Hounds of the Basket Stitch

At the start of Canadeo’s gentle 11th Black Sheep and Company mystery (after 2018’s Purls and Poison), yarn shop owner Maggie Messina and her band of avid knitters visit the Plum Harbor, Mass., home of sisters Holly and Rose Piper, who are eager to learn some basic stitches. Fifteen years earlier, the sisters were involved in a car accident, and Rose, who was 14 at the time, suffered a head trauma that left “a large part of her personality... frozen in adolescence.” In recent months, though, Rose has made progress. When Emily Curtis, one of the doctors treating Rose, dies, the police assume Emily accidentally overdosed on drugs or committed suicide. Suspecting murder, Maggie once again turns amateur sleuth. Meanwhile, the knitters talk about dogs, what they’re going to have for dinner, and what’s going on in Plum Harbor. Never mind the mystery solving—the pleasure of this book lies in the familiar relationships among Maggie and friends. Cozy readers who are fond of knitting will be amply rewarded. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (Nov.)