Book Review: "Knit, Purl, Die" by Anne Canadeo

Gloria Sterling had it all — money, looks, and a new sexy young husband. So when she's found floating face down in her own swimming pool, shock waves ripple through tiny Plum Harbor. At the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, Maggie Messina and her circle are devastated to lose their dear friend — a woman as colorful as her fabulous yarn creations.

The police are quick to call it an accident, but sorting out Gloria's final hours leaves too many loose ends to satisfy her friends. The vivacious, fiftysomething cougar had her French manicured tips in more than a few pots, and the threads of some inside deals stashed in her chic knitting tote.

Who was the last person to see Gloria alive on that quiet summer night? Two empty wine glasses suggest she wasn't home alone knitting the entire evening.... The Black Sheep need to know the truth and set out to unravel — stitch by stitch — the weighty secrets that pulled poor Gloria under.

I have been wanting to really get into reading mainstream cozy mysteries for a long time and I am also a fan of books that feature women that like to knit. Therefore this was the perfect book for me to dive into as it combines both of them. The cozies that I have read in the past were really fun to read and just that, cozy to read. This book was no exception. I had a blast meeting the women in the Black Sheep Knitting group and getting to know them. This is the second book in the series, but for the most part I didn't feel like I was missing out by not reading the first book. Even though I have no idea how to knit myself, I would have loved to visit Maggie's shop and hopefully learn how to knit myself. The characters are all engaging and I enjoyed getting to know them. They are also quite funny women as I found myself chuckling while reading.

The mystery itself was a good read. I was a bit disappointed at the ending and the ultimate culprit. I thought it was fairly predictable as to who the blame should lay on but the ladies in the story did not seem to pick up on clues as well as I did. This is not really a problem per se as I enjoyed reading the entire book but there were times when I wanted to be like "Seriously? You guys don't notice this?!" Maybe they are too trusting as they all seem like really nice women.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the author is the same person who co-writes the Cape Light books with Thomas Kinkade under the name Katherine Spencer. My mom is a huge fan of those books and I think that she would like this series as well. Cozies are great to read because they have clean story lines but still have all the fun and action of a good mystery. This book was great fun to read and I really liked the recipes that were featured. Suzanne's pasta sounds delicious and I would love to make that in the future. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a great intro for me into the cozy genre and I'm eager to get the first book and catch up on the series. If you are a cozy mystery fan or like books about knitting, this book is perfect for you.

Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo is published by Pocket Books (2010)

This review copy is provided by the publisher