Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two

Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two - CPA Kelly Flynn feels alone when she learns the stunning news that her beloved Aunt Helen, who raised her, was murdered in her home in what the police declared a "burglary gone bad." Kelly, accompanied by her dog Carl, heads home to Fort Connor, Colorado, for the funeral and to deal with the estate. Her aunt's lawyer Mr. Chambers shocks her with the fact that frugal Helen borrowed $20,000 against her home, but has no idea what she did with the money or why she needed it since it never went to Kelly. The accountant also sees other discrepancies with the official books on the case as she knows her feisty aunt would have put up a fight if it was a robbery; since she did not, she knew her killer.

In town, her aunt's friends adopt Kelly and make her feel at home. They needle her into joining their knitting circle, which meets at Mimi Shafer's shop, the former barn of Kelly's aunt. As the circle converts her into a dye-in-the-wool scarf knitter, she investigates what happened to her aunt because the bottom line fails to add up correctly.

This is first stitch in a new needlepoint amateur sleuth tale starring a likable accountant and a host of eccentric townsfolk. The storyline neatly knits together a murder pattern that the police failed to see. Amateur sleuth fans who appreciate Monica Ferris's Betsy Devonshire tales will want to read this Rocky Mountain, cleverly crafted who-done-it.

Berkley, Jun 2005

ISBN: 042520359X

Harriet Klausner