Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

Knit One, Kill Two is a fluff mystery. Kelly Flynn finds herself back in Fort Connor, CO, for the funeral of her murdered aunt, Helen. There Kelly meets a menagerie of people who quickly become her friends: Mimi, who runs House of Lambspun a knitting store; Steve, carpenter, architect, handyman; Jennifer, real estate agent; Lizzie and Helen, retired teachers and sisters; Lisa, physical therapist; and Burt, retired policeman.

Kelly, tasked with having to clean out her aunts house and prepare it for sale, discovers there’s more to Helen’s murder than meets the eye. Her Aunt’s beloved family heirloom quilt has gone missing. Her aunt took out $20,000.00 in an dubious loan just before her death, but the money is nowhere to be found. Kelly, a corporate accountant is now fully suspicious about the circumstances of Helen’s death. Shortly after befriending a long lost cousin, Martha, Kelly finds out in the morning paper that Martha was murdered as well.

With the help of her new friends, whom she meets with every day at the House of Lambspun, Kelly not only learns how to knit, but solves the mystery of the two deaths.

Did I mention this was a fluff mystery? It is. It’s a fun little story that almost dives into the world of fantasy. Really now - how can all these people work such flexible jobs that allow them to continuously pop into the knitting store? Seriously. I also found that there were too many characters, there was nothing to really distinguish them from each other and their characters were all rather flat. Less would have been more here. Being a knitter, I found the rate that all these “working people” were finishing projects the likes of sweaters simply incredible to the point of disbelief. And let us not forget the introduction of the future love interest, to whom Kelly took an immediate dislike.

Still, I liked the Colorado setting, the knitting theme was cool - I totally understood the whole sensory color overload when Kelly walks into the knitting store for the first time - and at least in this mystery, the heroine doesn’t act like a stupid ninny and confront the villain alone (like another theme mystery I like to read) only to require rescue by said love interest. I’ll read the next couple and see how this series fleshes out.