Knit One, Kill Two - Another Cozy Mystery Review

I thought I'd take advantage the last few cloudy, sitting by the fire days, in our forecast (we actually have 70's, and sun forecast for the weekend!) to settle into one more cozy mystery.

Hoping to give my waistline a break, I veered away from the foodie mysteries, and tried a new knitting series by Maggie Sefton. I really enjoyed the knitting segments of Laura Child's Crackleberry Club series, so it seemed a safe bet.

In Knit One, Kill Two, Sefton introduces her heroine, Kelly Flynn. She's a youngish adult, still single (and still somewhat silly about the boys), ready to take the plunge into working for herself. She actually reminded me a good deal of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen, from the Hannah Swensen mystery series, except that instead of being surrounded by relatives, Kelly is pretty much alone.

But, she quickly discovers a surrogate family, in the regulars of the colorfully inviting yarn shop, set up in her now deceased aunt and uncle's old farm house, as she sets about solving her aunt's murder, and learning how to knit. Smile if you must, but as silly as it sounds, it was a cozy read.

I don't know what it is about these hobby themed series that's so inviting, with their recipes, and projects at the back of the book, but maybe it's the enjoyment of a tactile connection to the story - the fun of eating, drinking, or making the same sort of thing, that the characters on the page are going on about. I think I was only about 30 pages in, before I started knitting a simple beginner scarf, like Kelly.

As to the mystery - it's an Agatha Christie sort, where the clues are unraveled slowly, and the final necessary bit of evidence is withheld until near the end. Missing from this tale, is the typical girl-confronts-killer-while-risking-her-own-life ending. The girl does confront the killer, but surrounded safely by her knitting buddies. And, the final confession is procured by the resident spinning expert/retired police detective, Perry Mason-style.

The romance was limited, and innocent, and the language was almost clean, except for a few unnecessary, and unfortunate misuses of God's name. Other than that, my only complaint is to the poor editing. I spotted several typos, and grammatical mistakes. Something forgivable in the mommy-blog world, where posts are written quickly, while children perform a myriad of circus worthy acts, around the sleep deprived author, but not in a professionally published novel.

Still, I enjoyed the story enough, I will probably go ahead and check out the second title, Needled to Death, sometime soon. I wasn't sure how knitting, and reading would work together, but it came out okay - knit a few rows, read a chapter, knit a few rows. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I had enjoyed a cozy mystery, nearly finished a scarf for my evening walks, and gathered fodder for another blog entry - all without increasing my calorie count.

That, however, was before I turned to the last page, and saw the recipe for the cinnamon rolls, with lemony, cream cheese frosting. Clearly, the scarf can wait.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Oh, and I'll be linking this as my 5th entry in the 2010 Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge at Book Chick City.