A Twisted Skein by Sally Goldenbaum (Cozy Mystery Novel, December 2023).
In many ways, this is a very by-the-numbers Cozy Murder Mystery. That isn’t a terrible thing as such. Sea Harbor is a fictional small town in Massachusetts, filled with an array of quirky, mostly good-natured characters whose special eccentricities are explored in varying degrees of detail. This including the four members of the Seaside Knitters: Bernadette “Birdie” Favazza, Catherine “Cass” Brandley, Isabel “Izzy” Perry and Nell Endicott. Each of the four are likable individual characters–“nice” folks, like pretty much everyone in the area.
Yet in each book, “safe and friendly” Sea Harbor will be shocked by yet another murder case that the Knitters must help the local cops solve. Again, this follows the comfortingly familiar Cozy formula that longtime readers expect.
In this, the sixth book in the series, most of the town is busy gearing up for a fashion show built around hand-knit garments. I guess the excitement this generates is a further indication of the local population’s quirky nature–even some of the High School students find the thing exciting.
But other matters also attract the Seaside crew’s attention, even before the inevitable shocking murder mystery disrupts their comfortable small town lives.
The eldest of the four, octogenarian widow Birdie, is living up to her nickname by diving into the hobby of bird-watching. In fact she will stumble across the murder victim while on one such expedition into the surrounding woods.
The return to town of orphaned twin sisters Jillian and Rose Anderson, grown into talented and lovely women in their 20s is also of particular interest. Most everyone in Sea Harbor adores them, including the Knitters. But Rose’s weirdly over-the-top disapproval of her sister’s new boyfriend had the ladies deeply puzzled–even before Josh Elliot turns up murdered.
Josh was a wildly popular teacher at Sea Harbor High School and was by all accounts a very positive, generous and honest individual. The Seaside foursome can’t believe normally sweet and levelheaded Rose could be guilty and set out to investigate.
And while Josh is found to be as upright a figure as most say, a number of other possible suspects arise. Even nice guys can have secrets and enemies, you know. All but one of the suspects are of course mere red herrings–again, in the standard cozy mystery tradition.
The true villain, when at last revealed (just in time for the four amateur sleuths and everybody else to enjoy the unlikely glory of the fashion show) is the one that wasn’t seriously on anyone’s radar until the very last couple chapters. Yeah, the one you’d least expect–the most common mystery trope out there.
The fairly extensive birding stuff here is a somewhat unusual source of ongoing plot points. But if (like me), a glance at the cover art makes you think a house cat is more than a bit of local color you’ll be out of luck. No, this isn’t a feline-centric Cozy (a popular sub-genre in itself). The human characters do all the actual sleuthing here, yarn-shop owner Izzy’s playful pet notwithstanding.
Overall, this is a mildly entertaining and competently written novel–and there’s nothing wrong with that. And in yet another nod to other Cozy sub-genres, this one features a detailed knitting pattern and even a recipe for one the Seasider’s chicken chili (the Seaside Knitters do spend a lot of time eating and sipping wine, as well as solving crimes).
jimleeauthor 