Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Ellen's comments: 

I do like a good mystery, and Christine Falls fills the bill. There is an unnecessary death and an outright murder. The mystery, however is not whodunit, but why.

Quirke (Quirk? Quirky?) is pathologist at a Dublin hospital morgue. He drops in to the morgue one evening and sees his almost-brother (Quirk had been raised from boyhood by Mal’s parents) altering a death certificate to read “pulmonary embolism,” when, in reality, Christine Falls had bled to death during a home birth. She could have been saved if she had been taken to a hospital.

When Quirke arrives at the morgue the next day, both the body and the file are gone, and there is no record of the birth or the baby. Fearing that Mal may be covering up an “indiscretion,” Quirke begins to follow leads and visits the midwife in whose home the woman died. The day after Quirke confronts Mal with what he has learned, and mentions that the midwife has a written record of all her cases, she is found murdered and her home ransacked.

Quirke continues to follow leads, putting himself and others at great physical and psychological risk. He eventually uncovers a 20-year-old transatlantic baby-selling business in which his and Mal’s family, their in-laws, and even church leaders are embroiled.

To tell much more would spoil the suspense, should you choose to read the book—but if you do, be prepared for startling revelations. 

Adult Mystery Fiction, BLA

Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

Valerie's comments: 

Heather Wells was once a teen pop sensation.  That was until she lost her music career, her money, her boyfriend, and her perfect size 2 pant size.  Now she’s the assistant director of a residence Hall at New York College, living in an apartment owned by her ex-boyfriend’s brother, and insisting that her size 12 is not fat.  (It’s the size of the average American woman!)

Life gets even more interesting for Heather when freshman girls start dying at her residence hall.  The police say the deaths were accidents - the result of naïve freshmen elevator surfing.  But girls don’t elevator surf, right?  Especially, shy quiet ones!  Heather begins some investigating on her own to get to the bottom of what really happened.  As she starts uncovering some clues, she finds that her own life may be at risk.

This is a fun read.  It has a touch of romance and lots of laughs, along with enough mystery and suspense to keep you turning the pages quickly wanting to know how everything ends.  I’m eager to start reading Cabot’s sequel, Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, to see what other adventures Heather Wells may encounter.  I would recommend this book not only to fans of chick lit and Cabot’s other books, but also to fans of light-hearted mysteries. 

Adult Romance Fiction, CAB

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Emily's comments:

Humpty Dumpty, beloved ladies man and renowned philanthropist, has been found in pieces…literally.  The Nursery Crimes Unit (NCU) has been called in to investigate his untimely death, and Jack Spratt, lead detective, suspects foul play.  With the help of his new assistant, Mary Mary, Jack Spratt unweaves an involved conspiracy involving Mr. Dumpty and a number of dastardly businessmen, ex wives, doctors, scientists, and jilted lovers.  Meanwhile, Friedman Chimes, the famous and infamous detective of the Crimes Unit and former partner of Spratt, wants desperately to shut down the NCU.  And to make matters worse, there’s a giant beanstalk growing in Mother Spratt’s yard and Jack’s eldest daughter is falling in love with the immortal god Prometheus.  Just another day for the citizens in Reading, England.

I’m a big fan of Jasper Fforde’s books.  Fforde has created a fictional world that is like a book within a book.  The Nursery Crimes mysteries are a welcome and exciting spin off from his popular Thursday Next series.  I know it sounds a little goofy, but it’s witty, and sarcastic, and full of imagination and interesting plot.  The audio book edition is absolutely amazing, and Simon Prebble is as exciting to listen to as Jim Dale.  If you are just looking for a fun, creative read, definitely try Fforde’s The Big Over Easy.

Large Type Books, FFO

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

Taryn's comments:
Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Kennaro are hired by powerful politicians to find a missing cleaning woman who allegedly stole some important confidential documents. It sounds like routine job at first, but a simple job soon turns deadly as Patrick and Angela find themselves caught up in a war between two gangs with connections to the corrupt politicians. 

This is a compelling read in many ways. Lehane creates a vivid setting and shows us the grittier side of Boston’s neighborhoods with fascinating detail. It really brings blue-collar Boston to life. The violence is graphic, so this book is not for the faint of heart. However, while the tone may be dark, Patrick still manages to have a sense of humor in even the worst of situations. I was surprised to find myself laughing aloud a few times while reading. 

The characters are well-developed and relatable. The author manages to keep the fast-paced action going while simultaneously weaving in background details about Patrick’s past experiences with a violent father and Angela’s tumultuous relationship with her abusive husband. The connection between Patrick and Angela is strong, and their concern for one another is touching. A Drink Before the War is the first book in the Kenzie & Gennaro series, and I look forward to finding out what happens to the characters next. 

Check status at GPL / Place book on hold. 

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Taryn's comments: 


Ex-lingerie buyer Stephanie Plum finds herself unemployed and down on her luck. After pawning off most of her possessions and getting her car repossessed, she is desperate for a paycheck. Stephanie takes a position as a skiptracer for her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, despite the fact that she has absolutely no experience in bounty hunting. Her first assignment is to bring in Joe Morelli, a vice cop who is wanted for the murder of Ziggy Kulesza. Even with the potential $10,000 paycheck from bringing in Morelli, Stephanie is not thrilled to run into him again. After all, he took her virginity in high school and then never called. They also had a memorable encounter in the past in which she accidentally-on-purpose hit him with her car. 

Stephanie has a lot to learn about bounty hunting, so she enlists the help of Ranger, the best in the business (at least in Trenton, New Jersey). She learns how to use a gun but discovers she is too scared to actually shoot someone. This makes apprehending Morelli particularly difficult. After a handful of encounters with him, she still isn't able to bring him in, and he's even used her own handcuffs against her. Morelli claims that he shot Ziggy in self defense and that the witnesses could vouch for the truth of his story, yet Stephanie has trouble tracking down those witnesses. 

As Stephanie stalks Morelli and the shooting witnesses, she also finds herself in a twisted cat-and-mouse game with heavyweight champion boxer Benito Ramirez (the murder victim's employer). His violent, psychopathic threats shake Stephanie to her core. 

This fast-paced novel has just the right mix of mystery, suspense, humor. The sexual tension builds between Stephanie and Morelli over the course of the story as well. While most of the secondary characters are one-dimensional, Stephanie is an underdog that the reader can't help rooting for. She's just a normal girl with a sassy attitude (and terrible fashion sense) who finds herself in over her head with her new job as she tries to make ends meet. 

This was Evanovich's first novel, and the writing is somewhat unsophisticated. However, the author does not apologize for the type of books she writes. Evanovich explains, "If you want to cry, you're not going to like my books...If you want a really good plot, you're not going to like my plots. My books have pizza and cussing and sexy guys" (Cruz, 2006). Let's be honest - sometimes you just crave pizza even though you know that a salad is better for you. It's the same way with books - sometimes you just crave a juicy, entertaining read instead of something more literary. Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series just became my new guilty pleasure. 


Check status at GPL / Place book on hold. 

Cruz, G. (2006, June 2). How Janet Evanovich broke through. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1199996,...

For Mystery Lovers: Edgar Nominees

Did you know that yesterday marked the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe? In honor of this occasion, Mystery Writers of America announced its nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards which honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in 2010. The awards will be presented on April 28, 2011 in New York City.

To see the full list of nominees, click here. Search for nominated books in our catalog by clicking here.

Vertical Run by Joseph Garber

Sheila's comments: 

David Elliott, a Vietnam veteran and top executive at a New York computer company, gets up early and jogs to work as he does every other day of the week. However, when he gets there, he finds himself facing his boss and friend, Bernie Levy, aiming a gun at him. Elliott manages to get past Bernie only to discover a team of men whose mission becomes obvious: Kill David Elliott by day's end. Even his wife, with whom he comes face to face later in the day, seems to want David caught by these military men. As Elliott struggles to evade his killers throughout the long day in many action-packed sequences, he slowly unravels the mystery as to why these men are after him. Full of plot twists and turns and agonizing suspense, the story keeps the reader guessing to the very end. Don't blink, or you will miss the final kicker at the very end!

Check status at GPL / Place book on hold.

Gravity by Tess Gerritsen

Sheila's comments:

Astronaut, flight surgeon Emma Watson has been selected to ride the space shuttle up to the International Space Station (ISS) to assist a sick, Japanese astronaut while her soon to be ex-husband, fellow physician/astronaut, Jack, is left behind. Unbeknownst to Emma and the crew, a seemingly harmless experiment about single-celled organisms found 19,000 ft deep of the Galapagos Rift gets drastically altered in the zero gravity atmosphere, and then a mouse eats some of the blue-green floating gel-like substance. The mouse bites a human, and the mouse dies, decays rapidly, and grossly explodes. Later, human corpses start exploding with meticulous, gross depictions. More fear spreads after the military does an autopsy of the corpse sent back to Earth and discovers that inside the corpse are growing, pulsating eggs that evolve every time it acquires a new host using the DIMA from each. They cannot kill it, so they decide to leave Emma and her crew aboard to die, while Jack watches from below. Will Emma survive? Will Jack save her in time?

Check status at GPL or place book on hold.

The Surgeon by Tess Gerristsen

Sheila's comments:

In a medical thriller that will keep you guessing from start to finish, we meet tough female cop Jane Rizzoli and learn of her struggles to survive and thrive in a "man's" world working in the homicide unit in Boston. Dr. Cordell has been through a lot in the last couple of years overcoming the fear of killing a serial killer before he could kill her. Living in a new city and succeeding as one of the top women in the surgical field, she is finally feeling like her old self again. That is, of course, until Detective Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli call on her for help in solving a murder spree that is so similar to the one she has survived. The further Cordell gets pulled into the case, the more Rizzoli and Moore realise this serial killer, nicknamed "The Surgeon," isn't just emulating a previous serial killer, but is still going after the one person who survived. But how is it possible for the Surgeon to know the things he knows?

This is the first book in the Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles series, which inspired the television series Rizzoli & Isles. 

Check status at GPL or place book on hold.

Consigned to Death by Jane K. Cleland

Kendra's comments:
What a fun read! Josie Prescott is a successful businesswoman trying to grow her antiques appraisal business in a picturesque small town in New Hampshire. Still recovering from the loss of her father several years before, Josie takes the murder of one of her clients, Mr. Grant, especially hard. Life becomes even more difficult when she finds out that she is the prime suspect in his death! With the help of her lawyer, a reporter, and a mysterious informant, Josie gets to work trying to figure out who the real killer is so that she can clear her name.

For those who love a good cozy mystery, this will not disappoint. Just enough intrigue was given about Josie's coworkers and Josie's own past to make me want to continue on with the series to learn more. Deadly Appraisal is on my "to read" list. This series will provide perfect summertime escape reading!

Check status at GPL.

Join a GPL Book Club

Check out our Book Club page to find out which one is right for you!


Booklovers Book Club

This club meets the third Thursday of each month. Call Susie Schachte at 881-1953 for more information. The next meeting is May 20, and the selection is: Any book from the Staggeford Series by Jon Hassler.

Primetime Book Club

This club meets the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30. It is led by Cheryl Dobbs. The next meeting is May 18, and the selection is: Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coffee Talk Book Club

This club is geared toward twenty- and thirty-somethings who love to read. It meets once a month on a Friday at Barnes & Noble café in Greenwood at 7 pm. The next meeting is May 28, and the selection is: Something Missing by Matthew Dicks.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Mystery Book Club

This club meets the first Monday of each month at 1pm. The next meeting is June 7, and the selection is: The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer.

Join a book club and get "Curious" this month!

Amber's Comments: It’s a new year, and that means time to try some new activities! Greenwood Public Library offers a variety of book clubs for patrons with different interests.

Booklovers Book Club, 3rd Thursday morning of each month

If you're a booklover who likes nothing more than to curl up with a good book, the Booklover's Book Club is a great place to discuss it!

Primetime Book Club, 3rd Tuesday evening of the month

Primetime Book Club meets reads a variety of fiction, mysteries, memoirs, and the occasional nonfiction.

Coffee Talk Book Club, once a month

Not your parent's book club! This club is designed for the twenty and thirty-something crowd.

Mystery Book Club, 1st Monday of the month

Love mysteries? Join our Mystery Book Club!

This month, the Coffee Talk Book Club is reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (check status at GPL), which is a great quick read.

The narrator is Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with autism. When Christopher finds his neighbor’s dog dead – killed with a garden fork – he takes it upon himself to find the killer. Christopher decides to chronicles his findings in a book. He encounters many difficulties and faces his fears during the investigation.

Ultimately, Christopher learns a lot about the people who live on his street, and also what he is capable of achieving when he ventures into the world.

If you would like to join us in our book discussion, we will be meeting at the Greenwood Barnes and Noble at 7:00 pm on Friday, January 15.

Make sure to check out all of our other book clubs and see which one is right for you! Visit our Book Club page for more details.

Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Amber's Comments: Thanksgiving is just around the corner. To celebrate, we have put together a display of Thanksgiving books in adult services. The books vary from historical accounts, recipes, and ideas for celebrating Thanksgiving. Make sure to stop by the display next time you visit GPL.

To get in the mood for Thanksgiving, you could also cozy up with a mystery, like Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier (check status at GPL).

Lucy Stone is a local reporter in small Tinker’s Cove, Maine. When she is sent to cover the local board meeting, she discovers that there is conflict brewing between the local Native American tribe and some of the board members.

The Metinnicut tribe has very few members left, but they are insistent on being recognized as an official tribe by the government. Once this happens, they plan to build a large casino in the small town and bypass some of the local zoning regulations.

Some of the board members are supportive of the plan, and others are vehemently opposed. The town is similarly split; some welcome the boost it would give to the local economy, and some like the small town just the way it is.

Curt Nolan, a Metinnicut, is very vocal about his heritage and wants recognition for the tribe, but does not support the casino. He would prefer a museum detailing the Metinnicut history. The Metinnicuts do not have much history left – there is only one war club to mark the tribe’s past. Curt is not shy with sharing his opinions and often gets into arguments. When he turns up dead at the Thanksgiving Day football game, beaten with the priceless Metinnicut club, almost everyone becomes a suspect.

Lucy uses her reputation as a reporter to get people to talk to her, and tries to solve the mystery. Lucy also deals with several personal issues, balancing her job, her changing family and her sleuthing on the side.

The Affinity Bridge by George Mann

Emily's Comments: Sir Maurice Newbury is a man of mystery. He is an academic working for the British Museum, but he is also a special agent for Queen Victoria and a man deeply interested in the supernatural. With the help of his new assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbs, Newbury is assisting Scotland Yard with a recent string of murders in the slums of Whitechapel when an airship crashes in London killing all passengers. The Queen suspects foul play and requests the agents help in identifying the culprits. Newbury and Hobbs quickly find themselves deep in conspiracy and danger. The Affinity Bridge is set in an alternative Victorian London where airships fill the sky, steam powered carriages rumble through the streets, and revenants roam through the slums, infected with a zombie-like virus brought over from India. George Mann presents Steampunk at its finest.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Affinity Bridge. While it mixed two of my favorite literary sub-genres (Steampunk and zombies) it was also a really good detective mystery full of intrigue and thrills. The characters were likable, the story was exciting, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next Newbury and Hobbs investigation. It might be categorized as science fiction / fantasy, but if you like fun London based detective novels, give George Mann’s The Affinity Bridge a try(check status at GPL)!

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Amber’s Comments: On October 30, GPL will be hosting a Monster Mash, a community Halloween party! From 5:00-7:00, we will have safe trick-or-treating. Local businesses will be providing the treats, and GPL will be providing “creepy crawly” stations for the kids. We will also be giving prizes to the best costume for Adults, K-5th graders, Baby/Preschoolers, 6th-12th Graders and the business that has the best "Spirit of the Event". The winner of each category will receive a prize! Read more about Monster Mash on our website.

In anticipation of the Monster Mash, I have been reading some “creepy crawly” books to get in the mood. Most recently, I finished Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (check status at GPL). I chose this particular Sherlock Holmes mystery because it featured a supernatural family legend – just the thing for a Halloween read!

The Baskervilles have lived in Devonshire for more than 500 years, just on the edge of the moor. One ancestor, Hugo Baskerville, brought a curse upon the family because of his evil deeds. The curse, in the form of a fire-breathing hell hound, has reportedly caused the death of several Baskervilles over the years. The hound has now been spotted again, prowling around the desolate moor. Sir Charles Baskerville believed in the curse and was very nervous about it. When he died of a heart attack there were many suspicious circumstances, and his doctor is convinced the hound caused it. Now that the last heir is returning to collect the inheritance and take up residence at Baskerville Hall, there are concerns the hound may go after him as well. Sherlock Holmes takes up the case to protect Sir Henry Baskerville and to get to the bottom of this family curse.

This Sherlock Holmes story is interesting because for a large portion in the middle Watson takes front seat on the action, reporting back to Holmes via letters. The whole mood of the book is very dark, and the moor makes an especially eerie setting. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Amber’s Comments: Our most recent display is focused on magical mysteries. To help you get in the mood for Halloween, come by and pick up any of these mysteries with a touch of the magical or paranormal!

Dead Until Dark (check status at GPL) is a mixture of mystery, paranormal and romance. Sookie Stackhouse lives in a small Louisiana town and she has a “disability” – she’s telepathic. Her telepathy has kept her from living a normal life, interfering with everything from her schoolwork (how do you concentrate when you can hear everything all the other kids are thinking?) and her ability to have a relationship (how do you get “intimate” if you can hear everything he’s thinking about you?). So now Sookie is a grown woman, working as a barmaid at Merlotte’s, living with her grandmother and trying her best not to listen in to other’s thoughts.

A few years ago, vampires from all across the world got on TV at the same time and announced that they existed and wanted equal rights. Since this revelation, Sookie has always wanted to meet one. When vampire Bill walks into Merlotte’s, Sookie is excited – not just because of his otherworldliness, but because she can’t read his mind! Silence is golden, and soon Sookie and Bill are an item.

Murders begin to sweep through the town and the police first suspect the new vampire is responsible. Soon, suspicion rests on Sookie’s brother Jason, who is a bit of a womanizer. Sookie is concerned about her own safety and her brother’s reputation, and begins to look into the deaths herself.

Sookie is certainly a kick-butt character. She’s strong, opinionated, and quick-thinking. I really enjoy having such a great female main character. Sookie narrates the book, so you get a lot of insight into the other characters as well because she can read their minds.

It should be noted that this book is an adult read that contains violence and sex. I don’t think it detracts from the story or is too superfluous, but it is certainly not a gentle read.

I have to say that I didn’t really get into the series until I read the second book, Living Dead in Dallas (check status at GPL). By then, I was totally hooked on Sookie’s world and I have enjoyed the rest of the series immensely.

We’d love to hear from you if you’ve been reading the Sookie novels, or any other magical mysteries. Leave us a comment!

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Amber's Comments: This book was recommended to me by one of the friendly GPL librarians when I was looking for a good mystery to read.

This book takes place in 1929, but also flashed back to World War I. The main character, Maisie Dobbs, is a very smart woman who works as a private investigator. She doesn't just solve mysteries though; she also has great concern for everyone's well being while doing so. She began life as a servant girl, but her employer, Lady Rowan, took an interest in her and provided Maisie with a good education.

Maisie's first case as an investigator is brought to her by a troubled husband. As she digs deeper, the case ends up bringing back many painful memories for Maisie of her time as an army nurse. Her investigating goes beyond the original case, as she confronts the horrors of war and her own experiences.

Strong, smart and self-motivated Maisie is a very enjoyable character. Not many women in 1929 got to have her independece. This is a fascinating time period, and this book gives you a good taste of the issues of the day. It does touch on some more sensitive points: what happened to those who lost someone in the war? how did the soldiers who returned home deal with their experiences? how does someone transcend her born social status? These subjects are discussed without detracting from the actual story line. A great read (check status at GPL).

Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance: A Mystery by Gyles Brandreth

Amber's Comments: This mystery is written from Robert Sherard's point of view, and features his friends Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherard was one of Wilde’s closest friends and his biographer.

In this story, Wilde takes his cues from Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and begins to investigate the mysterious death of Billy Woods. Wilde happens upon the dead boy in a rented room, surrounded by incense and candles. Oscar panics and flees from the house. The next day, he implores his friends to come back with him to the crime scene and finds it completely clean and empty. Sherard and Conan Doyle encourage Oscar to go to Scotland Yard with the issue. Without a crime scene, there is little the police can do. Wilde decides to take the investigation into his own hands and so begins an interesting sequence of events.

I appreciated the literary references, and thought the authors were portrayed well. There are references to the author’s real works, and their personalities are pretty spot on. If you are a die hard Oscar Wilde or Arthur Conan Doyle fan, you may not appreciate some of the liberties taken with them in this book. Overall, Gyles Brandreth did an excellent job of making real people and places work with his very interesting mystery plot. Check status at GPL.

If you like reading about this and other great books, you should join us on Goodreads. The GPL group helps connect you with others at the library. You can find out what GPL staff and patrons are reading, keep track of the books you have read and want to read, and write your own reviews or notes on books you have read. It's a great way to find new things to read! It's like a Facebook for reading junkies. :-) Join us on Goodreads today!

Get Crafty: Knitting Mysteries!

Amber's Comments: I LOVE knitting and any other kind of craft. Recently, I’ve found myself reading a lot of knitting mysteries and thought it would be good to compare some of what’s available in this genre.

First of all, it helps if you enjoy knitting, or can at least appreciate it. The characters in these books often rely on the relaxing rhythm of knitting or the club gatherings to help sort out their thoughts and clues to eventually unravel (ha ha) the mystery. Many of these books also come with knitting patterns to help you get started on your own project.

And if you’re looking for knitting inspiration, visit our Get Crafty display upstairs! GPL has a lot of wonderful knitting books. The Get Crafty display also has books on crocheting, bead and jewelry making, quilting, cross-stitch, sewing and scrapbooking - whatever your crafting fancy is!

But if you’re more interested in reading about crafts than actually doing it, here are reviews on two knitting mysteries I have read recently. Both books are the first in a series.

Knit One, Kill Two (Knitting Mystery, Book 1), by Maggie Sefton (check status at GPL)
Kelly Flynn has just returned to Colorado, where she spent her summers as a child. Unfortunately, this time it is not for pleasure - her Aunt Helen (who has been like a mother to her) has been murdered.

Once Kelly arrives, she finds an instant support group in the ladies who frequent the knit shop across the road from her aunt's cottage. They all knew and loved her aunt, and warm to Kelly immediately. Kelly also learns the joy of being in a knit shop (all that lovely yarn!) and how to knit.

As the sole inheritor of her aunt’s assets, Kelly learns from her aunt’s attorney that she had taken out a new mortgage to get a $20,000 check just a few days before she died. Why would her aunt, who is on a limited income, do such a thing? Kelly also inherits her aunt’s cottage and is immediately pressured by a local real estate agent to sell up. None of this sits well with Kelly, and she starts to do her own investigating with the help of the knit shop ladies and a hunky local architect.

Kelly learns a lot about her aunt which she would have never guessed, including some dark family secrets. She also learns a lot about herself, and that with a little patience she can create beautiful things through knitting.

A good read for knitting enthusiasts and mystery readers alike. I am just getting ready to start the second one in this series, Needled to Death (check status at GPL).


Death By Cashmere (Seaside Knitters Mystery, Book 1), by Sally Goldenbaum (Check status at GPL)

Izzy is a bright young woman who has opened her own knitting store in the quaint village of Sea Harbor. After training as a lawyer and winner her first case, she decided the law was not for her and returned to the village where she spent most of her childhood summers. Her knitting shop is now very successful, and she is surrounded by a group of supportive friends and doting aunt and uncle.

Izzy rents out the space above her shop to Angie, a Sea Harbor native who has returned to the area after leaving it a few years ago. Angie works at the library and is dating a sweet young man, also a local. Izzy likes Angie and lets her borrow an amazing one-of-a-kind sweater to wear on a date. That night, Angie and the lovely sweater both disappear. Angie is found stuck in a lobster trap the next morning.

With Izzy’s heavy involvement with Angie, her smarts and her successful business, it seems logical that she would be the main character. But she isn’t. Her Aunt Nell is the main character and she seems fairly limited in world view. She clings desperately to the idea that Sea Harbor is a tight-knit (ha ha) community, and everyone there is too nice to commit murder. Obviously, this is not true and Nell has a hard time adjusting to this.

Overall, it was an ok read with a surprising ending.

More crafty reads!!

If neither of these interest you, the library has a lot of other crafty mysteries, including:

Knitting Mysteries series
Died in the wool, by Kruger, Mary

A Someday Quilts mystery series
The lover's knot, by Clare O'Donohue

Needlecraft Mysteries series
Crewel world, by Monica Ferris

While my pretty one knits, by Anne Canadeo

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

Amber's Comments: Jack Spratt of the Reading, England Nursery Crime Division is no ordinary detective. He is a Person of Dubious Reality (PDR) and is trying to hide it. However, his extensive knowledge of PDRs and their behaviors makes him the perfect man to investigate “Nursery Crime.”

With the help of his colleagues Mary Mary (a PDR herself) and alien Ashley, Jack Spratt is out to solve the unexplained disappearance of the journalist Goldilocks. Along the way, this motley crew is drawn into several other incidents – including porridge trafficking (the talking bears’ drug of choice) and the escape of the most dangerous criminal ever, the Gingerbreadman.

Jack caught the Gingerbreadman the first time, but has been taken off the case because the job has been deemed a strain on his sanity. There was a terrible mistake in the Red Riding Hood case, and Spratt has been shunned because of it. When he shows up with a self-healing car purchased from Dorian Gray, other police officers are sure he has lost his mind.

But Jack keeps digging alongside Mary Mary as they continue their investigations into Goldilocks mysterious disappearance. The last story she was preparing to write was about giant cucumbers. What was so controversial about cucumbers that it may have cost Goldilocks her life? And Jack wants to catch the Gingerbread Man a second time because he does not like the non-NCD officer who has been assigned to the case.

This book is very self-aware, often alluding to plot devices and bad jokes. The humor is definitely British, and would be best enjoyed by those who appreciate comedy like Monty Python. It is a funny book, but there are parts where the plot seems to lag a bit. Also, be prepared to suspend your disbelief because many of the investigation’s “conclusions” are improbable. However, this is an overall fun read and certainly an off-beat mystery. Check Status at GPL