17 September 2009

200 word review: 'Died in the Wool' by Mary Kruger

‘”A body in a yarn shop.” He snorted. “Sounds like a bad mystery novel.”’

Well, I must give Mary Kruger credit – at least she’s honest. This is a bad mystery novel.

Ariadne Evans opens her yarn shop one morning to find an old, wealthy and unpopular lady on the floor, murdered with a garrotte made of her best friend’s hand-spun yarn. Nice. The detective who comes to investigate just happens to be handsome, brooding and a good cook. It couldn’t get much cornier – but somehow it does. The dialogue is cheesy, the constant descriptions of people’s appearance reminded me of creative writing lessons in primary school, and the whole premise just seemed bizarre to me.

It’s a harmless enough novel, a no-brainer that you don’t have to think about too much. But I’m afraid I’ve read better no-brainers. I’m sure that the combination of knitting and murder mystery would appeal to a lot of women, just not me. Perhaps I would have actually got caught up in the plot had I not accurately predicted the murderer about halfway through.

There is one good thing to come out of this novel, though – it inspired me to try designing a cardigan myself!

Next book review: 'Lesley Castle' by Jane Austen

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