Maggie Sefton

Well, this was a fun romp through the rooms of Lambspun in Colorado! It was by turns an exploration of spinning, a look at the Christmastime chaos in a knit shop, and the feeling of community that this cast of characters brings.

Our sleuthing friend, Kelly, watches a spinning class take shape while she bravely knits on, hoping to get the scarf finished and in the mail in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, several patrons of both Lambspun and the adjoining coffee shop have Christmas events of show more their own to plan so chaos ensues. And then a murder happens and the community joins together to help several of their own.

I did like how the subject of alcohol addiction was handled, with insight and compassion, and also how an admonition to maybe find some better friends than the ones in the bar made an impact on Kelly's close friend, Jennifer. Certainly Burt showed his wisdom about police questioning, and Kelly begins to pursue some canyon land to build her very own house. Loyal Steve is right there to lend a hand and give an occasional kiss, and Curt's home, kids, and grandkids are able to bring joy for the holiday season.

For the characters, though, there were just way too many of them, especially when you have a conversation between Lizzie, Lucy, and Lisa. There have got to be more women's names that Sefton can use for future installments in this series.

Oh, and the murder itself? Did not see that one coming! Way to keep it all very interesting and full of fluffy yarns. show less

I'm not sure why I read after the first book; I guess I was hoping the writing would get better. Unfortunately, it didn't and I found myself skipping paragraphs. The first thing that bothers me is that Kelly is a citizen yet is encouraged by a retired cop to "sleuth". I'm pretty confidant that this would never happen. Not to mention that she finds two dead bodies, one of which has her throat slit and yet she acts as though it was just another day. Personally if I walked in on someone I had show more know (or heck even if I didn't know them) I would freak out. As for the protagonist, I can't seem to connect with her. In fact, I find her a bit annoying.

Overall, the series was poorly executed which is a shame since I was really excited to read about two favorite subject, mysteries and knitting. show less

Another installment in the knitting mysteries surrounding the Lambspun fiber family. Our dear Kelly has been a part of Fort Connor, Colorado, for nearly a year and continues to work on her projects and solve mysteries.

In this case, a young woman who worked in Jennifer's real estate office is a college student studying chemistry. Of course motherly Maggie invites her to come to the class on dyeing of yarn! She would learn so much.

And then, the worst happens. It is a murder mystery, after all, show more and this one has a bit of a twist that has something to do with the murder but not as much as you might think. You see, Kelly wants to buy the nearly-abandoned ranch house, with alpacas, that has had buyers since Geri Norbert was arrested for a couple of murders. But for some strange reason, each of the buyers pulls out and it goes back on the market.

Kelly loves this place and is debating whether to give up her cozy cottage near Lambspun or try to be one of the buyers. And she finally makes an offer, has another young college student, Bob, stay on-site to take care of the alpacas, and finds more and more incidents of vandalism that she has to deal with. Including one that might have cost her her own life if she weren't paying attention.

The ending was almost predictable, though I did like how the vandalism around Kelly and her home were more the central focus. And it Sefton is able to add in the life of a knit shop, with all of its many layers, in a quite believable way to the story. show less

Incredibly offensive. I'm giving away the ending for two reasons: the first is that it's not a mystery, and the second is that maligning adoption by choosing it as the reason - and the only reason provided for the murder - is cruel and lazy ignorance. Unfortunately, a modern author using adoption as a motive for murder provides the only shock this book delivers. There are certain situations where I could accept adoption as a trigger beginning a lifetime of abuse and cruelty that ends in show more murder. But, I would have to get far more from an author than given here. Honestly, was I supposed to nod and sigh "Ah, yes... a child of adoption has only the gun to resolve their identity issues..." Rudyard Kipling asked us to believe that a child raised by wild and deadly animals is only mildly out of touch with the industrial revolution. Humbug! show less