A Fatal Fleece: A Seaside Knitters Mystery

Near the start of Goldenbaum’s beguiling sixth knitting cozy set in Sea Harbor, Mass. (after 2011’s The Wedding Shawl), Birdie Favazza, grand dame of the Seaside Knitters, receives a surprise visit from her deceased husband’s brother, who’s accompanied by a granddaughter of Birdie’s she didn’t know existed, precocious 10-year-old Gabby Marietti. Gabby charms the whole town, but especially Finnegan, a reclusive, obstinate old fisherman living on valuable waterfront land that he has let go wild since his beloved wife’s death. When someone slashes Finnegan’s throat with a fishing knife, the people of the town hope that the killer was an argumentative vagrant, but the many locals who might have had an interest in Finn’s land become suspects. Goldenbaum offers credible characters, a mystery that’s uncomplicated without being too obvious, and the knitting content her fans demand in a very readable package. Agents: Christina Hogrebe and Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)