Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeanie

Synopsis:

Molly Pink and her pals, the Tarzana Hookers, are ready to bring the craft of crochet to the masses. But when one of their members finds herself the prime suspect in a murder, the Hookers are going to have to switch their focus to fighting her bad rap…

Molly and her friends can’t wait to get more people hooked on crochet at the annual SoCal Knit Style Show, where Shedd & Royal has been granted a vendor booth. In the past, the show has always been about knitting, and this is the first year there’ll be crochet classes and a crochet competition.

The show’s organizer is K. D. Kirby, publisher of several knitting magazines and owner of a yarn store that caters to an elite Beverly Hills crowd. Everyone is shocked when K.D. doesn’t show up for the opening reception, but that’s nothing compared to how they feel when she’s finally found—dead in her hotel suite.

Suspicion immediately falls on Adele, one of the Tarzana Hookers, who locked horns with K.D., and whose handmade crochet hook is found at the murder scene. Certain that Adele’s been framed, Molly starts her own investigation, hoping to get their pal off the hook and find a killer before another guest checks out…

DELICIOUS RECIPES & CROCHET PATTERNS INCLUDED! (from Goodreads)

Review:

Knot Guilty is the ninth novel in Betty Hechtman’s colorful and creative Crochet Mystery series.  Don’t hesitate to pick it up, even if you have not read the others – the author seamlessly introduces characters or circumstances to sufficiently give you a member’s seat at the table.  Member of the Tarzana Hookers group, that is.  Um, no, hookers as in those whose artful endeavors require the use of crochet hooks.

Molly Pink is the Events Coordinator at Shedd and Royal Books and More, where the Tarzana Hookers meet to share conversation, patterns, and causes.  Shedd and Royal has a coveted booth at the latest California Knit Style Show.  It is the first time that designers of crochet pieces are able to join the knitters at the show, knitters who sadly feel that knitting is far superior to crocheting.  Molly wants nothing more than to make sure the crochet group represents her company well.  Unfortunately Adele, a co-worker and one of the more eccentric members of the group, upsets the show’s organizer, K.D. Kirby, while they were still setting up their booth.

K.D. was scheduled to give a speech at the opening of the show, but the show finally opened without her – and later she was found dead in her hotel suite.  The only clue in her suite was a unique hand-made crochet hook that belonged to none other than Adele.

Adele is having nearly as bad of weekend as K.D.  Molly chooses to help her out as she doesn’t believe Adele did the deed.  Adele’s biggest concern doesn’t seem to be whether she could go to prison, but that her gentleman friend’s mother, an avid knitter, is in attendance and she doesn’t want his mother to tell her soul mate to kick her to the curb.

As a bit of side drama, an actress who takes the classy classes at K.D.’s upscale shop is accused of stealing a very special, extremely expensive pair of knitting needles.  Audrey Stewart was seen on the security tapes, so it was cut and dried…except that she is defended by Molly’s friend, Mason, attorney to the rich and famous.  The actress is happy to drape herself across the attorney’s arm at the show and  stomp on the designer-shod toes of the pre-selected show celebrity, the Hookers’ own CeeCee, by insinuating that she would do the guest celebrity honors.

Betty Hechtman designs such wonderfully colorful work with this series – the characters are so unique that they are not easily forgotten!  They are witty and charming, a perfect group of crafters to have an armchair adventure with.  Molly is a 50-something widow who enjoys her career, crafting, and unofficial detecting.  Dinah Lyons, her best friend, fellow Hooker as well as college teacher, likes to play the Sherlock Holmes game with Molly when a mystery is particularly challenging.  These puzzle solvers are my favorite ladies in the book – although Adele has kind of a place in my heart, quirks and all!  Perhaps one thing these characters show is that each of us has a different “normal”, and that the quirks someone has can contribute to their strengths, the very thing that makes them as successful or talented as they are.

This author has an endless supply of superhighway plots – complex mysteries with curves, U-turns, even cloverleaf exchanges that change the reader’s perception of possible suspects or motives.  I really enjoy seeing how Betty Hechtman continues to use crocheting as the central theme to writing mysteries, and flawlessly executes the plots.  Knot Guilty has an absolutely stunning, unsettling ending that I would never have expected – but no peeking!  I highly recommend this latest Crochet Mystery to all who enjoy cozy mysteries as well as those who unravel the mystery of design and color every time they work up a crochet pattern for the first time.  Those who enjoy a bit of drama and romance embellishing the mystery as beads or charms enhance the beauty of a finished piece will be delighted as they read Knot Guilty.  And don’t miss the recipes and patterns that help share the show experience!

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*