PURLS AND POISON

Members of the Black Sheep knitting group (Knit to Kill, 2017, etc.) must use their sleuthing talents to rescue one of their own.

Real estate agent Suzanne Cavanaugh arrives at a Black Sheep get-together in a towering rage. Once again, her fellow realtor Liza Devereaux pulled a dirty trick to get half the commission on a house that Suzanne sold, and they almost came to blows at a business meeting. Her friends calm Suzanne down, and when she sees Liza’s car at the office on her way home, she decides to stop in and apologize only to find Liza’s dead body. The police quickly hear of the ongoing disagreements, which make Suzanne their prime suspect. One of the investigating detectives is Charles Mossbacher, who’s in a relationship with Maggie, owner of the Black Sheep knit shop. As the evidence piles up against Suzanne, Maggie loyally defends her friend, though it hurts her relationship with Charles. It becomes obvious to the Black Sheep group that someone has framed Suzanne when they learn that Liza died from an allergic reaction to the Botox in her diet drink, a drink both Liza and Suzanne kept in the office refrigerator. The skillful advocacy of her lawyer, Helen Forbes, keeps her out of jail, but Suzanne and her friends know they must find the killer if the police refuse to look elsewhere. Although Liza had a nasty divorce, it seems more likely that someone in her office had the best opportunity to murder Liza. But who? A lot of digging turns up some strange family dynamics and a much nicer side of Liza than they ever imagined, even if it wasn’t nice enough to prevent someone from killing her.

The wrenching ordeal of a Black Sheep as a murder suspect makes this entry the strongest in Canadeo’s series.