Wanted: Cat mum to manage a yarn store, corral two curious cats, all the while being tangled up in murderous mayhem and mystery.
A smart woman would dump her cheating ex, move from the city, and give herself a chance for a well-deserved do-over. A smarter woman—smarter than me, anyway—wouldn’t jump out of that same frying pan and return to Cape Discovery, a seaside village where her family is the nuttiest of all the nut-ball residents.
When our town’s resident fortune-teller fails to predict her own demise, courtesy of a dog leash wrapped around her throat, I once again find myself in a pickle. I mean, what’s a girl to do when her crush becomes the prime suspect? Don my sleuthing cap and rally my Knitty Kitties to solve the mystery, of course! However, more and more suspects keep popping up like poisonous toadstools. And, spoiler: one of them seems determined to keep me from asking questions…permanently.
Tessa Wakefield has her hands full juggling a cozy craft store, her crazy family, and two men who’d rather poke out their eyes than describe themselves as cute. Which they totally are. Cute, charismatic, and occasionally on her mind when she’s not stumbling over dead bodies and using her newfound sleuthing skills to track down murderers. Lucky she’s an excellent multi-tasker because digging beneath Cape Discovery’s surface can unearth secrets that kill.
Review:
Another fun entry in Tracey Drew‘s Knitty Kitty Mysteries!
In Striped & Strangled, Tessa Waakefield–former high school counselor and current yarn store owner extraordinaire–once again (wait for it!) stumbles upon a dead body and (shockingly! ;)) decides she needs to investigate the case, despite the fact that (also shockingly) the hunky police detective who is actually on the case wishes she wouldn’t.
I mean, she could stay out of it, but then we wouldn’t have much of a book, would we, Detective Mana? 😉
I have to admit, once again Ms Drew had me guessing whodunit, and once again I didn’t truly suspect the real culprit until it was almost too late. This time I at least had a single teensy moment where I thought, hey…maybe…? but then I quickly dismissed that person. So I’m getting better? I guess? But probably not really, darn it. Clearly, Ms Drew and I should both keep our day jobs–she can keep writing cozy yarn-based mysteries and I’ll keep reading them 😉
This time someone close to Tess is a suspect, and she gets closer to both of her possible love interests–really close to one of them! Though he’s not the one I was rooting for the most, I do like both of them so it’s hard to be too upset about it. I’m excited to see where their relationship goes in future books–fingers crossed that she won’t make us wait too long to find out!
Striped and Strangled is the fourth book in the series, but it could work fairly well as a standalone too. If you’re a fan of cozy mysteries with quirky characters and small town charm, though, do yourself a favor and read them all!
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.