Tag: Betty Hechtman

Book Review: Gone with the Wool

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

I love Betty Hechtman. Seriously, she just writes happy little books. Sure people die in them but someone is always found out and gets punished for it. Maybe I was twisted early on by Agatha Christie, or maybe I was just twisted already and that’s why I liked murder mysteries at age 8. But something about Betty’s books just makes me smile in that warm and content manner.

Gone with the Wool is no different from her other delights. It’s easy on the eyes. Amusing on the brain. There are no dangling questions of life and liberty. Just the simple crime, solve, justice set up. And it doesn’t disappoint.

Gone is from the Yarn Retreat Mysteries which focuses on Casey, a 35 year old wanderer who inherits her aunt’s house and yarn retreat business even though she knows nothing about knitting. But Casey makes a place for herself in the sleepy sea side town, baking for some restaurants and putting on retreats several times a year. The problem for Casey, and the fun for us, is someone is always getting murdered at her retreats. LOL. I wouldn’t go, even if I knitted. Although everyone who gets murdered is heinously unpleasant, so I probably would escape death. LOL.

Casey always finds herself embroiled in the mystery, even when she is determined to stay out of things. And she always solves the crime. Mostly by letting people talk to her and listening to what they are and are not saying.

℘℘℘℘℘ – Five Pages. I read everything Betty puts out. My only complaint is she takes her time. I want more books. But I admire the finished product. What a catch 22.

 

Monday Book Review: Hooked on Murder

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

I do read guilty pleasures, every now and again. Generally, when my son is being difficult at the library and I don’t have time to search out something to read, usually non fiction, that will serve multiple purposes (yes, I multi task too much, get over it), I grab a guilty pleasure book. For some reason my local library has a ton of mystery series books on the reader’s choice shelf. The shelf is near the front check out so I can grab one as I walk by. I’ve tried a lot of them since we moved here two years ago. At least half I never finish, including one where I thought the main character was a girl until 20 pages in when someone referred to him as a he. But I digress.

The crochet murder series by Betty Hechtman was the single exception. I loved the first one I picked up and sought them all out, read them all in order, then started in on her other series, the yarn retreat mysteries. I’m not sure why her books spoke to me, exactly. Perhaps partly because I am a crocheter but I think partly also because when I moved I seized the chance to start over and figure out who I was and what I wanted. Molly Pink, the main sleuth in the crochet series, is in a similar position.

Hooked on Murder, is the first in the crochet mystery series. You meet Molly who works at a local book store handing public relations and marketing. A crochet group has recently started meeting at the book store. When the leader of the group is killed, Molly has the bad luck to find the body. A mystery ensues. Trying to figure out who really done it, is the only way Molly can think of to stay out of hand cuffs herself.

I think the series is up to eight books now. All amusing. All entertaining. All come with crochet patterns. LOL.

℘℘℘℘℘ – Five pages. I actually stayed up late to finish the book after driving home 14 hours, even though I had already read it before, because I wanted to see how it all turned out. That’s a well written journey.