Customer Reviews

Hooked on Murder (A Crochet Mystery)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book (the first in a seiries by Betty Hechtman) ia about Molly Pink, a 40ish widow who is starting to put her life back together. She works at a bookstore as an events planner. She has 2 grown and out of the house sons and a beau who is serious about her, but she's not quite ready for that step. A good life, but nothing you would think would lead to a murder mystery.
As it happens, there is a group of crocheters that meet at the bookstore. The leader of the group leaves her bag of hooks at the bookstore. Molly decides to take it to her house. That's where the problems begin.
Molly walks into a house where the front foor wasn't closed. She looks for Ellen Sheridan, the Tarzana Hookers' leader. And Molly finds her - on the floor, dead. Of course, at that point, the cops show up. How do you explain to a cop that you were just returning somebody's crochet hooks and happened upon the body? Especially if you had a not very pleasant history with the now dead person?
There are twists and turns in the story as Molly tries to figure out who actually committed the murder since she's the prime suspect - thanks to a cop who is interested in Molly's beau. Along the way, Molly learns how to crochet and joins the Tarzana Hookers. You get to see her develop as a crocheter. And of course, the rest of the Tarzana Hookers secrets come spilling out like yarn overstuffed in a closet.
M's Hechtman writes a charming fast paced book. It's almost as if a friend came over for a cup of tea and was relating part of her history to you. I'd recommend this book highly to amateur sleuth mystery lovers, especially fans of the Diane Mott Davidson's seiries. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I was hoping for a new series that I could enjoy. Unfortunately, while the author shows some promise with the actual mystery involved, the personalities of her characters were unsympathetic, trite, forced, and more than slightly unbelievable.

Molly, a widow for barely a year and after many years of a happy marriage, is not only sleeping with a new man but yearns for a life where she doesn't have to answer to anyone. Most widows that I have known are horribly grief-stricken at this point - but not Molly! By the end of the book, she has two men on her string. The author throws in a weird scene where Molly drinks a bottle of her late husband's favorite beer... and somehow connects to his memory. This is kind of creepy considering how little she otherwise thinks of him.

Molly's sons are unhappy with her hooking up with a new guy (who can blame them considering she obviously did so with her husband in the grave for less than a year.) Does she understand? No, she just brushes off their concerns and goes her own way. Not the type of mother I had nor the type I am.

Weird references to her Judaism are thrown in - they don't progress the story but are there presumably to let us know that she is, in fact, Jewish.

I have crocheted for almost thirty years - this book does not appear to have been written by someone who crochets, but instead by someone looking for a story "hook" to get crocheters to buy her book. The scenes involving crochet sound like they were downloaded from instructions on the internet. Crocheting is not difficult to learn and yet this author makes it sound very hard. Granny squares don't take a huge learning curve and yet, time after time, the heroine just can't seem to get it quite right - finishing an entire square over and over only to discover when she's done that she made the square with only three corners (hey, Betty, that's called a triangle and is noticeable after the first round.)

There were a lot of "in" jokes and references for people who live in So Cal (which I did (Culver City)for many years.) I can't think that the rest of the world cares much about what the people in the Valley wear versus those on the Westside but such is the conceit of those from Los Angeles - there is no place on earth worth mention compared to LA.

So, long review short. The storyline was unbelievable, the characters weren't very likeable, the locale overdone, and the craft borrowed rather the owned by the author. The only point in its favor is that the mystery wasn't instantly solvable. Not a promising start but I think that the author could turn things around as the mystery itself wasn't horrible.

A year has passed since Molly Pink's husband died from a heart attack and she is beginning to come out of her grief as her life normalizes. Her late spouse co-owned a public relations firm with partner Ellen Sheridan, who forced the widow to sell her half of the business to her.. Even though Molly is poorer, she is happier as she enjoys working as community relations and events coordinator for Shedd & Royal Books and More.

Ellen and her friends are crocheting an afghan at the bookstore for a charity event. One day when she departs she leaves her needles behind. Molly goes to Ellen's home to give her back her needles, but finds her nemesis dead. Detective Heather Gilmore leads the homicide investigation. She hates Molly because she is attracted to a peer who loves the widow. By the tone and questions Heather asks Molly and her friends, the bookstore employee knows the detective is out to get her and has circumstantial evidence to prove motive, method, and opportunity. Molly with the encouragement and help of her best friend investigates knowing the real culprit is out there. Although she finds a more likely suspect, Molly feels manipulated as if she has been sent down a false path to draw wrong conclusions; she continues her inquiries not understanding the right path leads to murder.

HOOKED ON MURDER hooks the reader from the onset with likable characters especially the lead protagonists who does not know when to quit. This charming amateur sleuth cozy contains parallel investigations with the lead cop concentrating on the heroine who focuses on the culprit. Readers will admire the feisty caring Molly, who has moved on with her life, which just like her inquiry, one stitch at a time.

Harriet Klausner

I just finished reading Hooked on Murder, by Betty Hechtman, and I'm still smiling. What an enjoyable read! This new author has a charming voice and she can weave a good tale. The characters are so real you swear you are partaking in this odd crotchet group, even if like me, you don't know one end of a crotchet hook from the other.

In true mystery style that reminds me of the Agatha Christie novels I used to devour as a teenager, everyone in the story is a suspect. Just when you think you've figured out the whodunit, the story switches casting suspicion on yet another character. I love to be kept guessing.

Ms. Hechtman neatly tied up all of the loose ends and brought the story to an interesting and fast paced end and she has a subtle humor that left me smiling on many occasions. I liked the way she handled the budding romance and didn't digress from the mystery into romance. She has a light hand, nothing is forced and that is what makes her characters spring to life and seem like the neighbor down the street, or your best friend, or your worst enemy.

I'm looking forward to reading her next book in the series.

Hooked on Murder: A Crochet Mystery
I am a lifetime crocheter and looked forward to this book. To my surprise it dealt mainly (re crochet) with granny squares. Any crochet person with just a tad of experience above beginner can easily knock these out. This makes me think the either the author really is not an experienced crocheter or she is starting the series with rock-bottom basics. I must agree with some of the other reviews that the characters are rather stale and unbelievable, like the handsome crocheting movie star and especially the blonde bonbshell cop. I wasn't even attracted too much to the heroine's friends (or friendly enemies). But one thing I will say: PART OF THIS COZY WERE SO DARN FUNNY I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR LAUGHING. . For some reason the main character didn't get my sympathies. Now, maybe if she crocheted a lace mantilla and dated some ordinary, unhandsome, unsuave normal Joe insteaad of lusty ideal cops and celebrity defense attorneys...
By the way, the pound cake recipe at the back is the original "pound cake" - pound of butter, pound of sugar. Should you make and eat this,keep your caridologist's number close by.

A mystery with a hook that unravels quite unexpectedly. Among the suspects are ladies in a crochet group that had included the victim.

Molly, one of the hookers and the prime suspect, knows she has to sniff out the killer fast because lead Detective Heather is actively pursuing the affections of her policeman boyfriend and would like nothing better than to finger Molly for the murder.

The intrigue mixed in with a love story was my cup of java. A great read, and a great new author!! I can't wait to read her next novel. Ethel Ann Pemberton

This is a good book to keep on your nightstand for those times when you just can't get to sleep. Read a bit and you'll be ready to cut some zzzz. It was hard for me to care about the victim as she was only introduced as a corpse. Her personality in life was not well-defined. The other characters were more like caricatures: the jealous bimbo cop, the overly rude, cheating (?) husband, and the executive assistant who stepped into the victim's job. The so-called heroine was almost laughable. The plot was so-so. I found a bit of humor(unintended, I'm sure) in the idea that a person could read a child's crochet instruction book over a weekend and then join a group of advanced 'hookers' who were working on a project to be auctioned for charity. I know that cozy mysteries are not intended to be great works of literature, but this book is not even a very good example of the cozy genre.

I enjoyed this book even though I rarely read mysteries. Being an avid crocheter, I decided to give it a whirl and I was not disappointed. The characters are quirky and fun and this is all told an easy and enjoyable read. Molly is very likable and I am looking forward to the second book in this series. I'm hopeful that maybe there will even be more than just two books.

Pretty disappointed in this book. I never felt connected to the characters or the plot, nor could I see why the protagonist was so attractive to gorgeous bachelors who could have their pick of starlets and gorgeous blondes, but instead went with the somewhat older, somewhat rounder, inexplicably attractive widow. The plot was a bit thin, too, and "Detective Heather" was completely annoying -- as was the use of "OMIGOD!" Which, as my readers will know, I believe should be reserved for Archie comic books. And haven't we had enough of the crochet-vs.-knitting supposed controversy? Let's move on, please.

I am addicted to cozy mysteries. I love all knitting and quilting ones and the wonderful food and catering plus the coffee house series. This one is ok, but does not hold your interest as some others. I will buy the next installment to see if the characters develop more and the mysteries get more exciting. We don't know enough about the dead person to care much. That is missing. I have found some other series that took a couple of books to get going and will give this author another chance. DG, Florida