Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 12/21/2020 + 2266 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This first Craft Fair Knitters mystery opens strong. The historic barn and the small-town Pennsylvania setting are used well, and I liked how the author brought crafts into the story without overdoing it. The story flowed well and kept my interest-- primarily because of the main character. I liked recent widow Lia, her outlook on life, and her behavior toward others. I liked her daughter, Hayley, who gives her mother palpitations by quitting her job, and my liking for the young woman persisted even after she did something completely bone-headed. Good gravy, I even liked Daphne the cat, and I'm a dog person!

Yes, A Wicked Yarn is set up so enticingly that I'll be taking a look at the next book in the series when it comes along, even though two things bothered me a bit.
One was how easy it was to deduce whodunit. One line of dialogue did it for me. Oh well. I read a lot of mysteries. The second thing concerned the traffic flow at the craft fair post-murder. In A Wicked Yarn, things grind to a halt with scarcely anyone coming in to shop. In the vast majority of the mysteries I've read-- and from my own personal observations-- when a murder occurs, it seems to be human nature for folks to come running to check out the murder site. Business should have boomed. Or so I thought. But if it did, Lia would not have had that extra time to investigate, would she?

Casting those two items aside, if you'd like to learn a little about craft fairs and alpacas, if you'd like to spend some time with a friendly, interesting main character while she finds a killer, then A Wicked Yarn should be your cup of tea. Milk or lemon?

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

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