This book is more like food porn than cozy mystery.

Jenny Miller is found dead, strangled with a knitting needle, in the local community garden. A few days later, Jenny’s mother Janice is found murdered in the same place and in the identical fashion. Lots of people had reasons to want Jenny dead, but there seems to be no earthly motive for her mother’s murder.

Pamela Paterson and her next door neighbor Bettina Fraser are two old busybodies from the affluent town of Arborville, New Jersey. They take it upon themselves to hunt down the killer because they have a very low opinion of the local constabulary, they have a very high opinion of themselves, & they really don’t seem to have anything else to do.

Solving the murders of Jenny and her mother comprises a very small portion of this story. In fact, the identity of the murderer is spelled out by the author very early on; I don’t think she wanted readers spending too much time wondering whodunit.

The murder mystery acts as sort of a background excuse for the author to bombard readers with pages and pages of euphoric descriptions of food and eating. There are a lot of overwhelming, rapturous descriptions of food in this book, and I do mean A LOT. Tuna melts & milkshakes, grilled cheese, pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, steaks & potatoes, pastries, cakes, and a ton of coffee are all described in minute, ecstatic detail. It really appears that the author has a very unhealthy, erotic obsession with food, and she uses “mystery writing” as an excuse to indulge her obsession. I like my mysteries full of mystery, so I was not impressed.

There are a lot of characters in this book…way too many; and most of them are inconsequential. The knitting group has nothing whatsoever to do with attempting to solve the crimes; they just get together to knit…and eat, of course. The Knit & Nibble bunch just served as tiresome page filler and not much else.

The repeated physical descriptions of Pamela’s neighbor, Bettina, make her sound like a fat Bozo the Clown impersonator, and her persistent (& unwelcome) attempts to get an unwilling Pamela to get married grow very obnoxious very quickly. Bettina is constantly running across the street at all hours in her nightie and slippers to Pamela’s house; it makes the reader think that Bettina really needs to buy a house on the opposite side of the street, and Pamela needs to set boundaries and buy a house on the opposite side of town.

The book includes a recipe for rhubarb cheesecake and a knitting pattern for a tea cozy.

Unless you are interested in reading dozens of pages rhapsodizing about strawberry champagne cake, you need to give this book a miss. ( )

A body is found in the community garden in Arborville. Pamela and Bettina begin to look into the murder because the murder weapon is a knitting needle. Is the murderer a knitter or a gardener? Are any gardeners also knitters? So many coincidences are found that their list of suspects keeps growing. Will they catch the murderer or will they be caught?

I enjoyed this book very much. I like Pamela's eye for detail. I also like that she does not want Penny worrying about her so she goes to extensive lengths not to be caught investigating. Nell lets them know she is not happy with any of the Knit and Nibble group gossiping and putting their noses where they do not belong. I appreciate them feeling chastened. I enjoyed another cat being introduced into Pamela's household and liked how she was slowly endoctrinated into the household.

The mystery kept me guessing. I needed the explanation at the end. People are people and realistic in this story. The story line is also realistic. I look forward to the next book. ( )

Knitty Gritty Murder is the seventh Knit & Nibble cozy featuring a happy-to-be-single Pamela Paterson and her best friend, Bettina, who is a reporter for the local newspaper. Author Peggy Ehrhart paints vivid scenes with her use of color, and the comforting rituals her main characters take part in make readers feel right at home.

Pamela is comfortable in her own skin and really doesn't feel the need to be paired up with a man no matter how hard Bettina pushes her. In fact, the whole subject of romance for Pamela really isn't necessary. This makes me wonder if there are any cozy mystery series being written in which the protagonist is happily single and everyone else is content to leave her that way? Pamela, who is widowed, has a daughter away at college who occasionally irritates me by trying to boss her mother around. (Kids these days! I dunno...) She also works for a magazine that allows Ehrhart to introduce some fascinating topics on various fiber arts. It's unfortunate that the magazine does not exist because I would subscribe to it.

If you're in the mood for good people doing the right thing, for tasty food, colorful knitting projects, a fairytale-like hometown, and a nice little mystery to solve, by all means, pick up Knitty Gritty Murder and all the rest of the Knit & Nibble mysteries.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) ( )

friendship, murder, murder-investigation, knitting, gardening, law-enforcement, small-town, new-jersey, cozy-mystery*****

Murder by circular knitting needle in the garden! The group of friends and neighbors in the Knit and Nibble have done sleuthing before and do well again this time. I like the recurring characters as much as the whodunit. Good series!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )

A knitty Gritty Murder is the 7th book in the Series by Peggy Ehrhart.

What a wonderful story involving a group of knitters and a community of gardeners but when one of the gardeners is murdered with a circular knitting needle,
Pamela and Bettina are quick to get involved to solve the murder. But as the female sleuths dig further into the garden community to prove a fellow knitter was not the guilty person, they find secret after secret in the community garden.
I laughed, second guessed myself of whodunnit and actually got a little hungry with all the wonderful foods that were mentioned in details.
I loved the this book, the personality of each person, a little romance and the humor!

I requested and received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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