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Overview
Maggie is hired to teach a knitting class at a spa and the Black Sheep Knitters go too. But when a man is murdered, the knitters must find the killer.
Synopsis
The third mystery in Anne Canadeo's winning Black Sheep Knitting series, featuring a fivesome with a knack for knitting—and solving crimes…When Maggie Messina, owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, is invited to give knitting workshops at a Berkshires spa resort, she manages to negotiate a cottage that fits all five of the Black Sheep for what promises to be a weekend of knitting bliss. But while the friends are expert at counting stitches, they haven’t counted on murder.
Guests and staff at the Crystal Lake Inn are as varied as a mixed bag of yarn, but most colorful is certainly the owner, charismatic self-help guru and former psychiatrist Dr. Max Flemming. The doctor may have told all in a revealing autobiography, but from his ex-wife to the widow of his former business partner—both employees at the inn—Max seems mired in shadows from his past. And when a killer strikes during a mountaintop retreat, the Black Sheep wonder what the good doctor might be hiding.
The police seem to be following the wrong thread. But while Maggie’s workshops have given the knitters a unique view of the tensions at the little inn, can they make sense of a crime that is as complexly stranded as a Fair Isle sweater? When the killer murders a second time, the Black Sheep wonder if they’ve dropped a stitch and put themselves in mortal danger...
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Canadeo's diverting third Black Sheep Knitting Shop (after 2009's Knit, Purl, Die) could just as well be titled Eat, Knit, Love given how much Maggie Messina and her four fellow ladies of the fiber arts enjoy their food—recipe for yummy fruit crumble included—in between knitting and crime-solving at the Berkshires' Crystal Lake Inn. When travel writer Curtis Hill, a guest at the luxury retreat, is put to permanent sleep via an intentionally faulty gas line in his cabin, clues are scarce, motives and suspects are manifold, and the local police are stumped. The apparent murder of the inn's owner, Dr. Maxwell Flemming, adds to the confusion. Meanwhile, knitter Lucy is fretting over her faltering relationship with boyfriend Matt. In Canadeo's capable hands, both story and character development roll out at a leisurely but steady pace that's sure to hook cozy fans. (Jan.)From the Publisher
"Canadeo presents congenial characters and a mystery that keeps you guessing."
--Kirkus
Library Journal
When Maggie Messina is asked to teach a weekend knitting workshop at a New Age spa in the Berkshires, she invites her Black Sheep knitting group to join her. The inn is designed to be peaceful and healing, but the undercurrent of negativity surrounding the spa's owner, a talk show guru and former psychiatrist, results in murder. Canadeo's third gentle series entry (after While My Pretty One Knits and Knit, Purl, Die) is more about interpersonal relationships than mystery solving. The friends work together, smoothly stepping in when one woman needs help or another can use a nudge in the right direction. VERDICT This is sure to attract readers of Sally Goldenbaum and Barbara Bretton.Kirkus Reviews
Guests who've come to a beautiful country inn seeking New Age wisdom find murder instead.
Maggie Messina, owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop in Plum Harbor, Mass., is delighted to be able to offer her friends Lucy, Dana, Suzanne and Phoebe a free weekend at a luxurious Berkshire inn. Her friend Nadine, who works at the inn, has asked Maggie to be a last-minute substitute for a no-show at the Creative Spirit Weekend led by the famous Dr. Max, a psychiatrist turned holistic practitioner. The inn is gorgeous, their cottage is a perfect haven and Maggie's knitting classes go well. Even so, there's tension in the air. Nadine's sister Alice obviously loves Max, but her son Brian hates him. The assembled company includes Max's former wife, who's on the inn's staff, and several guests who are there to hear a pitch about expanding the Dr. Max brand to two new locations. When a travel writer is found dead at the location of Dr. Max's overnight camping trip, it turns out that he was really an investigator for a show specializing in sordid scandals. Since the writer was discovered in Dr. Max's special hut, the police and the members of Maggie's knitting group, who are no strangers to murder (Knit, Purl, Die, 2009, etc.), are left to decide who was the intended victim.
Slow-paced, all right, but Canadeo presents congenial characters and a mystery that keeps you guessing.