Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Maggie Sefton's Fleece Navidad, the newest novel in her Knitting Mysteries series is about as feel-good a cosy as you can get. First, it's got all of the trappings of a customary cosy and then it's additionally swathed with the comfortable traditions of Christmastime. Right from the artwork of its cover and the word play of its title, it's a perfect read either while waiting for Christmas to arrive or when snuggling down after the turkey dinner has been devoured.

A former certified public accountant with a Washington, D.C. firm, Kelly Flynn relocated to Fort Connor, Colorado two years ago where she now lives with her boyfriend, has a stable of clients for her day job, volunteers to knit "hats for the homeless" with the knitters group at the House of Lambspun, and dabbles with crime as an amateur sleuth. Against the background of her previous cases that get mentioned in the story, she's now called upon to unravel the mystery of a murder, this time a hit and run in the middle of the night. The victim is the town librarian who has just become engaged to a retired university professor. The prime suspect is a newcomer to town, a vivacious woman quickly labelled, "the Merry Widow," because of the deaths of her three previous husbands under suspicious circumstances. Also a suitor for the professor's affections, he dumps her the same day his fiancée is killed in the hit and run.

As circumstantial evidence mounts and the townsfolk rally to support or accuse the Widow, they happily gossip, knit, weave, and bake as the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Christmas permeate the pages of Sefton's book. But while they merrily go about their activities, the troubled Widow is stalked by the daughter of her last husband who has tracked her from Sarasota to Fort Connor, claiming the philandering Widow killed her father and stole a car and a credit card belonging to a neighbour lady who has since died.

For Kelly, the mysteries surrounding the Merry Widow become early Christmas presents for her Sherlockian soul as she scurries around town, from the knitters' club to meetings with a mentoring ex-cop to interviews with suspects and bystanders. Between times she and a girlfriend corral a bunch of unruly kids into a modernized, upbeat version of a Christmas pageant at St. Mark's Catholic Church that has everybody rolling in the aisles as a baby and a performing lamb steal the show. It's a rewarding performance for Kelly and almost as good as unravelling the mystery of who was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes before she needled the murderer into a confession.

As a bonus to an enjoyable read, Sefton has included a 17-page section of "Holiday Knitting Patterns" followed by nine pages of recipes for holiday treats for a Merry Christmas and a Felice Navidad.

Special thanks to M. Wayne Cunningham (mw_cunningham@telus.net) for contributing his review of Fleece Navidad.

Acknowledgment: Penguin Group provided a copy of Fleece Navidad for this review.

Deadly Politics
Midnight Ink (Trade Paperback), August 2012
ISBN-13: 9780738731285; ISBN-10: 0738731285

Fleece Navidad

A Knitting Mystery with Kelly Flynn by Maggie Sefton