You Better Knot Die

October 11, 2010
In Hechtman's diverting fifth cozy featuring Molly Pink and the members of her crochet group, the Tarzana (Calif.) Hookers (after February 2010's A Stitch in Crime), Molly, an event coordinator at Shedd & Royal Books and More, is preparing for the upcoming midnight launch of Caught Under the Mistletoe (about a crocheting vampire) and first public appearance of its pseudonymous author, A.J. Kowalski. No one knows whether Kowalski is a man or a woman. Molly is distracted, however, when she returns from a buying trip to discover crime scene tape at her house and her boyfriend, homicide detective Barry Greenberg, investigating a nasty smell. No human body turns up, but her neighbor, financial adviser Bradley Perkins, is missing and a suspected suicide. Some readers may find the amusing business about Kowalski's Blood and Yarn book series of more interest than what happened to Bradley.

October 15, 2010

A widow juggles two suitors, pre-holiday hijinks at the bookstore where she works and a murder mystery.

Quite the busy season for Molly Pink. She's setting up a new yarn department at her bookstore, helping to plan a gala event for the unveiling of the newest entry in the wildly popular crocheting vampire series, whose mysterious author's identity has yet to be revealed, and dealing with the wife of her next-door neighbor, who may have committed suicide. Bradley Perkins was the Bernie Madoff of Tarzana, Calif. His wife appears distraught when he vanishes after his Ponzi scheme starts to unravel. A number of Molly's friends had invested their savings with Bradley, but Molly's not so sure he jumped off the Catalina Ferry. Despite the protests of her boyfriend Barry Greenberg, a homicide detective, she and several fellow members of the Tarzana Hookers set out to find the truth. Among the mysteries is why Bradley was so desperate to get his hands on the unusual afghan his sister had crocheted for him. Molly's life is a whirl of activity as she struggles to get all her work done and uncover the truth about Bradley and the missing money.

Irrepressible Molly's character continues to develop in this latest Crochet Mystery (A Stitch in Crime, 2010, etc.)—an easygoing addition to the plethora of holiday cozies, with the obligatory patterns and recipes appended.

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