Knit & Nibble Mysteries Book 12
Author: Peggy Ehrhart
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)
ISBN #: 9781496749598
Kensington Cozies
288 Pages
$8.99; $7.99 Amazon
April 29, 2025
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Spring has sprung in Arborville, New Jersey, and Pamela Paterson and Bettina Fraser are keeping busy with their knitting group, Knit and Nibble. But it looks like April showers have brought May murders...
Fiber artist Ingrid Barrick has just been found dead in her ransacked house, but the fact that she'd seemed a bit troubled lately -- and had been obsessively doodling pictures of bees -- has the Knit and Nibblers wondering if this was really a burglary gone bad like the police think. There had been tension with a neighbor who was fuming (and sneezing) over the ragweed in Ingrid's garden -- but allergies don't seem like grounds for murder.
As they chat with a local beekeeper, learn more about Ingrid's knitwear designer ex, and look into a suddenly cancelled tapestry exhibit, Pamela and Bettina are intrigued to find more nature-themed sketches by Ingrid. The question is which of these many threads will lead to the truth about her unnatural death...
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Pamela Paterson lives in a small town in New Jersey. She's a widow with a grown daughter, and lives with her three cats; and her best friend Bettina Fraser lives down the street. Pamela learns that a local artist has been killed, and she and Bettina visit the neighbor, who insists that it was a murder, not a burglary, as the police think. She shows them doodles that Ingrid Barrick has been doing, all of bees. But Pamela doesn't know what this has to do with the woman's death.
When she and Bettina attend a celebration of life for Ingrid, she hears two men arguing about her. It seems heated, but the conversation never really gets to the crux of the matter -- only that one wants to write a book, and the other wants him to leave part of it out. Later they discover that the men are an ex-boyfriend of Ingrid's, named Nestor, and the other is a professor, Eilert. But are they suspects in Ingrid's death?
Pamela soon discovers that not everyone was a fan of the woman -- including another neighbor, who hated Ingrid's garden because it caused her allergies to surge. Is that enough to kill? The neighbor on the other side, Coco, seemed to like Ingrid. However, Pamela isn't ruling anyone out, and when something else occurs, Pamela wonders if the two incidents have anything to do with each other. With the stakes raised, it's only a matter of time, but Pamela needs to put the pieces together sooner rather than later to find the truth...
This is the twelfth book in the series and I have read them all. I do think the stories have progressed, and I liked the storyline of this book, which basically centered around the murder (as it should) leaving the subplots as interesting, but not interrupting the solving of the crime.
Finding the killer was the main, and there are clues throughout the story, although they aren't easy to find, nor to put together. We discover that Ingrid -- although already deceased by the time the story begins -- was a multi-faceted woman, who loved her art yet had secrets of her own that she didn't wish to be revealed. But in death, they usually are, right?
It is in this that we look into why the murder occurred, and the reasons aren't easy to discover. I must say that I didn't know who the murderer was until the time that Pamela had it all figured out, so it came as a surprise, and I enjoyed that immensely. I do love mysteries, but sometimes it is easy to find out who did the deed; in this case, it was not.
The reasons, as they were, are rather sad, yet murder itself is also sad. In the end, the story was woven nicely and all threads came together at the end, leaving us an intriguing picture that left me feeling satisfied with the story. I eagerly await the next in the series. (There are also a couple of yummy recipes that I intend to try). Recommended.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Peggy Ehrhart's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/peggy-ehrhart/
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