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Molly Pink is a widow with adult children. She has recently returned to the work force as the event coordinator for the bookstore, Shedd & Royal Books. One of the events she has recently brought to the store is a crochet group led by Ellen Sheridan. While Ellen and Molly have a history together, as Molly's husband and Ellen jointly owned a public relations agency, Molly is working hard to put the past behind her. Ellen's crochet group is putting together an afghan to auction for Hearts and Barks, a local animal welfare organization. The additional exposure this auction will bring the bookstore should encourage the kind of event Molly would like to schedule in the future. One night Molly stops at Ellen's house to return several crochet hooks that had been left at the bookstore. Molly discovers Ellen's murdered body and calls the cops. The first officer at the scene is her boyfriend, Detective Barry Greenberg. Being a professional, he steps aside and Detective Heather Gilmore gets the case. Unfortunately "Detective Heather" has a grudge against Molly, as she wants Molly's boyfriend. Very quickly Molly finds herself the police's number one suspect. Molly joins the crochet group, even though she does not know how to crochet, in hopes of finding a motive for the murder. Since Barry refuses to tell her anything about the police investigation, Molly must rely on gossip to know what Detective Heather is doing. Not being the passive type, Molly pushes her way into Ellen's house and attempts to question her former clients. While her questions are not appreciated by anyone, Molly refuses to give up. And this is just as well, as evidence begins to stack up against her. As Detective Heather heads towards an arrest, Molly finds herself running out of time. In HOOKED ON MURDER, Betty Hechtman attempts to recreate the friendship and sense of community found in other cozy craft mysteries by authors such as Laura Childs, Monica Ferris and Maggie Sefton. Unfortunately the cast of characters Hechtman has included in this book are so prickly that it is difficult to like them or accept the fact that they are acquaintances, much less friends. For example, the crochet group is composed of prima donnas who do not like each other in any way. They spend a good portion of their time picking away at each other or their acquaintances rather than listening to or supporting each other. Not that Molly is all that appealing a character either. She sounds like a nagging mother when talking with her boyfriend and her attitudes towards her friends, family and co-workers leave something to be desired. While I sympathize with those looking to discover new cozy writers, I would not recommend this book to anyone but the most patient and forgiving of readers.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, April 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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