Fleece Navidad (Knitting Mysteries, No. 6) | Maggie Sefton

Fleece Navidad (Knitting Mysteries, No. 6) | Maggie Sefton | Loved the title!

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Fleece Navidad (Kn...

	Fleece Navidad (Knitting Mysteries, No. 6) Maggie Sefton Berkley Hardcover, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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A special holiday knitting mystery from the national bestselling author of Dyer Consequences?with delicious recipes and knitting patterns!

It?s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for the knitters of Fort Connor, Colorado, who are furiously working on their holiday projects. Juliet, the town?s ?little brown wren? librarian, is known for her beautiful handmade Christmas capes, and she has extra reason to be joyful this year?she?s in love. But as soon as she finds happiness, death finds her.

Suspicion falls on a newcomer to the knitting group, but Kelly Flynn and the rest of the crew aren?t convinced of this person?s guilt. It?s up to them to separate the true lion from the lambs? before someone else gets fleeced?

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charming Colorado cozy

The holiday season has come to Fort Connor, Colorado. Kelly Flynn and her friends befriend the newcomer who has come to the House of Lamb craft shop to socialize. Claudia Miller has moved from Florida to look for husband number four and she thinks she has found her man in Jeremy. Claudia is unaware that he was seeing librarian Juliet Renfrow before she arrived in town; Juliet remains heartbroken.

Another stranger arrives in town, the daughter of Claudia's third husband; she starts spreading rumors that her "stepmother" killed her three husbands. She did her own investigation and found that Claudia took the car and the credit card of the woman living in the same retirement home complex with her. Claudia insists the woman gave them to her; Sheila claims she stole them and the family is considering pressing charges. They cannot ask the woman as she died of natural causes. Jeremy proposes to Juliet who says yes. However, Claudia is in deeper criminal trouble when someone deliberately kills Juliet in a hit and run and the police think she did it.. Everyone condemns her except Kelly who believes someone has woven quite a yarn that she plans to unravel one thread at a time.

Maggie Sefton has written a charming Colorado cozy with an eccentric cast who's off beat humor has the audience chuckling for the most part. Readers are unsure if Claudia is black widow killing a rival or the victim of a clever person; the evidence mounts increasingly towards the former. In fact most fans and the House of Lamb group will believe Claudia is a killer; her only doubter Kelly begins to agree as everything she finds affirms that theory. Fall in the Rockies sounds like fun when Ms. Sefton is the hostess as her latest amateur sleuth FLEECE NAVIDAD is an engaging Rocky Mountain High.

Harriet Klausner

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Loved the title!

The best time of the year is when publishers begin releasing their Christmas mysteries. Even though there are murders galore in the books, they are fun romps into the mayhem of killing. And the cozy amateur sleuth murder mysteries that incorporate knitting, scrapbooking, cooking, etc., are my favorites.

Maggie Sefton's Fleece Navidad is a knitting novel and is a page turner.

It's Christmas time in Fort Connor, Colorado and Kelly Flynn and her friends have a newcomer to the House of Lamb craft shop. The newcomer, Claudia Miller, arrived in Colorado from Florida with the idea that she could find her next husband (she's had three already). Claudia has set her sights on Jeremy Cunningham, a retired university professor who happens to be a widower. Unfortunately the local librarian and talented knitter, Juliet Renfrow has been seeing Jeremy also. It's not looking good in the romance department.

When Sheila Miller, the daughter of Claudia's third husband, arrives in town, she begins spreading the nasty rumor that Claudia killed her father. Sheila claims to have done her own investigation and is convinced of Claudia's guilt. The problem is the woman who gave her the damning information is now dead.

Juliet is murdered in a hit and run and the police believe Claudia is the culprit. Everyone but Kelly believes in Claudia's guilt and solving the murder is a commitment Kelly is determined to fulfill.

Fleece Navidad is a fun novel. The characters are interesting, the plot is solid and if you enjoy knitting, well you've got it all in one book.

Armchair Interviews says: A Christmas mystery that is a must-read.

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Good recipes, fun knitting patterns

I wasn't a fan of Sefton's previous offering in this series ("Dyer Consequences") and, when I read the first few pages of "Fleece Navidad," I was afraid I was going to be disappointed again. The first chapter is one of those over-stuffed potluck get-togethers that have become Sefton's standard method for re-introducing the whole cast of characters. (Did we really need to know everyone's hair color within the first 10 pages?)

But, "Fleece Navidad" is an improvement over "Dyer Consequences." Yeah, it had too many of the pass-me-some-cookies-pour-me-some-coffee scenes for me, but it's still a nice read. I liked the small side story where Kelly and Jennifer coach the local teenagers in a re-enactment of the Nativity. I liked that Curt and Jayleen are getting the "sparklies" for each other. I'm interested in finding out if Jennifer may finally settle down. I definitely liked Annie, the celebrity lamb.

One other nice touch Sefton adds at the beginning of the book is a "Cast of Characters" that lists each character's name, occupation, and significant other.

As for the bonus features--excellent. There are several knitting projects to choose from. My favorite project is the sweetheart gloves. I also like the pattern for the ribbed hat. There are also a half dozen recipes--the recipe for Aunt Helen's gingersnap cookies looks like a must!

On the downside, Sefton is becoming formulaic: a few people are introduced to the group, one is murdered and the other is the murderer. The mystery in "Fleece Navidad" is so weak that, even before the murder took place, I knew who the murderer would be.

A couple other things I noticed as far as continuity and story arcs: "Dyer Consequences" hinted at a budding relationship between Pete and Jennifer, but that thread seems to have gone no where. Also, there have been four sets of romances going on in the series for quite awhile: Kelly & Steve, Burt & Mimi, Megan & Marty, and Lisa & Greg. Sefton needs to pay one of these relationships off with a wedding. In the next book, I'd like to see Burt and Mimi get hitched with either Kelly or Megan catching the bouquet. That way, Sefton can stretch out the tension between Kelly and Steve just a bit longer.

Lisa and Greg have been really peripheral characters for the past two books. To simplify the cast of characters, I wish Sefton would dump these characters.

If you want a bit of the holiday spirit today, give "Fleece Navidad" a try. It's a decent way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

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