Death By Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery [Hardcover]

Sally Goldenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Series: SEASIDE KNITTERS MYSTERY | Publication Date: August 5, 2008

This brand-new mystery series spins a yarn about knitters and murder in a quaint seaside village.

Not long after Isabel “Izzy” Chambers opens up a knitting shop in the sleepy fishing town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, a diverse group of women begins congregating each week to form the Seaside Knitters.

Izzy raises some eyebrows when she rents the apartment above her shop to Angie Archer, whose reputation for loose behavior and a quick temper has made her unpopular with many locals. But could any of them have wanted her dead? Angie’s body is discovered drowned in the harbor, her long red hair tangled like seaweed in a lobster trap.

An official investigation rules the death an accident. There are speculations of too many whiskey sours, a slippery wharf, a dark night… But Izzy and the Seaside Knitters smell something fishy. When several strange incidents occur above the shop, the women decide to take matters into their own hands. But before long, their small-town sense of security is frayed, and the threat of more violence hangs over this tightly knit community.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Izzy Chambers gives up her life as a lawyer in Boston in order to open the Seaside Knitting Studio in Sea Harbor, Mass., where she spent her childhood, in Goldenbaum's charming debut. An informal knitting group of eccentric characters forms around the shop, including Birdie Favazza, the oldest member at nearly 80, and Cass Halloran, the owner of 200 lobster traps who's devastated by a midnight theft. Cass's younger brother, Pete, pines for the gorgeous Angelina Archer, who's recently come to the Cape to research a local history project and rents the apartment above Izzy's store. When Angelina's body washes up in the cove, Izzy and her knitting group vow to discover who hated Angelina enough to want the woman dead. A knitting pattern for a scarf rounds out a cozy many will find an ideal beach read. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A charming and delightful read. This book has a strong sense of place - so strong one can smell the seaweed. Delicious."
–Alexander McCall Smith

“Murder in a truly close-knit community--a knitting circle in a New England seaside town. Peopled with characters we come to care about. Add a cup of tea, a roaring fire and you've got the perfect cozy evening.” –Rhys Bowen, author of Her Royal Spyness and the Agatha and Anthony-award winning Molly Murphy mysteries

"The Seaside Knitters are a wonderful group of friends who care about each other, and readers will care about them, too. I can't wait for their next meeting!"
-Nancy Pickard, author of The Virgin of Small Plains

“With all the dexterity and warmth the women of Sea Harbor knit into their sweaters and shawls, Sally Goldenbaum weaves us a tale that combines friendship, community—and crime— without dropping a stitch.” -Gillian Roberts, author of the Amanda Pepper series

"In DEATH BY CASHMERE, Sally Goldenbaum's appealing world will draw readers to return time and again to Sea Harbor. In this wonderful launch of a vibrant new mystery series, the characters ring true and clear."
-Carolyn Hart, author of Set Sail for Murder

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover; First Edition edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 045122471X
• ISBN-13: 978-0451224712
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice start to a New Series, August 7, 2008

By 

M. Scheller "Equestrian" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death By Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery (Hardcover)

Overall I enjoyed Death by Cashmere. The story centers around Izzy's Aunt Nell, a bit of a disappointment as I like to see the story from the shop owner's perspective. The characters are fun and likable, with a good variety of ages, passions, and backgrounds. The author did an excellent job of fleshing out the characters, not always easy in a first book.

The reason for the 3 stars is the author's writing style, not the story. At least 80% of all conversational sentences were ended with ", first name of person being spoken to". Example blah blah, blah , Nell. There are on average 25 names per page, it really bogs down the story. I for one can follow a conversation without constantly being told who is talking. That is my opinion, but I appreciate when reviews bring up author's writing quirks. This style did detract from the story for me, hopefully the author will be more confident in her readers in the 2nd book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Death by Boredom, September 8, 2008

By 

K. Anderson "andersox" (Aliso Viejo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death By Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery (Hardcover)

Summary

Izzy Chambers, a former big city attorney, returns to Sea Harbor to open a knitting studio. Izzy rents the apartment above the knitting studio to the flambouyantly sexy Angie Archer. After a date with Pete, a popular local lobsterman, Angie is found dead, drugged and drowned in a lobster trap. Izzy's Thursday night knitting group gathers clues to discover who killed Angie Archer--before Sea Harbor's summer season is through.

Kudos

There's no waiting around for the murder. Angie bursts onto the scene for one chapter and--BAM---she's promptly murdered. The descriptions of the various meals are mouth-watering. The descriptions of the locale make me want to travel to Sea Harbor. Izzy seems as delightful as my own knitting mentor. I'd love to stop by the Seaside Knitting Studio to browse for yarn and to take a knitting class.

Goldenbaum interweaves the primary murder mystery with a secondary mystery--who is looting the local fishermen's lobster traps?

The scarf pattern in the back of the book is easy and fast. And, it's much better than the "garter stitch" scarf pattern most knitting mysteries offer.

Criticisms

In spite of the two mysteries threading through this book, I was completely bored by page 130. Normally, I will devour a cozy mystery in one sitting. I can't sleep until I've read the final page. With "Death by Cashmere," there are too many conversations that don't move the mystery forward. I was tempted to skip to the last few chapters just so I wouldn't have to slog through any more boring conversations between the locals.

There are also too many primary and secondary characters to keep track of. Every time someone walks into a restaurant or passes a store, there's another character to meet who has a huge back story. I almost felt like I needed an outline to follow the story. It's cheap to "hide" a mystery behind meaningless characters.

If you must read this book, buy it used, check it out from a library, or wait till it's out in paperback. It's not worth the $18 I paid for it. This is the only mystery series where I will absolutely NOT read the next book in the series.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but...., September 8, 2008

By 

Anita - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death By Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery (Hardcover)

This is a good start to a series but does leave room for improvement. From the Amazon reviews & the book jacket, I assumed that the book was written from Izzy's viewpoint...not so. Actually Aunt Nell is the main character which was a little disappointing since I hoped it would be the knitting shop owner. Maybe the next in the series will concentrate more on Izzy & her shop. A little slow in parts but I'm still looking forward to the next installment in this series.