A Dark and Stormy Knit

Canadeo’s mildly charming sixth knitting yarn (after 2013’s The Silence of the Llamas) finds the Black Sheep knitting group in the quiet town of Plum Harbor, Mass., caught up in events that start with vandalism and morph, once again, into murder. A secret activist group known as the Knit Kats has covered all the disputed parking meters on Main Street with knitted covers, something yarn shop owner Maggie Messina is ambivalent about, since the covers, while beautifully made, have somewhat sinister cat faces. Then Maggie’s assistant, Phoebe Meyers, becomes a suspect in the murder of a young woman after a fiber art show at the nearby college. But the real heart of this book is the weekly knitting group that meets at Maggie’s store to eat, exchange confidences, talk about men, do a little detecting, and, yes, knit. These women may be amateurs, but no one is pulling the wool over their eyes. Agent: Bob Mecoy, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency. (Jan.)