YOU BETTER KNOT DIE

A widow juggles two suitors, pre-holiday hijinks at the bookstore where she works and a murder mystery.

Quite the busy season for Molly Pink. She’s setting up a new yarn department at her bookstore, helping to plan a gala event for the unveiling of the newest entry in the wildly popular crocheting vampire series, whose mysterious author’s identity has yet to be revealed, and dealing with the wife of her next-door neighbor, who may have committed suicide. Bradley Perkins was the Bernie Madoff of Tarzana, Calif. His wife appears distraught when he vanishes after his Ponzi scheme starts to unravel. A number of Molly’s friends had invested their savings with Bradley, but Molly’s not so sure he jumped off the Catalina Ferry. Despite the protests of her boyfriend Barry Greenberg, a homicide detective, she and several fellow members of the Tarzana Hookers set out to find the truth. Among the mysteries is why Bradley was so desperate to get his hands on the unusual afghan his sister had crocheted for him. Molly’s life is a whirl of activity as she struggles to get all her work done and uncover the truth about Bradley and the missing money.

Irrepressible Molly’s character continues to develop in this latest Crochet Mystery (A Stitch in Crime, 2010, etc.)—an easygoing addition to the plethora of holiday cozies, with the obligatory patterns and recipes appended.