Knot What You Think

May 15, 2017
How many yentas does it take to solve a puzzling murder?Martha Rose is a zaftig middle-aged quilter with a complicated love life and some great friends. Among the latter is Jazz Fletcher, a talented couturier with an unusually well-dressed Maltese. Although he's expanded his business to dog couture, he's been unable to make a delivery to Dolleen Doyle, whose Chihuahua, Patti, was to be the recipient of a gorgeous new wardrobe. When he still can't get in touch with Dolleen the next day, Jazz, Martha, and their quilting friends Lucy and Birdie all troupe over to her house, where they find a frantic Chihuahua and a dead Dolleen. Jazz tops the list of suspects because he was seen at the house the night before and owed Dolleen money. Not for the first time (Something's Knot Kosher, 2016, etc.), the ladies decide to investigate. They promptly get on the wrong side of Martha's former boyfriend, police detective Arlo Beavers. Although Martha and Arlo still have feelings for each other, she's now seeing Yossi Levy, aka Crusher, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who may also be doing some black ops work for Israel. Dolleen's incarcerated husband, David Shapira, is a West Coast Bernie Madoff with so many enemies that the sleuths hardly know where to start. A little breaking and entering provides them with a key to a storage locker filled with information, including the fact that Dolleen was slowly repaying some of the money Shapira had embezzled to some of his poorer creditors. Ever since her divorce, Martha's been gun shy even though she's juggling two suitors who both want to marry her. Hints from a psychic and conversations with annoyed relatives of Shapira put the sleuths on the trail to success and danger. Filled with translated Yiddish, dippy characters, and superfluous lectures on a wide range of topics: a joyous romp with a special appeal to quilters and devotees of delicatessens.

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