A Holiday Yarn

October 18, 2010
Death puts a damper on the Christmas festivities in Goldenbaum's engrossing fourth cozy featuring Izzy Chambers and the other members of her Sea Harbor, Mass., knitting circle (after April 2010's Moon Spinners). When "controversial fashion editor" Pamela Pisano turns up dead with a pistol in her hand on the snow-covered back porch of the Pisano family estate, Ravenswood-by-the-Sea, it appears a clear case of suicide. Particularly distraught is Mary Pisano, Pamela's cousin, who recently inherited Ravenswood and is in the process of converting the house into a bed-and-breakfast. When a painter Mary hired falls to his death off a ladder onto some granite rocks, this accident is more than a little suspicious. Of course, a killer is at work, and the knitters must tap old memories and old police records before they can bring the mystery to its unexpected conclusion.

October 15, 2010

The citizens of the picture-perfect New England town of Sea Harbor are busily preparing for the holiday season. What they get instead is murder.

Former lawyer Izzy Chambers, proprietor of the Seaside Knitting Studio, may be Sea Harbor's resident sleuth, but this time it's her Aunt Nell who plunges the knitting group into a murder investigation. A chance meeting with Pamela Pisano, sleek editor of her family's fashion magazine, reveals that Pamela is enraged by her cousin Mary's efforts to turn the family mansion into a superior B&B. When Pamela is found dead on the mansion's porch, suspects abound. She was no favorite of her family, and her track record with men has left some angry ex-lovers in her wake. Her latest lover is a model she had deemed too old for a spread in her magazine. His recent work at the mansion makes him a prime suspect until his murder leaves the police even more confused. For her part, Izzy is distracted by a bump in her relationship that's especially worrisome for her Aunt Nell, who pictures her with a happy family. Despite all the red herrings, the knitting sleuths are determined to solve the crimes before the holidays are totally ruined.

Goldenbaum's latest Seaside Knitters Mystery (Moon Spinners, 2010, etc.) invites you once more to imagine yourself in a charming if homicidal town where knitting and sleuthing go hand-in-hand.

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

November 1, 2010
The fourth Seaside Knitters mystery focuses on Nell, knitting shop owner Izzys aunt. Christmas will soon be coming to Sea Harbor, and Mary Pisano has been renovating her grandfathers estate with plans to open as a bed-and-breakfast. However, when the Pisano family gathers in Sea Harbor for their annual family meeting, things dont go smoothly for Mary, and it gets worse when cousin Pamela is found dead on the B&Bs back porch. Nell, Birdie, and Cass try to help Mary, even as Izzy wrestles with her own, more personal mystery (longtime boyfriend Sam is behaving secretively).Theres no shortage of suspects and a lot of family secrets to unravel. New readers will have no problem keeping up with events and people, although they may want to go back and read the previous series entries. Goldenbaums cozy mystery features appealing characters whose relationships will matter to the reader, and the knitting details may inspire not just knitting but also helping the KasCare charity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)