Unraveled (A Knitting Mystery, #9) by Maggie Sefton

Unraveled (A Knitting Mystery, #9) Reviews

• 
  Belinda

  Why do I keep reading these books? They are really really terrible. The characters are one-dimensional and don't so much have conversations with each other as continually advise, condemn or praise each other. There's one bit where two of the characters threaten some guy who they are playing volleyball with and instead of being 'advised' to deal with their anger everyone thinks it's just really funny. What?!? And they comment on each other's food and weight all the time, just like good friends do. ARGH!!!!
  
  Beyond the annoying characters, the writing is so damn repetitious. Guess what - Kelly's got a smartphone. And in case you are a gold fish, you shall be reminded of this fact every three pages for the whole entire book. And guess what else - Kelly likes coffee. Really. And the world's most incompetent and unprofessional police force just cannot function without her caffeine-fuelled intuition - SHOOT ME NOW! Not only that, as a reader it's incredibly clear who the killer is because only one new character is introduced in the whole book. That's just lazy writing.
  
  I am not exaggerating - this is an awful, awful book. Of course, I'll read the next one though. I'm a sucker for punishment like that.
• 
  Lisa

  First of all, I want to say that I really like this series, but now I'm having second thoughts about reading anymore of them. This book was just annoying from the beginning. First, the constant reference to Kelly's smartphone was annoying. I don't care that she has a smart phone, uses a smart phone and tosses her smartphone on the passenger seat of her car. Second, the mystery was second to Kelly's love life, which is also ok, but don't wrap the entire mystery up in two quick chapters with a ribbon and think that it is all good. I figured out the murderer right away, and then had to wade away all the other stuff to see why it happened. Then, my biggest annoyance was Kelly herself. She came across as as overbearing person especially when it comes to sports. The whole volleyball scene almost made me throw the book across the room, who acts that way on the court and still has everyone laughing and cheering behind her? I thought she was rather witchy, actually REALLY witchy. I have other annoyances but just say that I did not like the book and that is good enough
• 
  Betty

  A bit of fun, a bit of romance, a bit of history, a bit of relaxation, a bit of underhandedness, and a corpse no one will miss! This is #9 of the Knitting series, but to be fair in my review I must say it is several years since I read one of Maggie's series, #2 "Needled to Death", so I am coming into this cozy series with little knowledge of what has gone before. Just the same, I feel attuned to the book. I'm delighted that this series takes place among the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, a beautiful location with lots of inspiration for a book of this type. I can almost associate the colours of the landscapes with the colours of the yarns featured in this series.
  
  The story is centered around a mixed group of friends, all ages, male and female, with several interests in common. Added to the mix, an author of Western History has come to town as Curt's houseguest and the whole group immediately takes to him. These friends sound wonderful, I would love to meet them in person. Maggie Sefton brings her characters alive with their speech, a trick of emphasis that I could hear quite plainly in my mind. The hub at the center is Lambspun, a yarn and knitting shop with a room where friends can gather, knitting and chatting, with a convenient café attached to the shop.
  
  Though most of these friends are knitters, with Mimi and Burt taking turns at the register and spinning skeins into balls, they enjoy each other's company in sports, barbecues, and sharing their moments good or bad, in a complete group or just two or three. Kelly Flynn, the amateur sleuth of the group, is trying to deal with her heartbreak over her ex-boyfriend Steve, who walked out on her in #8 "Skein of the Crime." In #9, the current book, her friends, who are also his friends, are trying to get them back together. Steve lives in Denver, and sometimes manages to come to town to visit with some of them.
  
  In Unraveled, Kelly is deep into her work as CPA for Arthur Housemann, a land developer and investor. She often stays in Denver rather than commuting if she is needed again the next day. She is, in essence, hiding out from her anger and hurt because of Steve by throwing herself into her work. The recession has hit the community of Fort Connor hard, as it has elsewhere, so when real estate agent Jennifer gets a client for a large piece of ranchland, she is excited to find that the client is none other than Kelly's boss. A cinch of a sale, since he is offering full price, or is it? The property owner has made a fortune out of being dishonest and tough.
  
  When Jennifer races to present her offer after hearing there is another offer being submitted that would defeat any other presented, she and Kelly see a truck pull out of the driveway and come barreling down the road toward them. When they pull into the driveway, Jen goes in and suddenly yells for Kelly. She has found the owner all right, but he's dead. It appears to be a suicide, but why now?
  
  This book has a different approach from some cozies, in that the corpse does not come into the story right at the beginning. Characters are all fleshed out and continuity is primary in the early part of the book. In the remainder of the book, the discovery of the corpse takes us in a different direction. Kelly has her own little trigger for going into sleuthing mode. She gets a kind of buzzing that grows more insistent if she ignores it. She has already been alerted by the buzzing that this is more than a suicide, and launches into her own investigation. With two prime suspects, it is an interesting journey to reach a final conclusion.
  
  I enjoyed the book and its nuances. Definitely a lighter read in many places, the camaraderie is a pleasant set-up for the mystery to come. I'm looking forward to the next book to learn the fate of Kelly and Steve. As a bonus at the end of the book there is a knitting pattern and a recipe.
• 
  Nicole

  A client of Jennifer's is murdered, and this time, Kelly didn't even have to meet the guy and he was doomed. It's all right; everyone hated him anyhow. The murderer is obvious from the beginning. Most of the book is spent following Kelly around to her work and making it clear that she's the best thing since sliced bread and Steve is kicking himself for leaving her. Steve shouldn't be kicking himself for leaving her. He can do better. He should do better. He probably won't do better. The other two-dimensional people are insistent that they're made for each other. But only in this weird, nonexistent world with the ridiculously high murder rate do people who are made for each other get back together after one of them moves out and there's a failed marriage proposal. And I was wrong that there ought to be sex in these. A few times, they're referred to as having been lovers, and it's maximally icky. I don't believe for a second that they ever achieved sufficient closeness for sex if they could have such a catastrophic failure to communicate as what broke them up.
  
  Sefton needs an editor. If I never see the words "click," "tab," "soft," or "ohhhhhh, yeah" again, it'll be too soon. People are constantly clicking in and out or on and off of things, and they need to stop it this instant. The Kindle and print editions are all rife with typographical errors, also. You'd think a big press like that could manage to hire someone who didn't flunk high school English.
• 
  Linda

  This series has been recommended to me many times over the years since I knit and other readers have found them enjoyable. My first foray into this group of books was underwhelming-partly because I am not a huge mystery fan, and partly because I found it poorly written. Apparently the author believes that repetition is critical, but I found it tedious and insulting, as if the reader is too dumb to remember the facts revealed in the earlier chapters.
  Oft repeated in this story were:
  references to "his favorite amber beverage" Fat Tire ale
  the word "scrumptious"
  the term "smartphone"
  the frequency of snow in Colorado in March
  the yarn was spun from recycled saris
  the character's first name, as in Kelly stepped out onto the deck, Kelly stood by the railing, Kelly was shivering, Kelly sipped her coffee blah blah blah all in subsequent sentences.
  the slang "wanta" rather than wanna
  the expression "got that right"
  the expression "don't I know it"
  I won't read another in this series, and the connection to knitting is loose, at best. I get the impression that this author is just cranking these out like an assembly line.
• 
  Judy

  I listened to this as an audiobook and really had to force myself to stick with it. The author spent 20 minutes describing a volleyball game that was being played by some of the main characters after a meeting. On and on conversation such as " good shot" kept being repeated. I can see mentioning the game and that the meeting attendants played but this was just ridiculous. Then a play-by-play of a character finding her wedding gown. About halfway through the book I really had forgotten what the original murder had been. Another reviewer mentions wanting to throw the book across the room- I totally agree. I have read almost all of her books. I don't think I'll read any more.
• 
  Carol Stanley-Snow

  I am truly enjoying this series! A comfortable, easy reading book and the characters are fabulous!!
  
  Kelly and her cohorts are a fun bunch. Kelly, aka, Sherlock, finds herself knee deep in murder and mystery.
  
  Great reads for the summer.
• 
  Lisa Rutigliano

  All her books make we want to knit, drink coffee and eat at the local knitting/cafe.
• 
  Sandie

  Never having read an of Maggie Sefton’s previous books in this series I was very nearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of secondary characters making an appearance right from page one of UNRAVELED. The author did try to make the daunting task of keeping everyone straight by including a cast of characters listing in the front of the book. Believe me, I did make good use of this list and in the early stages of reading found myself flipping back and forth as I familiarized myself with the relationships between the characters.
  
  Murder, knitting and romance are the order of the day in Fort Conner, CO and CPA (and part time sleuth) Kelly Flynn is at the center of all the action. There are several surprises in store for the reader as the story, which admittedly starts slowly, progresses to its startling climax. Kelly’s romance with her ex, Steve, is on the back burner for several reasons not the least of which is the fact that he has moved to Denver and she is still residing in Fort Conner making their romance GU (geographically undesirable) at best.
  
  Worth mentioning are a few things that elevated this story beyond the “chic lit/cozy” level. First, the exchanges between Kelly and her ex Steve at a volleyball game as they physically and verbally spar and we see that volleyball isn’t the only “game” they’re playing. Second is the definite talent for descriptive writing displayed by Ms. Sefton that is most obviously on display in her vivid depictions of the rugged beauty of the Colorado landscape as well as pithy lines like “high drooping arcs had a greedy Megan under them like a crocodile waiting with open jaws for a wounded bird to drop inside”. Then there is the eclectic group of individuals who comprise the House of Lambspun knitters. My interest in this unique establishment and the knitters who patronize it was sufficiently piqued that I found myself going to my computer to investigate and lo and behold I actually found the LAMBSPUN yarn shop in Fort COLLINS, CO.
  
  It is only on rare occasions that I drag out the knitting needles to whip up a small gift but I am a baker (and a dedicated consumer of chocolate in all its forms) so the recipe for chocolate cake at the end of the book was most appreciated. For those of you who are zealous knitters, the back of the book also contains a pattern for a summer tee. So you see this book is a triple threat. It is amusing, has a pretty good murder mystery with a surprising reveal, and includes recipe for a tasty chocolate cake and a pattern that has the potential to increase your wardrobe.
  
• 
  Melissa

  I almost could not finish this book, I just couldn't get into it. I'm getting tired of Kelly's coffee obsession. I mean she has a serious problem. And I should have counted how many times a character says, "ohhhhh yeah" It was repeated way too many times!
• 
  Lisa

  Charming as always, now must go buy yarn.
• 
  Meredith

  I really enjoyed the story. It kept me guessing every page that I read.
• 
  Sarah Warren

  Easy read. I am a knitter and enjoy reading about the knit shop.
• 
  Miriam Roush

  Because I read some of this author’s earlier books in the same series, I was delighted to find this one and prepared to enjoy it as much as those. I was disappointed. As much as I value the time and energy that goes into writing a mystery, and as much as I can’t stand nitpicking critics, I found myself nitpicking. The storyline was interesting, but I was distracted by the repetitiveness of some phrases such as “her sporty red car,” and “oooh, yeah,” and the number of times the main character just had to have coffee. It lent an amateurish feel to the writing and I can’t help but wonder why someone didn’t catch this and encourage some rewrites before the book went to publishing. I plan to try the next book in the series, but if it’s more of the same, I think I am finished.
• 
  Anna Hanson

  Heartbreaking
  
  Kelly is focusing on moving forward with her life after Steve walked out on her, tucking the ache of their break up into the back of her mind. She’s kept busy working with her two clients, one in Denver and the other more local, along with hanging out with her friends and knitting family, but when one of her clients wants to buy a property in the canyon, she decides to check it out with her friend Jen, who is the agent for the seller. They stumble upon the body of the owner, dead of an apparent suicide. The man was not well-liked, to put it mildly, so the list of people who wanted him put out of their misery was quite long. Figuring out who would go so far will be heartbreaking for Kelly.
• 
  Rachel

  This was the ninth book of a fun cozy mystery series. I found it to be well written for its genre with well developed characters. I love the "family" that the protagonist has found because of the Lambspun fiber shop with classes and needed items for spinning, knitting, crocheting, felting, and weaving. And I love the protagonist Kelly and her CPA brain that loves to puzzle out numbers and murders. I am such a huge fan of this series.
• 
  April

  Kelly Flynn and her friend Jennifer find another dead body. The obvious clues lead to the wife due to the bitter divorce and to the businessman trying to buy the property. The situation is deeper than surface though. The gun used to kill Fred Turner seems like a big clue to Kelly.
  There are lots of personal interactions and history to catch onto in this mystery. It’s enjoyable and takes some interesting twists and turns to the final solution.
  
• 
  Nancy Nash Keefer

  Very put-down-able, which is why it took me so long to read it.
  
  The book needs some strong editing: a lot of minutiae in the beginning, redundancies (e.g. One character says, "You got that right!" Turn the page; new chapter and a different character says, "You got that right!"), and zero foreshadowing that would allow the reader to come to the conclusion on their own.
• 
  Justine Wilkinson

  I’ve enjoyed this series until now, but this book was s real letdown. Constant references to Kelly having a smartphone, lots of pages/chapters spent on Kelly working in Denver, playing volleyball, her relationship with Steve. I know we need background, but the mystery element of this book probably only took up two chapters. But I’ll still read the next book in the series!
• 
  Chris

  pring is in the air of Fort Connor, Colorado-a time of new beginnings for the House of Lambspun knitters. But for fellow knitter Jennifer's new real estate client, it is his end. He's been murdered and Kelly Flynn is left unraveling a tangle of clues. This may prove to be her most challenging project yet.
• 
  Katarina

  This book reminds me of how I would write a mystery novel if someone made me. It’s like a novel before editing and an author without any writing practice. The writing was strikingly juvenile and so was the plot. Also why was there so much discussion over what she ate? And the discrepancy between what she wanted to eat and what she felt she could? It was weird.
• 
  Tina

  I hate it when I let too much time go by between reading books in a series. I spent most of the first part of this book trying to remember if I knew that Kelly and Steve had split. Arggg.
  
  The murder mystery was a good read, even though the identity of the killer was super easy to guess.
• 
  Carolyn Manlove

  I am really enjoying the series as I like the characters. I am also happy that the author has stopped revealing the killer in past --- That is disappointing when you can't read them in order. Not every mystery should be a Columbo episode!
• 
  Lydia Sadler

  I love a mystery, especially when the the detective is not a professional. Amateur sleuths have a more personal interest in solving a crime, which gets them into trouble but also helps them go where the professionals cannot.
• 
  Linda Haring

  When I started this one, I thought this would be the last one. Same things- lots of coffee, softball, murder, now a smartphone, but I like how this one developed and ended. I'm not sure if I will read the next in the series.
• 
  Jackie

  I love these knitting mystery books. I like that it is kept light but still keeps my interest. The end did surprise me.