Tales of Knitting and Murder

Last Updated on January 3, 2021 by lydiaf1963

My reading tastes are a bit eclectic. I like thrillers and science fiction, romances and modern novels. I even enjoy the classics. It all depends on my mood. Recently my mood has been to read tales of yarn and murder. You’d be surprised at the number of knitting mysteries available to read.

Do you like a good whodunit but aren’t in the mood for a lot of gory details? Welcome to the literary subgenre known as the cozy mystery. These books tend to have a central character, usually a heroine, and her circle of friends are featured characters. Usually these characters are bound together by circumstance. They live in the same neighborhood, shop at the same bakery, belong to a club or otherwise share a common interest. Like yarn crafts for example.

If there are knitting romances of course there are tales of yarn and murder!

I’m currently working my way through the Maggie Sefton books, set in Colorado.

The first is Knit One, Kill Two

Kelly, the main character, is an accountant who has found herself in a rut. She finds herself in Colorado for her aunt’s funeral and decides to stay in order to settle her aunt’s affairs. The police think her aunt’s death was a burglary gone bad. But things don’t make sense.

Why did Aunt Helen borrow money just days before she died? And where is the beautiful heirloom quilt Kelly remembers hanging over the sofa?

Kelly turns to her new friends, the knitting regulars at the local yarn shop, for advice. While learning how to knit her first scarf, she finds out her aunt’s secrets have put her in danger!

I’ve caught up to the Yarn Genie series by Celeste Bennett.

These books are available through the Kindle Unlimited program where you can borrow up to ten books at a time to read for a monthly fee (read more about Kindle Unlimited here). It’s a great program for discovering new writers.

The heroine of these books, Imogene, is extremely wealthy and extremely naïve. She has phobias and she doesn’t know how to cook, clean or handle her own finances. Her husband does that for her, and the family servants take care of everything else. She loves to knit and crochet which are her preferred ways to spend her time.

Imogene begins to suspect her handsome husband isn’t what he seems and that he’s willing to kill her for her inheritance. Soon she’s on the run and for the first time in her life she has only herself to rely on.

These books are surprisingly funny. Imogene is matter of fact about her limitations and over the course of the series she does mature although she hasn’t yet lost her naivety. I’m not sure I want her to become cynical and jaded, to be honest.

A Crafting Mystery Needs a Clever Title

One thing I enjoy about cozy mysteries in general and knitting mysteries in particular are the puns in the titles. Check out these books and series I have in my queue to read:

The Silence of the Llamas by Anne Canadeo, part of the Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries.

Died in the Wool by Peggy Ehrhart, part of the Knit and Nibble Mysteries

Murder wears Mittens by Sally Goldenbaum, part of the Seaside Knitters Mysteries.

A Pattern for Murder by Ann Yost, part of The Bait and Stitch Cozy Mystery series and also a Kindle Unlimited selection.

Many of the novels also feature a pattern and/or a recipe in the back of the book, which can be fun, too.
These are just a small sample of the knitting mysteries available. Keep an eye out for them at your local bookstore, order them online or look for them at your local library.