|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Kelly Flynn is living in Colorado in the home her aunt left her and she's thinking about staying there and not returning to her job in Washington. She's surrounded by women she adores in her knitting and weaving class and she likes living in Colorado. When one of her new friends, Vickie Claymore, a woman who raises alpacas for the wool, invites a group of touring knitters to see her animals, Kelly volunteers to guide the group to the farm. But upon arriving they find Vickie murdered. Though the police are on the job, Kelly lets Vickie's daughter know that she, as a professional accountant, can help with the paperwork for the ranch and because of that she feels that she is in a position to help figure out who would profit from Vickie's murder. All of Vickie's friends and relations feel free to talk to Kelly and little by little she discovers all the deep dark reasons why Vickie might have been taken out of the picture. Vickie was a stern businesswoman who made certain she came up with profits, even if she had to use friends to do it, making her a target for some people. Her soon to be ex-husband would have lost the money he would have gotten if the divorce went through so he's high on the list of suspects. While looking into the case, Kelly is also busy trying to decide if she wants to quit her full-time job, if she wants to start a new relationship with a local man and also what she can possibly do with the large ranch yet another deceased aunt left to her in Wyoming. All of these things go on at once as Kelly continues her never-ending relationship with caffeine, an addiction she's quite happy to have. NEEDLED TO DEATH by Maggie Sefton is a very light murder mystery with a knitting and weaving setting. I liked the knitting group and the idea of a yarn store that's welcoming and seems like a craftsperson's dream. I learned a lot about alpacas and sheep and their wool as its used for needlework. I liked the two knitting patterns included in the back of the book. The characters all have an edge to them. Kelly herself doesn't have much patience for people and the murdered woman turns out to be less than the nice person she seemed to be. So the story had a few good suspects who could have well been the murderer. The book did spend a lot of time getting Kelly acquainted with her cattle ranch and it had nothing to do with this story. I guess the author is setting the scene for the next in the series. That put me off a bit as this murder lagged some. And an awful lot of time went into reminding us again and again that Kelly has a bad coffee habit, and that went stale very soon as Kelly spent time in every chapter looking for coffee, filling her mug and slugging it down. NEEDLED TO DEATH is a pleasant enough cozy with a well-solved murder, but it's not a series I will want to continue reading. The lead wasn't very likable, the location, except for the yarn store, wasn't terribly interesting and there was no chemistry between the lead and the only eligible man interested in her. Not terrible, but not great, NEEDLED TO DEATH passes an afternoon quickly.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, March 2006
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
