A Stitch Before Dying

November 29, 2010
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.

December 1, 2010

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.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

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.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.