Lots of us keep our first skeins of yarn, and Sophie Mae Reynolds plans to do the same . . . until it gets tangled up in a murder investigation. In the third volume in the Home Crafting Mystery series by Cricket McRae, the clever heroine can’t resist helping find the killer of one of her art co-op members. As she becomes mesmerized by her growing love of spinning, she begins learns that even her fellow artisans may not be telling the whole truth.
Curling up with some fiber and a spinning wheel on a chilly day is cozy. In the world of mystery novels, though, “cozy” means something different: a story set in a small, tight-knit community, with relatively little violence (except for the obvious). The detective is generally a woman, and it is common to find a teapot, a cat, and knitting involved. Spin a Wicked Web is a contemporary example of the genre.
Sophie Mae may not reach the levels of fiber fascination that affect many handspinners, but McRae masters the details and captures the infatuation that strikes many of us. (And what spinner wouldn’t take a spinning wheel for an engagement ring?)
McRae, Cricket. Spin a Wicked Web. Woodbury, Minnesota: Mystery Ink, 2009. (Currently available in Kindle and Nook formats.)