Knitting hats and scarves for the upcoming chilly fall with her friends at the House of Lambspun helps Kelly keep her mind off of Steve’s worries and so will her next murder investigation.

 One evening, Kelly finds a catatonic young woman on her patio and calls 911.  She learns the young woman, Holly Kaiser, has had a long-standing drug problem, but is now, self-proclaimed, clean, and taken in hand by Mimi at the knitting shop where Holly appears to have turned her life around. Kelly and the knitting gang are saddened when they hear of the young woman’s death, an apparent overdose, on the river trail. 

Holly’s boyfriend Tommy, whose mother Barbara teaches at the House of Lambspun, insists to Kelly that Holly really was clean and that Holy’s death wasn’t an accidental overdose, but murder.  Kelly, knowing Tommy as a med student cannot ask the questions that need to be asked of the people of whom they would be asked, agrees to ask around and before you can say “knit one, purl two,” Kelly is hot on the trail of a murderer.

Once again, Kelly proves to be a loyal friend and clever sleuth, but readers will be disturbed with how casually she sometimes treats her relationship with Steve, unintentionally, but to great detriment.  Kelly has good instincts where murder is concerned, but because she is so comfortable and secure in her relationship, she sometimes speaks without thinking and doesn’t realize she may be hurting Steve. 

Fort Connors, especially in the fall, is a cozy place to knit and to live, and the group of friends Kelly has assembled is congenial and always looks out for one another and helps each other through difficult times.  

The murder, which has very somber and sad overtones because the victim was a young woman on the road to turning her life around, is relatively easy to solve, but Kelly’s investigation is absorbing enough to keep interest up.  An unhappy ending leaves readers sad for Kelly but hopeful that a happy resolution will be forthcoming in the next book.                                                                                                                

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry