Maggie Sefton Needled to Death

Needled to Death

Maggie Sefton

Berkley, Dec 2005, $6.99, 256 pp.

ISBN: 0425207064

In Fort Connor, Colorado, CPA, DC area transplant, and rookie yet die in the wool knitter, Kelly Flynn, escorts a group of tourists to a renowned alpaca farm owned by knitter extraordinaire Vickie Claymore, in nearby Bellvue Canyon. When Vickie fails to show up with the expected friendly greeting to the group, Kelly enters the woman's remote home, only to find her host dead; blood everywhere, but especially on Vickie's priceless hand-woven rug.

The county police, headed by Detective in Charge Lieutenant Peterson, investigate the homicide starting with containing the crime scene and interviewing the female visitors, especially Kelly and one fussy mouthy guest. Kelly mentions to the cop that Vickie was irate and said so, as she told her and their friend Jennifer Stroud she was divorcing Professor Bob Claymore because he was having an affair with another weaver, Eva Bartok. Unable to resist, and thinking that the county cops were going down a wrong path by looking at the knitting club members of the House of Lampspun, Kelly investigates the homicide.

As with the cleverly weaved KNIT ONE, KILL TWO, NEEDLED TO DEATH is a fine yarn that has cozy fans trying to unravel the threads of who-done-it, alongside the heroine. The storyline is fun to follow, as Peterson follows leads that take him in one direction, while amateur sleuth Kelly assumes her club members are innocent, so knits a different viewpoint on who killed Vickie. Sub-genre readers will enjoy this tightly stitched tale.

Harriet Klausner