Black Sheep Mysteries by Anne Canadeo    

The Black Sheep Knitting shop of Plum Harbor, Massachusetts is owned by Maggie Messina who leads her fellow knitters in some amateur detecting. Each book contains a fun mystery solve among friends, recipes and a knitting pattern.  On this day, this blog will review the following books:

• 1 .  A Stitch Before Dying (Gallery, 2010)
• 2 .  Till Death Do Us Part (Gallery, 2012)
• 3.    A Dark and Stormy Knit (Simon and Schuster, 2014)

A Stitch Before Dying

Synopsis:

The third mystery in Anne Canadeo’s winning Black Sheep Knitting series, featuring a group of  five friend who have a knack for knitting—and solving crimes…

Maggie Messina, owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, has been invited to give knitting workshops at a Berkshires spa resort, she manages to negotiate a cottage that fits all five of the Black Sheep for what promises to be a weekend of knitting bliss. But while the friends are expert at counting stitches, they haven’t counted on murder.

Guests and staff at the Crystal Lake Inn are as varied as a mixed bag of yarn, but most colorful is certainly the owner, charismatic self-help guru and former psychiatrist Dr. Max Flemming. The doctor may have told all in a revealing autobiography, but from his ex-wife to the widow of his former business partner—both employees at the inn—Max seems mired in shad­ows from his past. And when a killer strikes during a mountaintop retreat, the Black Sheep wonder what the good doctor might be hiding. Now who is going to be the victim of the third murder?

Book Review: 

This book was a good read!  Although I have to admit I don’t how they (five women) shared one cottage during this time.  Yes they are friends but really?  The book was my favorite to date. I enjoyed the storyline, the location, the familiar characters mixed with the new ones and it was a good solid story.
The Hotel is owned by a former Psychiatrist, Dr. Max Flemming. His is a sad story indeed. He wrote a book about his trials and re-birth as a holistic follower. Maggie finds she is teaching classes such as ‘Random Knitting” and “Mindful Knitting”, which were actually very interesting concepts.  In addition New Age knitting there were other’ practices that the women found good for their body, by going on various hikes and receiving body treatments. Maggie finds herself liking the classes.

The only glitch is Dr. Max is murdered!

Till Death Due Us Purl

Synopsis

The fourth in this wonderful knitting mystery series that  features Maggie Messina and her close circle of knitting-club friends, who must unravel another murder in their cozy coastal town of Plum Harbor, Massachusetts.

The Black Sheep Knitters new project is helping a bride-to-be knit shawls for her upcoming wedding. Days after the ceremony, the groom dies in a freak accident. As the knitters comfort the family, many secrets and betrayals—both business and romantic—are revealed. When the groom’s body turns up after the funeral in a motel room, dead again, the newlywed widow is the prime suspect, The Black Sheep must prove her innocence and find the real killer among a large circle of family, friends, and foes.  

Book Review 

I have read a majority of the black sheep knitting mysteries. Some I have really enjoyed and other not as much, but all the books are well written.  I really like the bond that the women have together. That bond is what really makes this series come together.  They are all different except that they love to knit.

A Dark & Stormy Knit

Synopsis

In the sixth novel in the series the Black Sheep Knitters must work to solve the mystery of the disappearance of their friend—and figure out who is trying to kill her before it’s too late.

Curiosity Killed the Cat 

Knitting graffiti, in Plum Harbor? Maggie Messina doubts it could ever happen in her quiet village. Until the new parking meters on Main Street are found covered with cat-faced cozies. In the dark of night, the mysterious Knit Kats have struck again! The infamous gang of stitching graffiti artists are totally harmless, and their pranks all in good fun. Or so Maggie and her friends think. Until a yarn-covered corpse is discovered a few days later—the tangles identical to Knit Kat handiwork.

These threads of evidence should be easy to follow. But the clever Knit Kats hide behind a website and secret identities. The murderer could be anyone. A familiar face in town, even a copy Kat.

Book Review 

This book is the sixth in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery series. The series features the support and friendship of members of the knitting group, with Maggie Messina as owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, and plots with plenty of suspense and satisfying conclusions. A Dark and Stormy Night lives up to its title: it’s a bit “dark,” owing to the phantom group of “graffiti knitters” who appear initially to be involved in the crime. It’s quite a contemporary theme for a knitting mystery, and in this way it is quite original.

Anne Canadeo is a wonderful writer. She consistently comes up with very original and unique themes for her stories.