Cashmere Conspiracy

A Hazel Stitchworth Cozy Mystery #1

by Fiona Grace

“A great story of murder, romance, new beginnings, love, friendships and a wonderful cascade of mystery.”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

CASHMERE A HAZEL STITCHWORTH COZY MYSTERY (BOOK #1) is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Fiona Grace, #1 bestselling author of Murder in the Manor, which has over 10,000 five star reviews!

From the cozy confines of her knitting boutique to the competitive world of exotic yarns, Hazel Stitchworth knits her way to the European Fiber Festival to source rare alpaca wool. But when death strikes a beloved community member, she'll need all her pattern-solving skills to expose a murderer before the deadly design claims another victim…

With the help of a charming amateur historian, Hazel must out of the role of shop proprietor and into the shoes of an amateur sleuth in order to clear her name, reveal a killer, and unravel a tightly-knotted mystery.

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of the Hazel Stitchworth series, a warm and inviting cozy mystery that seamlessly blends sharp wit and peculiar charm. With its blend of lighthearted comedy, heartfelt emotions, and unexpected plot turns, this series is sure to present an endearing new protagonist who will steal your heart and keep you engrossed until the early morning hours.

Future books in the series are also available!

"Very entertaining. I highly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that appreciates a very well written mystery, with some twists and an intelligent plot. You will not be disappointed. Excellent way to spend a cold weekend!"
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Murder in the Manor)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“The story line wasn't just a who done it, but had a story about her life and romance, including village life. Very entertaining.”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“It has endearing and sometimes quirky characters, a plot that keeps you reading and the right amount of romance. I can’t wait to start book two!”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“What a great story of murder, romance, new beginnings, love, friendships and a wonderful cascade of mystery.”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“This is a clean contemporary romance that you will find hard to put down!”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Always, Forever)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“A bit of romance and a very determined woman! I have read many of Fiona Grace's novels and loved every one of them—this was no exception. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this new series!”
--Amazon reviewer (regarding Always, With You)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Amazon, Cozy, Fiction, Contemporary, Amateur Sleuth

155 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 20, 2025

About the author

Debut author Fiona Grace is author of the LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY series which includes MURDER IN THE MANOR (Book #1), DEATH AND A DOG (Book #2) and CRIME IN THE CAFE (Book #3). Fiona would love to hear from you, so please visit www.fionagraceauthor.com to receive free ebooks, hear the latest news, and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Medori Marble]

This book was horrible. Maybe if you are a textile worker can you stand constant (and I mean every other sentence) textile puns.

[Holly Sweany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but it was just so sickly sweet and flowery. It needs a good session with an editor.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable.

My only gripe for this story is the author used far too many similes to get her point across. Otherwise it's a fun story with a murder involved. The characters are believable and interesting. The plot is easily followed and the premise is finding out who killed the main character's main alpaca supplier and why. The answers were difficult and sad when revealed. I do recommend this book.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and very confused with the storyline

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be a fun quick read in between books. As a fellow fiber artist, I figured a book with yarn and knitting thrown in would be fun. I was wrong. There are so many knitting references and yarn talk that there wasn’t much room left for an actual story.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many knitting puns, similes, and metaphors for my taste.
But there was a good enough plot that I had to read to the end to see who did it.

[Corinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book in the first couple of chapters and was excited because I thought I found a new cozy mystery series. But there were just way too many puns and similes and other assorted wordplay related to yarn that it was too much. So much that a distracted from the mystery, from the characters, from the story of a hole. I would’ve cut out at least 70% of the puns and similes, and it would’ve still been too much.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally like Fiona Grace's cozy mysteries. I don't think I can finish this one though. Horrible. Let me state up front that I am listening to the book. As an aside, the reader is a digital voice called Annie - and that is annoying in itself. I listen to many audio books, and the reader is a large part of the enjoyment of the book. At first, I was actually impressed that the voice was so good - didn't sound computer generated or stilted. And then... I began to notice instances where the stress was on the wrong word in the sentence, or on the wrong syllable of the word. Suffice to say, I will not select another computer voice book soon! The reader is too important to toss away.

So back to the annoying book. The heroine is a knitting shop owner; something I was looking forward to. The author has hammered us with knitting phrases and analogies in just about every other sentence. It's enough! Her mind was tangled like a skein of wool that had come undone...the clue was as obvious as seeing a purl stitch where a knit should be...she was seeing the problem as clearly as a complicated cable pattern... it was like a dropped stitch... And so it goes. Every other sentence.

Stick to Fiona Grace's other series; I've enjoyed her Tuscan Vineyard series, and the Villa in Sicily series. I doubt that I can finish this book.

[Mary Szatkowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF once I realized it was written by AI

A few things that stood out to me as OFF in the first 50% of the book:
- The shear number of puns + some puns just not making sense + characters saying "excuse the pun" when there HAD BEEN NO pun in the dialogue. All together it read as though "use knitting puns" had an AI prompt wielded unwittingly throughout the book.
- Random usage of the MC's full (first and last) name deep into the book.
- General writing style was very repetitive

Quick online search pulls up "Fiona Grace appears to be a pen name originally used by a publisher who hired multiple authors to ghostwrite various series. In 2022 they appear to have switched writing all the new books using AI." This is consistent with other reviewers noting that the earlier Fiona Grace series were much better than this one

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not have a lot of expectations going into this book and even that bar was too high. The plot is so thin it's barely visible at times, more like random thoughts strung together than an actual story. Every word possible that can be replaced with woven / knitted / tangled has been, so it's like a reverse thesaurus, which is surprisingly grating after a while (starting around 10min in and then it gets worse).
That the "narrator" is really dead sounding AI does not help either.
Though what is probably the biggest thing for me, is that the author tells me how I am supposed to feel the whole time without ever managing to actually make me feel anything at all. Not only are the characters two-dimensional, but so are their emotions.
Note to self: do not pick up any more books from that author.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book was good, but honestly, I've read thousands of books over the years and never have I read one that has used the word "smirk" so often and always in the wrong context. Also, the author was fond of using the expressions "like a dropped stitch in a cable pattern" (or something like that) and "his brows knitted". I counted at least five times each. A proof reader would have helped a few times when Liam started out with a poached egg and in the next paragraph was eating his scrambled eggs; when they parted way outside the hotel and in the next paragraph they were walking across the hotel foyer to go outside. There were a few more "oops" mistakes and I was surprised because I have ready a lot of her works. All in all, I enjoyed the book

[Cherie Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story had enough twists and turns to be interesting.

However, eading this tale would have been much more enjoyable if the author had not inserted so many knitting comments. Most of those interuptions to the flow were completely unnecessary. How many times was a challenge presented as just like dealing with a dropped stitch?

I am a knitter and felt it was annoying. What about nonknitters who may not be as familiar with the terms and expressions? Could all the superfluous mentions have added anything to their reading experiences?

[Alice Hazelbaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a knitter, this story is for you!

An entertaining story built around a visit to Spain for a fiber festival. Of course, while visiting the farm of her favorite fiber purveyor, Hazel discovers him dead, murdered in fact! The responding officer quickly decides that Hazel is the murderer. And being an amateur sleuth as well as a knitter, Hazel investigates to prove her innocence, and makes a good friend along the way. I have to admit that the author wove way too many “knitting/textile” words in a story that would have been better off without them!

[Starr Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

stitches

Hazel attends a fiber convection in Spain, seeing current vendors and hopefully new ones too. A murder occurs and Hazel is the primary suspect.

With help from a friend, Hazel races to find the killer before she goes to jail for a crime she didn’t commit. It’s an exciting story as Hazel pulls together clues that even the police can’t unravel.

Strong community support and relationships give Hazel support to continue the hunt for the real villain, and when the killer is revealed, it is quite a surprise and an absolutely worthwhile read

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite fiber cozy by a long shot. The entire book is full of one cliche after another....too much! Also, other than the venue and the constant fiber phrases, the book never really shows what the knitter's convention is like, nor are actual stitches knit or specific patterns discussed. Poorly edited as well. I caught multiple times where things were changed from sentence to sentence. Example: one poached egg suddenly became scrambled eggs a moment later.

[Re Qu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Narration was awful. To many “like a dropped stitch in a cable pattern” or “ knitted together” in the book. This did not seem at all like a Fiona Grace mystery, but a child- like story that is pre written and the “author” fills in the blanks. In this case with knitting related terms in almost every sentence. The book did not hold my attention and I can’t recommend it.

[Kenneth Par · Rating 1 out of 5]

knitting lesson

Really got fed up of all the little sayings about sewing knitting, miss stitchworth must of written them all down first then built a story around them but every other line was just to much, read 40 % it just got to the stage where I was looking for a piece of plaited wool to hang my self

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute

A cute read but the endless knitting puns were overused and became annoying. The idea of a knitting shop owner becoming a unrestrained detective in another country was a little far fetched. I did enjoy the storyline of the production of yarn and the care of the animals that produced the wool, the friendships in the story also were enjoyable.

[Barbara Lipkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 I had looked forward to this book because I am an avid knitter but I found that the constant use of knitting terms in every sentence made the book a big disappointment. I’ve read others by the author about a pastry shop and those books used baking terms but not to the extent this book used them.

[Gracie Hollingsworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the wordy book I’ve ever read. The writing was unbelievably horrible. There was a knitting pun in EVERY SENTENCE. Worst of all it wasn’t unique ones every line it was just switching between the same three puns. Would give 0 stars if I could.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. Think I made it through 6 chapters before I gave up.
Terrible narration (I'm an audiobook reader). This narration sounded like AI or something.
Hope this isn't a new trend in audiobooks! Ugh.

[Daria Blocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The AI generated narrator often mispronounced words and missed tones crucial for understanding the gravity of the situation. Its story was ok but the over the top reference and comparisons to knitting and yarn made it hard to get into the meat of the mystery.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmm

I really like Grace and this is the first book I’ve read in the series. Well I enjoyed the story and I like knitting, I just felt like there were too many knitting references, constantly pulled into the storyline.

[Karen Mellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Over the top

...with the knitting references and some sewing ones mixed in just to thoroughly drown the reader. Remove all that fluff, and you're left with mediocre, formulated mystery.

[Stephanie Winfrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t waste your time

This book is hard to read. I am a knitter and appreciate the occasional yarn and needle references in some books, but every other sentence? Give me a break! I don’t think this was written by a real person.

[Alayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. This was written terribly. It was full of description using knitting and yarn similes, and got very annoying very quickly. I read the first 30 pages then the last chapter and did not enjoy it at all. The story got bogged down in the metaphors. Not recommended.

[Mrs Mary Curd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know this is about a knitter but the continual references to knitting have become jarring at just halfway through and I cannot finish the book, shame really as I would have liked to know who the murderer was. Never mind I will survive the suspense!!

[Anna Beth Harrison]

I don’t want to give this book a rating, i just didn’t finish it. It was a bit much what with allusions to fiber every other sentence l. If she’d been lighter on the metaphors this would’ve been more enjoyable.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this may be a good book, I could not finish it because the writing was too flowery for my taste. Also, even as a knitter, the puns were over the top.

[Amber Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was very good! Metaphors used kinda got old but loved the storyline!