Close Knit Killer

April 29, 2013
Revenge provides the theme for Edgar-finalist Sefton’s enjoyable 11th knitting mystery featuring Fort Connor, Colo., accountant Kelly Flynn (after 2012 Cast On, Kill Off). Twelve years before, investment adviser Jared Rizzoli ran a Ponzi scheme that defrauded many Fort Connor residents, some of whom lost more than just money. Rizzoli went to prison for his crimes, but now he’s back, unrepentant and unwelcome. After a couple of run-ins with the locals, Rizzoli is found murdered in his car. Kelly takes a keen interest in the case, especially since two of her friends are prime suspects, and once again turns amateur sleuth. While the ending is given away a little too early, series fans will delight in the side action of the regular cast of characters and be on the edge of their seats with a cliffhanger ending. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds.

June 1, 2013
Fort Connor gets its collective knickers in a knot when a con man returns to the Colorado town after serving his time. Jared Rizzoli's Ponzi scheme casts a broad net, ruining many lives. Indigent Malcolm lost his home, his wife and his money in Rizzoli's scam. Barbara, one of the spinners at Mimi Shafer's House of Lambspun, lost her dad, a financial planner who killed himself when he discovered that Rizzoli had lost all of his clients' money. So when Rizzoli turns up dead in Mimi's driveway, the police don't think they have far to look for the killer. Accountant Kelly Flynn (Cast On, Kill Off, 2012, etc.), who shares the yarn shop's driveway, thinks otherwise and starts to hunt for alternatives to the cops' prime suspect. But her sleuthing is interrupted by an emergency: Good friend Pete Wainwright's father, Ben, is hospitalized in Denver after a heart attack, leaving his niece Cassie without a guardian. As Pete and his girlfriend, Jennifer, prepare a home for Cassie in Fort Connor, Kelly, Mimi, physical therapist Lisa Gerrard and alpaca rancher Jayleen Swinson all pitch in to provide activities to ease the 11-year-old's transition to small-town life. Like no adolescent on Earth, Cassie proves sweet, amenable and interested in everything, leaving Kelly plenty of time to track down the real culprit in Rizzoli's murder. Once again, the Lambspun gang shows the power of friendship and fiber arts to triumph over greed and self-interest.

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June 1, 2013

Old con men like Jared never change, but one victim (one of the knitters?) was mad enough to kill him this time. Sefton's 11th series title (after Cast On, Kill Off) includes recipes and patterns.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Kelly Flynnaccountant by day, sleuth by . . . well, anytime there's a murder in Fort Connor, Coloradois once again drawn in by a death near her favorite knit shop, Lambspun. A financial advisor who bilked half the town of its savings is found dead in his sports car. This entry, the first of a two-parter, seems a little tired. There's less knitting, and seemingly less sleuthing. Much of the focus is on preteen Cassie, who has come to live with Kelly's friends. When the book ends, a forest fire is raging, so the sequel will hop right into an inferno. For series fans. Includes a recipe and a knitting pattern.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)