Unraveled

March 7, 2011
Agatha-finalist Sefton's warm ninth knitting mystery (after 2010's Skein of the Crime) finds Fort Collins, Colo., financial consultant Kelly Flynn turning for emotional support to her friends after breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Steve Townsend. One friend, realtor Jennifer Stroud, invites her to meet a new real estate client, Fred Turner, but when Kelly and Jen arrive at Fred's cabin on his ranch property, they discover him dead on the floor, an antique pistol by his side. The deceased, a homicide victim rather than a suicide as initially thought, had plenty of enemies, including a client of Kelly's. Kelly begins a search for the history of the gun in an effort to prove her client innocent. While details of Kelly's personal life, including chats with her knitting group at the House of Lambspun, slow the action early on, the pace picks up and leads to a surprising conclusion. Vivid descriptions of Colorado in early spring and credible characters are a plus.