Murder on an alpaca and llama farm leads Shannon McClain and her friends from their peaceful small town of Apple Grove, Oregon, straight to the brink of disaster.
Intrigue awaits Shannon McClain and the Purls of Hope as they tour the alpaca and llama farm of Luke and Selena Barlow and discover the body of a man in one of the barns. Who is this mysterious stranger, why was he in the Barlows’ barn, and—most importantly—how did he die?
Part of their research takes Shannon and the Purls to an upscale boutique in Portland, Just Knits, where their questions change the owner, Frances Oberheimer, from courteous to surly in a matter of minutes, making the Purls more than a little suspicious. Michael Stone, the former police detective who counts himself as more than a friend to Shannon, tries to warn her about the possible dangers of pursuing the case. However, the fiery Scottish redhead’s need for closure in the stranger’s death drives her toward a solution to the mystery — and justice.
This clever whodunit from Annie’s Creative Woman Mysteries series is a must-read for fans of cozy mysteries, crafting, light romance, and female friendships.
Our sleuths visit a llama and alpaca farm. There's a property dispute. A lady with a store that sells yarn is very unfriendly. Accidents start to happen.
The idea of a knitting group solving crimes is a cute idea I have to admit.
Can you guess who the killer is….of course you can. It’s not a deep mystery at all. I think they’re known as a cozy mystery.
The problem with this book is there is a lot of dialogue. It’s not the first book in the series so I felt lost at times. Example: I was confused as to why she calls her mother Beth. I kind of wish this book had a quick who’s who at the start. But again because this book isn’t so deep into the mystery one can overlook it.
My biggest issue was that there are two crimes and it would have been better to split them into two books.
Everything gets wrapped up so fast. I mean you have a case of Llamas but also of illegals working for slave labor at a shop. That second story to me popped up out of nowhere. More hints should have been added such as the ladies wondering how anyone could knit 50 sweaters in a week by herself now that might have worked better to ease into the second story.
Again not the best or the worst book. If you want a quick read give it a try.
A friend gave me books from a different Annie's Attic series (Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library) and I went to Half Price Books looking to find later ones in that series and instead found this series. This is the last book from this series that I have for now though.
This book talks a lot about alpaca yarn and making clothes from alpaca yarn. There's a human trafficking subplot (because that seems to be the hot button fiction issue right now, just like vampires and zombies have been in the past), as well as the usual murder that this series contains.
I liked that there were lots of facts about alpacas (and some about llamas too and the differences between the two animals) as well as alpaca wool/fleece/yarn. As always, I feel like the non-law-enforcement characters take too many risks. Did they really need "proof" to report possible human trafficking to ICE?
Prefer books with crafting themes to have more details about the specific skill, e.g., projects, descriptions of yarn/patterns, etc. This book centered more on the mysteries, both of which were weak. It didn't really seem plausible that members of the knitting group would be so committed to solving the mysteries presented, especially when their lives were threatened. I mean how many of us actually know people who become involved in solving murders? In this case, more about knitting and less sleuthing would have improved the story in my opinion.
What an enjoyable mystery involving 2 crimes. From a death on an alpaca and llama farm to a property dispute to suspicious activity at another knitting shop, Shannon and her friends have their hands full with solving these mysteries. Wonderful read if you're a fan of cozy mysteries, knitting, and crafts.
I didn't realize that this was book #2 in this series....hmmm, having said that, this book was written with little reference to book #1 and yet I found it easy to follow. The plot that the propensity to be "all over the place" but with some finesse-the book stayed on track! Bravo