Customer Reviews

Death by Cashmere: A Seaside Knitters Mystery

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Knitting is my passion. I read cozy mysteries - a lot of them - for enjoyment. This book had promise but the pedantic writing style and heavy-handed dialogue nearly made it unreadable. The characters, though likeable, were not as interesting as they could have been had they been given real voices and fully-flesh personalities. The author seems to have a very strange obssession with tuna as that appears at many, many meals. I will not be reading anything else in this series.

I HAVE READ ALOT OF KNITTING MYSTERIES AND THIS ONE DOES NOT RANK ABOVE THE BEST. TOO MANY CHARACTERS TO KEEP TRACK OF; HOWEVER, THE CONCLUSION TO THE STORY WAS WORTH THE LONG READ. TRY MAGGIE SEFTON AND DEBBIE MCCOMBER FOR GOOD KNITTING SHOP STORIES.

The author introduces too many characters. I'm a big Cedar Cove fan where there are multiple families and crisis' happening but it's easy to follow. In this book, before I finished chapter one, I had a list of characters to remember. Too much work for a cozy! I read about 100 pages and tossed the book aside.

I was glad to start a new series (while waiting for new ones from my favorite authors!) I thought at first the series would be from Izzy's viewpoint, but about 1/4 way through, the story came from her Aunt Nell's viewpoint. I guess those characters wanted it to go a from Nell's point of view!
I enjoyed it enough to look forward to the next one..hopefully soon!

Earlier reviews give enough of the plot, that I won't repeat that (and the negative review was given by someone who only gave a good review to a classic childs book). I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book. The characters were carefully formed in my mind by the author, even little Purl, the kitten who turns up in the apartment of the victim, and then is adopted by the yarn shop. The yarns and shop were pictured in my mind so well, that I'd love to visit this shop. I felt that the plot went in an unpredictable way, which I enjoyed. I didn't figure out "who done it" until pretty close to the end. Even the most definitive clue just narrowed it down to two. All in all, I am eagerly anticipating the next book from this author.

Realizing she was not cut out to be a lawyer, Izzy Chambers quits her job to open up a knitting shop in Sea Harbor, Massachusetts where she spent summers as a child. Her Aunt Nell lives there and is one of her biggest supporters while some other ladies like retiree Birdie and lobster fisherwoman Cass are her best customers. They all bond and meet once a week as the Seaside Knitters.

Angelina Archer lives in an apartment above Izzy's store. She is working on a project for the local museum on quarries and land deeds. One night she goes on a date with Cass's brother and ditches him; a public argument ensues with Tony Framingham, son of the town's matriarch. The next day Angelina is found dead in the nearby breakwater. Most people prefer to assume a tragic accident occurred, but an autopsy revealed her blood contained a drug that paralyzed her; making it impossible for Angelina to swim to safety. The Seaside Knitters sisterhood investigates finding dirty dark secrets long buried by the paragons of a Cape Cod town.

This is a character driven amateur sleuth starring four likable female friends who work the homicide one stitch at a time. The quartet each deals separately with a segment of the murder pattern until they seamlessly sew their respective puzzle pieces together. However though this is a refreshing outlook it also takes away from the intensity of solving the case as more than half the book is done before the knitters merge their clues. Mindful of Monica Ferris' Minnesota Crewel World and Maggie Sefton's Colorado House of Lambspun; fans will enjoy DEATH BY CASHMERE.

Harriet Klausner

DEATH BY CASHMERE was my cozy escape choice for the month. I usually read cozies as a break from the realistic, dark and depressing volumes currently making the best seller list.

Set in the charming harbor town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts it tells of Izzy Chambers, a former Boston lawyer who has fled the dog-eat-dog intensity of the corporate world, to return home and open a knitting shop. She rents the small apartment over her shop to Angie Archer, another local girl who has returned and, it appears, has a hidden agenda. Of course, this being a mystery, Angie's body is soon discovered floating in the harbor. Who is the culprit and what is the motive? Could it be the lobster poacher, or perhaps a spurned lover, or maybe it's the creepy night watchmen George Gideon? There is definitely something fishy about Angie's death and the inquisitive knitters, lead by Izzy's Aunt Nell, are looking for answers.

There is really nothing new in this book. The town is quaint, the inhabitants are a quirky lot who love to talk, talk, talk, and everyone spends an inordinate amount of time eating and drinking. The characters can regularly be found consuming salads, tacos and frittatas as well as a lot of iced tea and wine. (Why, they are so busy eating that they barely have time to knit, let alone solve the crime).

I am not certain that this book will hold your interest as a mystery but it will certainly leave you rifling your refrigerator for something to eat. If your "fridge" is empty, perhaps you could try to satisfy your appetite with one of the many red herrings the author has served up. NOTE: If you are a knitter there is a scarf pattern at the end of the book you might want to try. Personally, I'd rather have the frittata recipe. 2 1/2 stars.