Died in the Wool

Murder comes too close to home for Ari when she finds a dead body in her knitting shop, in Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger.

This is the first of a new knitting mystery series, by the author of the “Gilded Age” mysteries.  29 year old Ariadne (or Ari for short) owns Ariadne’s Web, a popular knitting shop in the small town of Freeport, New England.  As well as running the shop, Ari creates knitting patterns and looks after her 7 year old daughter, Megan.

Opening her shop early one September morning, Ari is shocked when she finds a dead body lying amongst the yarn bins.  Around the lifeless neck is some of Ari’s most expensive home spun yarn which appears to have been used as part of a garotte.  The yarn was spun by Ari’s best friend Diane Camacho, from her own small flock of sheep.

The victim is Edith Perry, a long time customer of Ariadne’s Web.  Edith was a difficult lady.  Hercantankerous nature and unpopular stances on controversial issues, like opposing school expansions and building a new library, did not make her a popular local figure.  But, why was she murdered? And why had she been in the yarn shop so early anyway?

The circumstances make Ari an obvious early suspect for the police and she is soon being questioned by detective Josh Pierce.  Josh finds out that Edith was about to buy the building that houses Ariadne’s Web, probably increase the rent and possibly put Ari out of business.  This puts Ari right in the frame for murder.

But, to use her own yarn in her own yarn shop seems unlikely to the detective.  And after speaking to Ari, Josh isn’t so sure she is the murderer.  Still, Josh spends more time questioning her (partly as he is new to the town).  So, when Ari is (partially) cleared of the allegation, she finds it easy to persuade Josh to allow her to help in the investigation (unofficially).  Ari is, understandably, determined to find out who carried out the deed in her shop.

As the two spend more time together, Ari’s Aunt Laura starts to suspect a budding romance with the handsome detective and doesn’t waste an opportunity to probe Ari about their latest meeting.

Being a small community, the odds are that Ari will know the murderer, or at least have served him or her in the shop.  But, when suspicion falls on her close friends, Ari has some difficult choices to make.

Constant interference by her ex-husband Ted and uncharacteristic unruly school behaviour by her daughter Megan do not make things any easier.  Events soon threaten Ari’s friendships, her business and her family relationships, and as she gets closer to the truth Ari soon realizes that she may be the murderer’s next target.

Josh is not only a newbie to Freeport, he also is new to knitting and the world surrounding the craft. As he investigates the murder, he is introduced to spinning, knitting and the people who love these arts.  Knitting is an integral part of this story and the plot and this is a plus for me.

I loved imagining Ari wearing the Scandinavian cardigans her grandmother made for her long ago.  I enjoyed the descriptions of the yarn shop and the spinning references too.  The padded coat hangers knitting pattern mentioned in the story by Laura and Ari is included at the back of the book, as are two very basic fake fur scarf patterns.

The book has two viewpoints; Ari and Joshua, which is unusual for this type of novel.  I thought that it was pretty successful.  It meant that I could see how the two characters thought as they got to know each other.

I liked Ari’s character.  I found her sympathetic, fun and very determined when it comes to detective work.  I also enjoyed how Josh allowed room for gut instinct alongside his police procedures.

The dialogue keeps the story ticking along well.  It is a very chatty type of novel and, for me, this makes it a quick read.  The plot flowed nicely and kept me reading.  The small town charm is endearing and there is a nice element of humour to the story.

I found it strange that Ari had such an aversion to the internet.  Maybe because I am so used to it, I can’t get used to the fact that a woman who is not yet thirty can have such an out-dated view.  I also thought that the storyline about publishing knitting patterns on the web had flaws.  The ending was a bit of a let-down as the murderer’s motive was problematical.

There is a lot of promise in this series.  I enjoyed the characters, the setting and the writing style of Died in the Wool.  So, I am looking forward to seeing how Ms Kruger develops the narrative in future books.

The yarn in the photos in this blog post “Died in the Wool” is from my personal collection and I have projects in mind for pretty much all of it.

Some of the yarns such as the sock blanks are available in the Knitting Squirrel’s online yarn shop.

The sweater on the tailor’s mannequin is my Birkin designed by Caitlin Hunter. Definitely one of my favourite sweaters.

To find out more about the beautiful Sasha Dolls visit my website Sasha Doll Style.