I saw this was a new cozy mystery series featuring yarn and yarn crafting and was super excited. Cozy mystery is a genre I want to get into, but I find some series with dozens of books daunting, and I also knit and crochet. This should have been a perfect jumping in place for me.

Unfortunately, I just really didn’t like the book. Most of the characters are one-dimensional and Annie Sara, the main character, is extremely passive. Literally the only decision she made for herself was “I want to see the property my uncle left me before I sell it.” Her father wants to sell it as soon as she’s looked at it. She agrees to that. However, once she’s there, she agrees with the people of the town to maybe fix the yarn store up a bit before selling it. Then when she goes to see a real estate agent who talks her into more extensive work on the school house, saying it would make the building more sellable. It even comes down to an antique shop owner easily talking her into mismatched chairs, tables, and teacups making the space more sellable and the handyman who owns a gardening space getting her to put in a garden for the tea shop space she’s putting in the yarn shop. He even brought the plants on the chance that she wanted them, even though he lives down the street and it would have been basically no time going to get them if she agreed. It feels like they know they can get her to do whatever they really want. There’s even more weirdness if I got into spoiler territory.

I also don’t understand her and Gray’s relationship. Gray is the spoiled rich girl that she’s basically been assigned to babysit for the past twenty-sone years. I wasn’t excited when Gray ends up in the small town, although she does experience growth at a rapid pace, but Annie Sara ends up saying she sees Gray as a sister, when she’s basically never had any nice thoughts about Gray except that she understands that Gray’s mother is not a nice person to her. When Gray ends up having feelings for a character from the town, Annie Sara just thinks about what she should do to break them up in a way that really makes it sound like she sees Gray as a small child or many a pet she’s pet sitting. It really doesn’t seem like she sees Gray as her own person, let along a sister, even after deciding to be completely on Gray’s side.

With Gray came a lot of food insecurity stuff too that felt really out of place for a book that is supposed to be “cozy.” Gray’s movie star movie mother sees Gray as a reflection of herself, so she wants Gray to lose weight and make another try at modeling. Gray is sent along extremely small meals to subsist on and Annie Sara is supposed to be her keeper for this. It’s not handled well, even if ultimately the idea is that it’s a bad thing. Gray is constantly hungry for a few days, while Annie Sara also starts to eat less so she’s not eating a full or delicious meal right in front of Gray. Every meal is explained in exactly how little they eat and how Annie Sara just wants something from the bakery. If you have any sort of issue with disordered eating, I would not pick up this book.

Finally, Annie Sara, our protagonist in a mystery novel, is just kind of uninterested in the mystery? The owner before her uncle died by being strangled by her own yarn, a thing the reader knows from the back of the book and the book doesn’t get to until like, halfway through. The most she does is ask questions about what happened, but otherwise she just goes along with getting her yarn shop in order. At 75% she’s still reminding herself that the previous owner’s death isn’t any of her business and goes on with her day. She really doesn’t do anything to actually solve the mystery. The mystery also didn’t really have many clues for the reader to be able to figure it out, but I think that goes with Annie Sara being so passive in pretty much everything.

The book also does a weird thing with the writing, where it will often just tell you what a character said instead of using dialogue. So instead of something like ‘Josh said “The chair is blue.” It will be ‘Josh told me about the chair being blue.’ It was usually something that could have easily and more smoothly been said in dialogue. The dialogue was also a little stilted sometimes, usually when a character didn’t speak with contractions, making everything sound overly formal.

Overall, this book obviously wasn’t for me. Other people might find it better, but I can’t really recommend it.

Summary: Annie Sara Hart lives in California and works hard to keep her celebrity boss (and her father, a talent agent) happy. When a relative leaves her a property in his will, she is very curious to see what she owns. When Annie arrives in the quaint town of Franklin, Indiana, she discovers that she owns a former heritage schoolhouse turned yarn shop. She is charmed and decides to work on it to make it saleable. In the interim, she finds joy in small-town life, friendship, and a swirl of intrigue around the former owner of the yarn shop, who was mysteriously murdered there.

Thoughts: This novel has the makings of a charming cozy mystery series. Annie Sara is a likeable amateur detective who finds herself surprised to enjoy small-town life and owning her own business. At first I didn’t know if I would like the addition of Gray, Camille’s daughter, to the storyline but they make a fun duo, with sister vibes. There is a hint of potential romance in there as well, quite sweet with Gray and Officer Cooper. However any potential romance between Annie and Matt needs a little more warmth to make it believable. And of course Jack the problem-solving cat is a crowd-pleaser. I found the ending a little abrupt and off-putting, but otherwise this is a novel that will please cozy mystery fans.

I’m probably the target audience for this book: I knit/crochet, I love a cozy mystery. I’m so here for a clever TV/movie reference. I have a lot in common with the protagonist, at least on the surface. But even with the home court advantage, so to speak, this book was hard for me to get into.

The narrator, Annie Sara, doesn’t have a distinct voice and isn’t likeable - we don't even get a basic physical description of her in the opening chapter, beyond a cursory overview of what she usually likes to wear. Her introduction in the narrative is entirely focused on how much cooler/better she is than her friend, “the epitome of a privileged L.A. celebrity offspring.” Her movements and decisions feel aimless; she takes the path of least resistance in every situation. Everything just seems to conveniently happen to her, including but not limited to a yarn store, a cottage, and a cat. What little backstory we do get feels rote, flat, and unimaginative.

The narrative drags in so many places, with irrelevant details, while avoiding giving us any meaningful insight into the personality of Annie Sara, who is supposed to be our POV character. So, so much telling rather than showing. For example, I was confused when Annie Sara mentioned she’d been having a “flirty” conversation with a character, when nothing said was even remotely flirtatious, she hadn’t talked about him being attractive to her in any way, and there weren’t many indicators of tone or descriptions of body language, etc, to serve as context cues. Similarly, we are told halfway through the book that Gray is Annie Sara's surrogate sister of sorts - did not get that vibe at all from their interactions.

Everyone in the town is a “classic” small-town stereotype. Police officers say things like “Come out with your hands up” and “that doesn’t compute, ma’am”. There’s a hippie lady who smudges. There’s a kindly baker raising a kid with Down Syndrome who has “the world’s sunniest smile.” Etc.

Last but not least, I had a hard time feeling sympathy for the murder victim, or getting invested in the mystery - much like the protagonist herself.

This is a new series for Betty Hechtman. Annie works retail in an upscale California baby store owned by a famous movie star and her daughter Gray. Sarah Annie ( can we just give her one name, both sound too awkward), is left a yarn shop by her deceased uncle on a Great Lake. Before selling she wants to visit the shop, but one of her jobs is also keeping Gray happy and serene. Deciding to visit anyway she learns the shop has a lot of potential and the previous owner before her uncle was murdered. Gray, not able to be without Annie comes out to help her, and they try to solve the murder.
The characters, especially the periphery ones are enjoyable and varied but the two main characters set my teeth on edge. In their forties they are both still afraid to stand up to their respective parents and they run their lives. Nothing is worse than a woman who won’t stand up for herself. Especially at this age. It was a big turnoff for me with this mystery.

#DeathAmongtheStitches #NetGalley is the first in a new series by one of my favorite authors.
When Annie Hart learns of an inheritance, she's quite excited to see what she owns.
Annie's role in life is being a gopher to whatever need her talent agent to the stars has.
This inheritance sparks excitement in her life, and she can't wait to see what's in store for her next.
I enjoyed this book and I love that the characters are so easy to like.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

This book was full of cozy small town vibes! The writing style felt a little off to me… some of the chapters ended very abruptly and there needed to be a page break between thoughts or different activities (i.e. the mom character leaving the school house and going into town).

The character development of both characters was nice! I would have liked to see more self realization in Gray, rather than her just saying she liked gardening and just going along with Sarah Annie. The comments about her eating and weight could have been handled better. I know that both characters didn’t totally agree with the meal plan, but they never really voiced it. It would have been nice if healthy relationships with food and eating were at least mentioned. I would have loved if she had a stand up to her mother moment at the end.

The mystery was well thought out and did come together nicely. The author made you suspect lots of different characters in the book until we reached the final reveal! I did have my suspicions about Alec, but I wouldn’t have guessed it until the end.

Overall a fairly easy read! Just could use some refinement on the tone and layout of the book.

That's was such a good enjoyable cozy little story. Yes, there was a murder mystery but it was low stakes for most of it, while still managing to keep me intrigued.

It was really sweet to see two girls make their own way, meet friends in a new place, and develop their bond outside of their parents.

The writing was really good and did a great job depicting the house. I've never fallen in love with a house I couldn't see before, and I was jealous of her inheriting the school house! There were some issues with rhythm due to fairly consistent sentence length, that made it a bit more difficult to stop and enjoying what I was reading.

--Minor Spoilers Below--

I would've liked a little bit more showing rather than telling, about them being sisters instead of a job, and a more thought out conclusion about what they were gonna do about their parents not wanting them to stay, considering they spent the whole lives listening to them, this seemed like a big aspect not to include. I get finally breaking free, but there was like zero thought, and it ended very abruptly. I actually checked a couple times to see if my version was missing some pages.
Maybe a page about how the parents are happy their girls finally found something of their own, and they apologize for being so overbearing. Or the girls cutting them off and going out on their own. Either would've gone a long way to making it feel like a more rounded conclusion. And a little hint at having a date set up with Matt wouldn't hurt either..

I love the book. It's a good first book in a series. Hopefully there will be more books to come. No bodies found but a murder mystery to who killed Eleanor the previous owner of the yarn shop. I recommend it as a good read..

~Cozy, Crochet, Small-town, Murder-Mystery, and more!~

Death Among the Stitches is a cozy crochet themed murder mystery following Annie Hart. After inheriting a yarn shop from her late uncle, Annie is headed to a small town in Franklin, Indiana, to check the place out and sell it as soon as possible so she can get back to her real-life responsibilities. Those responsibilities include babysitting her father's clients adult daughter, Gray. Making sure she sticks to her diet plan, listening to constant breakdowns, and helping her run her shop. So when Annie arrives in Franklin and realizes the place needs more time and money than she has, she makes a deal and gets financial help from Grays mother in exchange for keeping her daughter in check. As the renovation goes on, Annie realizes all isn't as it seems in the small town; the previous owner before her uncle was murdered in the shop. With the case gone cold, Annie is fine leaving it alone until she starts receiving threatening messages. Will the truth come out before anyone else is hurt?

2.5| The was a fast read. I did enjoy aspects of it, but sadly found it as a whole disappointing. The whole thing, especially the end, felt unfinished. The pacing was odd; the first part of the book doesn't have much going on, and then, in the very end, everything happens with not enough time to wrap it up properly, making the ending feel abrupt. The premise is fun; as someone who loves to crochet, I was excited to read a crochet-themed book, but the jokes were cringy and overly juvenile for my taste. I also think if you went into this book without any knowledge of crochet or knitting, you would be lost at certain parts. The writing itself was way more causal than I would have preferred. This book is marked as a murder mystery, but Annie never does any actual investigating, which is a letdown. I did enjoy some of the characters, my favorite being Toby, who was very endearing. Though I do think there are far too many names in this book, while it helps establish the small-town vibe, it also made me feel overwhelmed and confused. I love a good atmospheric read, but the descriptions of scenery here were out of place and far too long.

I needed more depth in this book. There were so many potential avenues to be explored, for example Gray's constant pressure to fit her mother's standards or Annies tense relationship with her father. So much could have been done to further explore these points while also adding context to why Annie and Gray act and feel the way they do. I honestly felt like this book should have been focused on Gray, not Annie. She was by far the more interesting character and seemed to have so much more backstory that wasn't explored. In fact, I actually found Annie a tad unlikable. For someone she says she sees as a little sister, she is quite awful to Gray. Inforcing her diet and disregarding her feelings. She follows her father's orders without question. While her attitude does change eventually, it was upsetting to see. As for the murder mystery aspect, it was a letdown. I enjoy a surprise murderer, but in this case, it was too unpredictable. I like being able to figure out the killer, but here, there were no clues, so it came as a total blind side. It just didn't seem very well thought out at times.

Overall, this is a quick and easy read. Besides the abrupt ending, it is not half bad. I did enjoy reading it, but it's not very memorable or something I would ever pick up again. I think the characters and town have potential. It's a good book to pick up if you want something mindless; just don't expect much depth.

I can't stop reading! I had to tear myself away from the book to take care of my mom duties, that's how hooked I am. Every page is a mystery and I can't stop turning them. The ending totally satisfied me. I always judge a book based on my feelings at the time, and let me tell you, this one left a lasting impression. I may forget the characters' names, but the feelings this book stirred up will linger for a long time. Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book was pretty good! I think this book was a little bit juvenile, and it was pretty cheesy at times. I do like how it had a bit of mystery in it, but some of the twists and turns were pretty predictable, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!