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Book 38, 2017
Feb. 20th, 2017 09:13 pmJust now finished reading Last Wool and Testament by Molly McRae. It is the first book in her "Haunted Yarn Shop" mystery series.
Kath Rutledge is rushing home to Blue Plum TN for the funeral of her beloved grandmother, Ivy. She barely makes it to the service in time, because she was stopped for speeding by local cop Cole Dunbar. She is set to inherit the yarn shop her grandmother owned, along with Ivy's house. Still flummoxed by her grandmother's death, Kath is dealt one traumatic blow after another. First, she learns that Ivy may not have owned her small cottage, she can't get inside to go through her grandmother's belongings, but someone else has, as it's been broken into at least twice. With nowhere to stay, Kath is offered the use of the caretaker's cottage at Homestead, only to learn the previous tenant was murdered there, and that Officer Dunbar thinks her grandmother killed old Emmett Cobb. On top of that, Kath reads a letter from Ivy telling her that she's a witch. No one knows what became of Ivy's cat, Kath can't find the birthday gift her grandmother had made for her, Officer Dunbar continues to anger her at every turn, her lawyer is cautioning her to lay low and stay quiet, her grandmother's meddling twin cousins, the Spiveys, seem to pop up at the most inopportune times, the cottage where she's staying at is haunted, and someone tries to break in while she's there, and oh yeah, two more people end up dead.
*stops for breath*
Needless to say, there was a lot going on, almost too much. Most cozies involve a murder, of course, but this one seemed to keep piling them on. Kath doesn't know whom to trust, and she suspects she's losing her mind, since no one else can see the wailing woman haunting Emmett's cottage. I enjoyed the story, but some of the characters needed a brick to the face. That's good writing for you, though! The author created some truly loathsome characters. I had it all figured out early, only to find that I didn't. Ha ha! I will say this, though--if Kath had ended up falling for Officer Dunbar after the way he treated her, I would have burned the book and refused to read anything else by this author. Fortunately, Kath harbors only an intense dislike the man she begins referring to as "Clod Dunbar".
Favorite line: "You're haunting my car? You can't do that. This is a rental!"
Likable heroine, intricate plot, excellent characterizations, ghosts, and cats. Five stars!
*****
Kath Rutledge is rushing home to Blue Plum TN for the funeral of her beloved grandmother, Ivy. She barely makes it to the service in time, because she was stopped for speeding by local cop Cole Dunbar. She is set to inherit the yarn shop her grandmother owned, along with Ivy's house. Still flummoxed by her grandmother's death, Kath is dealt one traumatic blow after another. First, she learns that Ivy may not have owned her small cottage, she can't get inside to go through her grandmother's belongings, but someone else has, as it's been broken into at least twice. With nowhere to stay, Kath is offered the use of the caretaker's cottage at Homestead, only to learn the previous tenant was murdered there, and that Officer Dunbar thinks her grandmother killed old Emmett Cobb. On top of that, Kath reads a letter from Ivy telling her that she's a witch. No one knows what became of Ivy's cat, Kath can't find the birthday gift her grandmother had made for her, Officer Dunbar continues to anger her at every turn, her lawyer is cautioning her to lay low and stay quiet, her grandmother's meddling twin cousins, the Spiveys, seem to pop up at the most inopportune times, the cottage where she's staying at is haunted, and someone tries to break in while she's there, and oh yeah, two more people end up dead.
*stops for breath*
Needless to say, there was a lot going on, almost too much. Most cozies involve a murder, of course, but this one seemed to keep piling them on. Kath doesn't know whom to trust, and she suspects she's losing her mind, since no one else can see the wailing woman haunting Emmett's cottage. I enjoyed the story, but some of the characters needed a brick to the face. That's good writing for you, though! The author created some truly loathsome characters. I had it all figured out early, only to find that I didn't. Ha ha! I will say this, though--if Kath had ended up falling for Officer Dunbar after the way he treated her, I would have burned the book and refused to read anything else by this author. Fortunately, Kath harbors only an intense dislike the man she begins referring to as "Clod Dunbar".
Favorite line: "You're haunting my car? You can't do that. This is a rental!"
Likable heroine, intricate plot, excellent characterizations, ghosts, and cats. Five stars!
*****
