Bea Reviews Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum

Series: Seaside Knitters Mystery #10
Publisher: NAL
Source: owned by the reviewer
Release Date: November 3, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

All Izzy Chambers Perry wants for Christmas is to keep her brother out of jail—in this holiday yarn from the national bestselling author of A Finely Knit Murder…

In Sea Harbor the holidays mean cozy fires, festive carols, and soft skeins of yarn waiting to become hats and sweaters and scarves.  And this year Izzy and the other Seaside Knitters are also knitting tiny ornaments to decorate a tree for the first annual tree-trimming contest.

Their holiday cheer is multiplied when Izzy's younger brother, Charlie Chambers, unexpectedly arrives to volunteer at a local clinic.  He brings with him outspoken hitchhiker Amber Hanson, who is returning to Sea Harbor to claim an inheritance.  She quickly reacquaints herself with the area--and forms an unlikely friendship with Charlie.  But their bond is shattered when her body is found beneath the undecorated trees on the Harbor Green.

With Charlie a suspect in the murder, Izzy and her fellow knitters step in to uncover the truth.  It's only by peeling away long-buried secrets that they can hope to restore joy to the season, and enjoy the shining lights of the newly decorated trees.

Bea's Thoughts:

This was my first story by Goldenbaum but I'll be looking for more in this series.

"Trimmed with Murder" is a cozy mystery but with more depth than often found in cozies. Goldenbaum takes her time setting up the details, the events, and the people. Slowly and carefully she builds her world and lures you in. The characters are rich, complex, and believably flawed. The setting is a fictional town set in a real region about an hour north of where I live and it felt genuine. I could picture the area clearly even though I haven't driven up there in years. The story is somewhat slow in that the murder doesn't occur early on but is about a hundred pages in. This a slow, thoughtful story full of quiet family drama and foibles that teeters on soap opera at times but never tips over; there are several story threads that converge. The relationships are essential to the story and though this is the tenth book in the series, it worked perfectly as a stand-alone. The mystery itself kept me guessing until near the end. There was no lack of suspects, and the involvement of the civilians in the investigation was sensible. It was family and friends looking out for and helping each other.