Fleece Navidad

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 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 show more about two favorite subject, mysteries and knitting. show less

Kelly and her gang are working on charity projects and Christmas events where they meet a couple of new women, Juliet, a librarian organizing projects and Claudia, a new knitter and volunteer. Claudia inadvertently moves in on Juliet's beau. But things get interesting when Sheila shows up accusing Claudia of murdering her father and her previous husbands. Kelly and the group have taken to Claudia and try to help her out. Good plot and entry to the series, though the accuser is over the top and Claudia is a drama queen dependent on the support of a good man.

This book is part of the Knitting Mystery series by Maggie Sefton. I've read all of the previous five books and have enjoyed them. However, this one was kind of a let down. I don't think it is actually the book itself. I just think I'm tired of the series. I begin to lose interest with the same set of characters, same setting, and similar plot lines after several books. The biggest draw for me in the beginning was all the references to knitting -- descriptions of new projects, luscious yarns, etc. However, I don't think even that can keep me interested much longer.

Kelly Flynn, CPA and part-time sleuth, gets involved in another mystery in the small Colorado town of Fort Connor when a woman is killed in a hit and run. At first it appears show more to be an accident, but it soon turns out to be something more sinister.

I am not usually a very astute reader. I don't normally look for the clues in mysteries. So, even though I may have some idea about who dunnit, I'm not usually sure about it until close to the end of the book. However, in this case, it was blatantly obvious early on. Again, it's a fun read, but I think I need to take a break from the series, at least for a while.

One thing I did like about this one is that it contained more than the usual one recipe and one knitting pattern. Instead, it contained five knitting patterns and seven recipes. show less

Kelly Flynn and her friends who congregate at the House of Lambspun knitting shop welcome newcomer Claudia Miller to their circle. Thrice-widowed Claudia appears to have husband #4 on the string, but has competition for his affections from town librarian Juliet. When Juliet is killed in a hit-and-run accident, all the evidence points to Claudia. Is Claudia who she seems to be around the members of the knitting group? Or has she deceived them all? Kelly has successfully avoided becoming entangled in murder investigations for several months, but she may need to brush up on her detective skills in order to help her new friend.

This is just the second book I've read in this series. The writing has improved slightly over the first book in the show more series, but it still got in the way of my enjoyment of the book. The conversations between the characters just don't seem natural to me. The characters repeatedly use each other's names when conversing with each other. What do you think, Kelly? I don't know what to think, Burt. Who talks like that in real life? I'm sure I'd get lots of strange looks from my friends or co-workers if I were to use their names in every other sentence I spoke to them. There really wasn't much to the mystery. It was obvious early on what had actually happened. Between the awkward dialogue and the mystery that wasn't really a mystery, there wasn't much here to draw me back to this series. show less

This is not your usual mystery. For one thing, the murder doesn't happen until later in the book. The author sets out to show why a certain newcomer to the community will become the chief suspect. It is also very obvious who really committed the heinous act. If this is a person's first Sefton book, they probably won't think much of it. To someone who is following the series, it is a pleasant visit with characters they have grown to love. There's a Christmas pageant that you will not want to miss! As flawed as the mystery is, it was still my favorite Christmas read of the season. I'm not a knitter, but I love the "family atmosphere" present at the House of Lambspun.

This book was okay, but not the best I've ever read. I figured out "whodunnit" quite soon after the murder occurred, and then it was just a matter of wading through the rest of the book to reach the conclusion. The author definitely needs to rein in her use of the word "whoa"--at one point it appears at least three times on one page, and I lost count of the number of times it appears in each chapter. A new phrase to express surprise is definitely in order! If I find another book in the series on a paperback exchange or offered to me by a family member, I'll probably read it, but I won't go out of my way to find other books and I certainly won't purchase them.

This is the sixth book in the Knitting Mystery book series, which I have really enjoyed. This series is set around Kelly Flynn and her friends and the local yarn shop, House of Lambspun.

In this instalment, Juliet, one of the knitters, is dating a local professor and is quite excited about how the romance is progressing. However, the romance is derailed when Claudia sweeps into town, leaving a trail of dead husbands in her wake. Of course, there's a (mostly) plausible explanation for each husband's death, and Claudia soon becomes the talk of the town. Claudia is also quite the social butterfly, signing herself up for every seniors club and weekly event, shopping around for the next husband.

Soon enough, Juliet's body is found, and people show more discover that Claudia and Juliet's boyfriend may have been an item. Then someone from Claudia's past arrives in town with an armload of accusations. Soon, the local knitters are divided into pro- and anti-Claudia camps.

Parts of this book were good. It was nice to visit the town of Fort Connor again, and the author makes Christmas-time in Fort Connor come alive. The nativity scene in the church (and the rehearsals leading up to it) were particularly fun to read about it. The mystery itself, though, was lacking. I actually solved the mystery on page 170, which was just past the halfway point of the book and before Kelly did. This was a major disappointment.

However, I'm still looking forward to the next book in the series, as I still like the series overall. show less