Customer Reviews

Dead Men Don't Crochet (A Crochet Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This second-in-a-series of Molly Pink crochet murder mysteries is a delight. The characters are believable, and Molly herself is an adroit observer of life and its many layers. I especially enjoy how the characters interact and deal with the outside tugs at their lives. Crisply written for an entirely enjoyable read. Can't wait for the third installment.

Very charming storyline and likable characters. A little bit of romance with a good mystery/sleuth storyline. A good book to read over a weekend. I really like the crochet detail in the book and the extra insight into crochet; instructions, history, different varieties...
Added bonuses for the crochet pattern and recipe in the back**looking forward to reading the next in the series.

This bit of fluff is a reasonable weekend read, but I find her detective's powers of deduction as unimpressive as her skill at crochet. Molly Pink's personal life is well portrayed and believable, but she's no Miss Marple in either kind of yarn department!

Molly is sufficiently awkward at prying into the lives and motives of suspicious characters that she keeps winding up arousing the suspicions of the police and showing up on the TV news in very unflattering ways. While that makes her more of an average Jane who readers may be able to identify with, it also makes her less impressive or compelling as a detective.

On the other hand, the author's portrayal of the various characters is warm and believable, and her heroine clearly has a kind heart, which is an endearing quality. She also did a good job of creating suspicious characters to serve as red herrings, so that the actual killer comes as a complete surprise.

And on the third hand, well, Molly could probably use a third hand, as her knowledge of and skill with crochet seems to be minimal. To coin a phrase, she seems to be "crochetorially inept", forever losing stitches or knotting her work, and her group's taste in yarn - acrylic worsted! - is certainly an example of the lowest common denominator. It is therefore no surprise that her "hugs of comfort" shawl, for which the pattern is included, is nothing more that a simple rectangle made with the most basic of stitches. Perhaps Eduardo Linnares (alias "Captain Blackhart") could have contributed a more creative and advanced pattern. He is easily the most knowledgeable and advanced crocheter in the group, and one of the most interesting and unexpected members, being male, a hunk and a romance novel cover model who writes poetry.

However, Molly's recipe for Cheesecake Cupcakes (also included) is making my mouth water, albeit I haven't tried it yet.

Perhaps if Molly perseveres with crochet, her stitches will improve; and if she keeps on studying her instruction manual, "The Average Joe's Guide to Criminal Investigation", she'll become a little less inept at shadowing and interrogation. Maybe someone should give her a copy of "Detecting for Dummies"....on second thought, maybe I'll write that one, myself!

I had read the previous book by this author, and thought it was a cute concept, if not a great mystery. This one was a bit hard to get into, since it seemed to be a repeat of the first book, but I eventually got into it, and enjoyed trying to solve the mystery (which I didn't before it was revealed). However, there was a problem that I have noticed with increasing frequency in books I have read lately, and which I attribute to what's been called "the dumbing of America". This book is the worst example I have seen - there were hundreds of spelling and grammatical errors, at least a couple in every page. Most were not things I'd attribute to the author, like the many things one reads on the web that clearly illustrate that the writer has no concept of grammar or spelling. The errors here were things like substitution of letters in a word, like "lear" for lean" or leaving out words altogether so the sense of the sentence was changed. There were spelling errors and punctuation errors on every page. These kinds of errors are attributable to typesetting, which ought to be easier with modern methods. It's very obvious that there was no attempt at proofreading, or the person who was supposed to be doing it cannot spell! Anyway, stopping two or so times a page to make out what was really supposed to be the word definitely slows down the reading, and makes it very unpleasant! I won't read any more books from this publisher.

Cute, light mystery with intersting characters. I read the first in the series, and this is a nice follow up.

I haven't read the first in this series, but I sure loved Dead Men Don't Crochet. The characters were great fun because they all had such different personalities. The plot was intriguing and clever, and the author did a superior job of tying up all the loose threads in the end. As a person who knows nothing about crocheting, I enjoyed the way Molly Pink, the protagonist, gradually improved her crocheting skills as she simultaneously wove together all the clues that led her to the identity of the killer. All in all, a terrific cozy.

I love the Crochet mysteries, and I love Molly Pink, even if I occasionally want to shake some sense into her! I only wish that Ms. Hechtman would include the instructions for those lovely scarves that Sheila crochets! Maybe in the next book?

I just started to read this book and so far it is pretty good. This book has characters that people would love to hate and in my opinion if a book does not have someone to hate then it might not be a good book. The character that I do not like is the Detective Heather. She may be the good guy in this book and the other book but I just don't care for her. It's not because she is a knitter because I am a knitter and a crocheter. It's she trying so harder to get someone that she cannot get. I really want Molly and Barry to get together and be parents to Jeffery.

I found this to be a little slow and not very interesting. I am reading another book by the same author and about the crochet club but it too is slow. There is just a lot of bickering among a bunch of women. Sorry

This is the worst book I have ever read in my life. The typos and grammatical errors make it sickening. I have seen maybe 1 typo in about 100 books, until I read this one.