but everything somehow seemed to nestle back into place and Kelly's most pressing need was simply choosing a yarn for her boyfriend Steve's hat. The camaraderie at Lambspun, the local knitting shop, made for cozy company where clacking tongues and knitting needles joined together to make a lively community of friendly knitters. In fact, Jennifer had just called to see if Kelly wanted to help Barbara Macenroe with a class of knitters. Knit one, purl two. It sounded like a plan and instead of crunching numbers as a CPA, she'd be counting stitches. With knitting on her mind that night Kelly was ready to settle into a cozy evening at her cottage, the one she inherited from Aunt Helen, when she noticed her dog, Carl, was unsettled. She suddenly spotted a young woman standing like a zombie on her patio, but this was Lemay Avenue, not Elm Street and it was an eyebrow raiser with a freaky twist. The girl began to rock and smile and if Kelly had been a scrapbooker instead of a knitter that girl's forehead could easily have been stamped with the word "gonzo." Was there something in the Fort Connor water, or what? Just as Kelly seemed to have forgotten the incident she learned that Holly Kaiser, the druggie, had apparently cured herself up and was going to be taking a knitting class at Lambspun. "Mother Mimi" was going to take her under her wing. It was a good thing because outside of getting that gal off her patio, Kelly had no interest in being a nursemaid to some freaky college student. It was bad enough that she learned that Holly was Barbara's son Tommy's girlfriend. Just when you thought the madness would stop it started to churn again. There were six attacks on the river trail in as many months and with this girl on board, things were beginning to hop in Fort Connor again. It wouldn't be long before the needles would stop clacking and the tongues would start up in earnest. Some girl had been killed over on the river trail. Guess who? Kelly would soon be doing a lot more sleuthing than knitting because that corpse just happened to be Holly's. If you want a nice unrushed mystery that moves along at a comfortable pace, "Skein of the Crime" is one you'll totally enjoy. It has all those elements of a real life soap opera that could just happen in your neighborhood. There are the gossipers, the wedding planners, the faction who enjoys a good "pharmacological stew," the coffee clutches `n knitting clans, the "jilted ex-girlfriend" . . . everything that makes every other small town in America click. I have not read any of the previous books in this series, but found this one can stand alone quiet nicely. It was one of the types I looked forward to reading a chapter or two each night. If you like a cozy mystery that has all the elements that will spin a believable yarn instead of a qu