Died in the Wool

At the start of Kruger's pun-filled cozy, the first in a new series, Ariadne ""Ari"" Evans, the 29-year-old owner of Ariadne's Web (a knitting shop in Freeport, Mass.), is shocked to discover the body of a customer, Edith Perry, strangled with some of her best homespun yarn. How did the murderer enter the shop after hours? Who had keys? What was the motive? Determined to get the answers to these questions, Ari persuades detective Joshua Hayes to let her help in the investigation. Under suspicion are Ari's closest friend, a spinner, and her husband, who feared losing their farm because the victim's abutting land was under threat of development. Keeping the plot bubbling along are a host of small-town characters, including Ari's harassing ex-husband, an avaricious realtor, the local gossip, Edith's husband and ne'er-do-well son. An attack on Ari provokes her into action and, heedless of danger, she sets a trap for the killer with smashing results. Kruger is also the author of Death on the Cliff Walk and other titles in her Gilded Age mystery series.