Book Review --- Hooked on Murder

With winter coming for us here in the Northern Hemisphere, is a great time to start thinking about how to spent those long dark nights. While most of us will be busy crocheting our fingers off, we might like to take a break and do some reading- with a crochet twist of course.

In Hooked on Murder: A Crochet Mystery by Betty Hechtman, Molly Pink stumbles upon (literally) the body of her neighbor Ellen Sheridan. When the police arrive and find Molly hovering over the deceased, things get complicated. Things get even more complicated when her past relationship with Ellen is revealed. Ellen was once the business partner of Molly's husband. When he died, Ellen pushed Molly out of the business. Although Molly has since gone on with her life, the police don't believe there are no hard feelings. Not to mention Detective Heather has it out for Molly.

Ellen was the leader of the crochet group that meets at the book store where Molly works. To clear her name Molly takes up the hobby and joins the group in an attempt to find the real killer and clear her own name.

I enjoyed this light mystery. It's not going to be the cure for senility, that's for sure, but it was entertaining. Molly is an engaging character, although her inability to grasp the simplest stitches of crochet was baffling. Am I right in thinking Granny squares aren't that hard to master? The ladies of the crochet group were quite funny. I especially liked Adele. Her reaction to two ladies who dared to pull out knitting in a crochet group was priceless:

"We may be the new kids on the block, since crochet isn't nearly as old as knitting, but we will not be treated like the poor stepsister anymore." Adele raised her fist in a sign of crochet power, and you could practically hear some kind of anthem start in the background.

That rivalry is highlighted throughout the book. There were also some little tidbits about the history of crochet that I found interesting. And can you really have your pet's hair woven into yarn? I have enough around here to make a couple of doggie sweaters!

Although there was quite a bit about this book that I liked, I had high hopes for Detective Heather and was disappointed. The author makes her a two dimensional character out to steal the protagonist's man and put her in jail. And unless she has a dog named Scooby-Doo, I don't know how she could have been in charge of a homocide and miss such huge clues. That's my biggest gripe with the book.

If you want a quick entertaining read, I recommend this book.
--
Christina (caperchris.etsy.com)