Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts

Book Review - Knit One, Kill Two






Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton (unabridged audiobook)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

"Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair of knitting needles she liked—until she strolled into House of Lambspun. Now, in the first in a brand-new series, she learns how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind her aunt's murder."

Review:

This book falls under the category of  cozy mystery, little violence, no graphic material, the writing equivalent of  a "Matlock" episode.  This subgenre of crime fiction has a huge following and you can often find books with themes such as knitting, sewing, baking, you name it.  Sometimes one might want to do some light reading, perhaps featuring a particular hobby.  Being an avid knitter is obviously what drew me to this title.

That being said, I wanted to like this book more than I did.  This is my first foray into cozy mysteries and even knowing a bit about the genre it still felt really, really thin on everything, story, character development, etc.  I certainly enjoyed the knitting portions of the book, the description of the yarns, the yarn store, Kelly's first tries with knitting made me nostalgically think of my own.  All in all, it was a sufficient story, but not challenging enough for me to thoroughly enjoy it.

I'll probably give another cozy a try, if I feel the same way then I'll conclude this genre isn't for me.

2 out of 5 Iggystars

Crusin' thru the Cozies Book Challenge 2011

Ok, that's it! My final challenge for 2011:




Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2011

There's a really great description of what a cozy mystery is at Cozy-Mystery.com along with a million very helpful suggestions (bookmarked, yes!). The reading sounds nice, relaxed and more lightweight than other genres of mystery, like noir or hardboiled. Sure, those have their place, but sometimes I want a chill little read, infused with some humor, set in a quaint town, with the local yarn store owner or baker solving the mystery without reading each blow-by-blow gory detail of the crime to get my adrenaline pumping so hard that I can't sleep after I've put it down. Something I can curl up with while drinking some hot tea and eating cookies while wearing my handmade socks. Doesn't that sound so very...cozy? I thought so, so I just had to join this challenge. I'll be participating at the Snoop level (1 - 6 books)

My selections (no one should be surprised that I have a couple of knitting themed cozies):

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

Murder has a Sweet Tooth by Miranda Bliss

To Love and to Perish by Laura Durham

I was recently gifted a lovely cozy mystery from a knitting pal of mine that I'm adding to the list:

Murder on the Ol'Bunions by LaTisha Barnhart

So that completes the listing of my reading challenges for 2011. If I finish all of the books I intend on reading I'll have read 20 books for the year. I don't think I've ever counted the number of books I've read in one year, but 20 doesn't sound ridiculous. I haven't been watching nearly as much television lately and my 'going out on the weekend' days have dwindled so I'm sure completing all of these challenges will be doable and fun!!!!

*books I already own