DNF at 57%

I gave this a good college try. Inasmuch as I LOVED the small town and the yarn shop including all the extras, the story is flat as Kansas. I thought this was a cozy mystery, over halfway in and there’s not a lot of investigating or any other serious threats to Annie’s life or business. Instead we keep reading about her renovations, plan to sell, and now baby sitting her boss’ daughter. Interesting tangle to the story, but it’s not improving it.

The writing is easy to follow, the descriptions are clear, the characters have potential, but the plot needs a lot of work.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a good mystery to solve and it has some really good characters. I just couldn’t put it down.

I would recommend this book if you like a good mystery.

I would like to thank Severn House and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book early.

Sadly I had to DNF this around 30%, due to my own squicks. I typically go out of my way to avoid cozy mysteries that feature pets, and between the cover art and description, this one seemed all clear. It actually heavily features a cat, in fact, an almost magical mind reading cat. I wouldn’t have requested the arc if I had know

Up until that point I was rather enjoying this. I liked Annie, and the set up of her getting to find her own identity away from her crappy dad was nice. It also felt like Grey was set up to be flawed, but humanized as someone with a pretty dysfunctional (and frankly, abusive) family life. (Caveat of course that I don’t know what actually happens with Grey’s arc, obviously, but I could easily see it leading to her breaking away from her awful mom and also finding her own identity alongside Annie)

I was a bit blindsided by the amount of unhealthy dieting and disordered eating talk there was in the ~70 pages I read. It’s in the context of Grey being the daughter of a famous actress, so it’s not UNrealistic, but again the summary is all about someone inheriting a yarn store in a small town. Not... Hollywood toxicity. So I didn’t expect it.

The the knit night group in Franklin was very wholesome and sweet. They all seemed so supportive of each other; peak escapist fantasy of a small town story. (Again again, maybe they all turned out to be secret awful people later but I did skip to the end and that didn’t seem like the vibe)

I’m sure this is a lovely start to a cozy series, assuming you’re down for cat supporting characters.

A fun, cozy mystery story with a minimum amount of drama and crime. A cute, fun story of friendship, romance, and finding yourself mixed with some familiar cozy mystery tropes. Also includes a smart cat which is a fun addition!

Crafting Cozy Mystery about a newly inherited yarn and tea shop owner who finds herself turning sleuth to uncover the truth behind the death of the shop's previous owner.

3/5 stars: This is the first entry in Hechtman's Crochet & Crumpets Mystery series which is a Crafting Cozy Mystery that takes place in Indiana and features a California crochet enthusiast who has recently inherited yarn and tea shop in a small town as she finds herself turning sleuth to uncover the truth behind the shop's previous owner's murder. With plenty of twists and turns, Hechtman has crafted a mystery that balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Heartfelt and humorous, Hechtman's writing and character work are great; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Annie Sarah's great and it's nice to see her come into her own. Additionally, it's nice getting to know Gray, the local yarn artists who frequent the shop and the Franklin townsfolk. Oh and there's a great white Persian cat named Jack, who adopts Annie Sarah. Hechtman touches on some sensitive topics; so take care and check the CWs. This is a great start to a new series and I look forward to reading more.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Severn House in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for a fair and frank review.

This book was amazing and I read it in one go. It follows Gray who has recently inherited an old building in France. Gray restores the house and the community are over joyed. Grace finally finds a place for herself making friends and putting down roots properly for the first time.

Beautiful and well written and loved the characters so much.

I loved this cozy little mystery. It was a quick and easy read. I did figure out the murderer but not until late in the book. I enjoyed the main characters and would look forward to continuing stories from this small town.

Even tough this is a slow paced story I didn't want to put it down. I like the writing style, the likeable characters, the well written storyline, … It"s not really what I would call a murder mystery but it's good. This is a nice start of a new series and I'm already looking forward to the next book.
I received an advance review copy via NetGalley/Severn House and I'm leaving a voluntary and honest review.

Death Among the Stitches I think is a good first book in a series. I love the small-town setting, and I loved that she just wanted something for herself, especially with all she does for her father, and being a kind of caretaker for this a-listers daughter.

When Annie arrived to find her new little yarn shop I was smitten with it right away, it's such a cute little shop, along with Jack the cat who seems to know where to find whatever you're looking for. I thought the mystery of who killed Eleanor took a back seat to learning about the town, and Annie making friends, we didn't get too much of it up until almost the end when the killer was revealed. But I didn't mind that so much because I really liked learning about the town and its citizens and having Annie become more confident surrounded by people who have become her friends.

The only part I had a bit of an issue with was her relationship with her father, his client, and the client's daughter Gray. I kept waiting for her to stand up for herself when dealing with them, instead, she takes money from the client to fix up her shop and ends up babysitting Gray the client's grown-ass daughter, whom up until this point she has said repeatedly that she resents having had to do since she was thirteen. I did end up liking Gray a bit more as the story progressed, But I didn't feel she was necessary to the plot of the story. I am hoping in the next book Annie will be able to stand up for herself and let those people taking advantage of her know how she feels.

As a whole I liked most of the characters, I loved the town and the yarn shop, and I have high hopes for what's going to happen with the upcoming books for this series.

87% and I have been -struggling- to finish these last few pages. I was going to DNF but out of guilt, and the need to know if anything changes my rating, I pushed through the last 10% of the book. I swear I'm not trying to be mean, this book started out strong and I had sky high hopes for it when I started it.

95% of the way through and we finally get something. PLEASE rework this book before releasing because the conclusion is SO FREAKING COOL!!!! I know there isn't much time, and I don't know what kind of time frames the publishing industry works on, but this whole premise is amazing. Scatter more hints throughout the book and make sure the reader can actually start to piece things together gradually instead of force feeding all the info at the end of the book. Please please please, because I'm reading the ending right now and it's shaping up to be AWESOME. If the book is reworked, I'll gladly re-read and adjust my rating accordingly!

TL;DR - characters are 2d, I'm getting details about the "wrong" things, character and interpersonal relationship development is weak, the book forgets to bring up the mystery consistently at all to the point that I forgot I was reading a mystery, and the magic cat stops showing up consistently or even being magic. :(

This book started out strong! Super cozy vibes. My "string art" of choice is embroidery but I can definitely relate to the feeling of crafting and especially crafting with a group of good vibe friends!! I loved Annie getting away from her responsibilities and finally owning something that is only hers. The beginning of the book was so great, she's in this cozy new home, with a cozy cottage that sounds so beautiful to live in.

When Liv visits, she smudges the building with sage, which sounds a whole lot like a (to my knowledge) Native American closed practice. There was no mention of Liv's ethnicity that I can recall right now, but they way she was described sounded to me like she is a white hippie lady. In case she is white, there are other ways to cleanse a space without appropriating a culture, such as using incense, my favorite and a popular one is Dragon's Blood.

She also brings this cat, who ends up living there. His name is Jack, and I love him! I love that he is a cute little mind reading fluffball! However, he shows up and does extraordinary feats and then we just don't hear from or about him as much, if at all. Also, I thought it was strange that they think cats get more attached to places than people. I haven't been able to find any claims that back that belief up, so I don't know if this was something made up for this book to make it make sense as to why he should stay there, or what but that little bit of weird misinformation bothered me.

I think I would have liked this a lot more had Jack maybe been more involved. Maybe that sounds silly, but he could gradually get more and more attached to Annie, wanting to be near her. it would make sense for the end for him to be more prevalent throughout the book.

Ok I'm going to be reaching in to Spoiler Sections here, so BE WARNED

*****POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD*****

I am so extremely frustrated that after finding a place that just belongs to her, the -second- she is offered money to babysit Gray, she says yes without even a second thought. There was no internal conflict or struggle with giving up the only thing you've ever had that only belonged to you???? How!?! This bothers me to absolutely no end, and this also marks where I started to struggle to continue with this book.

I wanted Annie to have something on her own!

Of course I kept reading, for a short moment I thought maybe we were getting a sapphic romance, and Annie and Gray could have a relationship based on finding their own freedom from their parents. That was an exciting thought, but it soon became clear that was not going to happen. Instead we are told that they're supposed to have a sisterly relationship, which shocks me. First of all - SHOW, don't tell. The way their feelings are portrayed for each other are so far from sisterly. Annie is constantly acting like Gray is some vapid princess type that she clearly holds a lot of disdain for, On top of the fact that she is using Gray for money to finish the only thing she's ever owned all on her own before she can give it up forever.

I wrote notes while reading because at some point I was getting angry at this book. Annie's thoughts are so compartmentalized. Normal humans have mixed thoughts and feelings and emotions that all flow together, but Annie is either hating on Gray OR loving Gray. There is no internal conflict or blending of her feelings, and this compartmentalization is consistent in every area of her inner thoughts, and it is grinding and frustrating to read. I read this as an e-book but for some reason wrote the page number, pg 119 Annie is trouble that Gray has a date with Cooper and claims to have a "soft spot" for her, but also she wants to follow Camille's orders to starve her. (I have a huge problem with this, too, but we'll get to that) She keeps caring and then not caring about the diet and rather than expressing this as internal conflict she just switches on and off like a light switch and it is very jarring.

When they all went to have dinner at (Matt's house, Matt and Annie absolutely could have helped with dishes. So saying, "well that leaves these two with nothing to do" felt unnatural. You're telling me there was zero cleaning that could have been done? Or, they even could have just gone off together without needing to bring up a reason for it. That's allowed, it's ok to let the reader's come to their own conclusions sometimes.

Also this sentence "The dining table was in front of a window that looked out on the back of the property. It looked as if it was ready to be planted with something." I had to read this sentence 5+ times to understand that you meant the property looked ready to be planted with something. I did read this to other people and ask for them to tell me what they thought looked ready to be planted and every single person looked at me, extremely confused, and said, "the.. table?" The subject of the first sentence is the table, not the property and this makes this quote extremely confusing and jarring to read.

I need there to be more blending of the characters' traits. Whenever Gray is described, only one trait is at a time is mentioned. I wish I had better words for this, but I feels like the characters are extremely two dimensional.

Annie and Gray -say- they're like sisters to each other, but they don't show it. We are just being told that they're like sisters and are expected to just believe it without them actually acting like it. The diet that Camille puts Gray on is abusive and would have been a great opportunity to have a conversation on the dangers of weight expectations in the industry, but the author just glossed over it entirely. The diet seemed extremely pointless and included for no reason, considering both characters just kinda don't stick to it. Annie continuously thinks about making Gray stick to it, but doesn't follow through and doesn't even have the decency to have real conflicting feelings over it.

There's zero rage for her "sister" being put on this horrendous "diet"!!! how?? If anyone did this to someone I loved, I'd be beside myself with anger! Gray has no internal conflict either. She breaks her "diet" without a second thought, when you would think this character would have some kind of conflict over disappointing her mom. She resents her mom enough, but there's nothing real happening on the inside.

Now, some of these scenes gave us erroneous details and it started to feel like the author was just trying to meet a word count or something. Frustratingly, I had to read a list of items in Annie's purse, but when the car got towed, I wasn't told at all what they did to fix it -this- time. They specific sentence was " I ordered her to stay put and got into the fixed SUV." You told me every item in her purse but glossed over entirely how the car was fixed? Was it a permanent fix this time? Or another temp one? Did the mechanic even say anything to Annie?

Annie is Camille and Bryan's tool to keep Gray from being allowed to have any autonomy. "make sure she (an adult) can't date this guy she's interested in" I let the people who I think of as sisters have autonomy over their lives, idk why Annie doesn't think Gray needs to be allowed that or why she doesn't at all try to support her. Simply not telling Bryan and Camille about her dating Cooper, is not supporting her dating him, and not supporting her autonomy.

Another weird moment was having to read that Jed brought his truck over to Annie's place because it was too far a distance to walk with the supplies. I can ascertain myself from context clues that he wouldn't want to carry all his supplies the whole way there, not to mention the fact that he was just dropping stuff off and then running errands anyway? At this point, I was really feeling like reading this had become a chore. I'm not getting story and substance, I am mundane, unimportant details that aren't giving anything to the story.

And then why does Jed suggest putting a sink outside the "Powder Room"??? We were told Annie calls the restroom a powder room because it sounds better to her, and this suggests that there isn't a sink -inside- the restroom??????

I entirely forgot this was meant to be a mystery, and by the time we finally get on to that at all were about 75% of the way through the book, and Annie is still not interested in it herself.

Matt. Matt matt matt matt maaaaaatt. Really took his daughter to Annie's store. and then said he wanted the day to be him and his daughter???? Sir, you don't take your daughter to see the woman you're trying to date(???) Not that it looks like he and Annie are flirting anywhere at all. I am once again being told that that's happening, but not shown. During this scene, Annie offends Bethany, but the author doesn't tell me how Bethany reacted to what Annie said, that's some detail I would have been interested. Again, rather than the contents of Annie's purse. And then Matt makes himself even less likeable by saying "no body appreciates the nice guys." I instantly did not want anything to do with him. My eyes rolled so hard they nearly fell out of their sockets. And there are plenty of ways to say that there are people who like nice guys without flirting, Annie.

So Annie then decides she is going to pick between Bryan and Camille or Gray, and she chooses Gray! I was so excited but there was still a lack of any actual internal debate or struggle and then we find out she didn't *actually* choose Gray, she just chose to put off restricting Gray's life choices until later.

-When- did Gray and Hannah become such besties?!?!?! I have so many details that I desperately don't need and no character or relationship building happening and it's driving me insane! Annie, at some point, activated the card service?

I have even more thoughts, but I feel like this review has gone on long enough to show that I gave this book the most honest shot I could. I'm still going to force myself through these last few pages but the final 10% of the book is not going to change all of these thoughts I've had.

Also the Jack isn't doing any more magic cat stuff and that bothers me. :( (I decided to push through the rest of the book real quick before posting this, and Jack could do a hell of a lot more damage than just swishing his tail in front of the attackers face. I would suggest adding some more there, look into cat attacks, because they are brutal and terrifying. No one would be able to do what the attacker tried to do, if a cat was legit attacking them. They'd be thrashing and panicking a lot more. It would still have the same effect but be a bit more realistic. The way it's written is very bland and short and I was so pulled in to it that when it ended I was disappointed it wasn't described in more detail, this is a great part to draw out a bit and create more suspense!!!

Annie Hart, daughter of Bryan Hart - talent agent to the stars - spends her life getting roped into whatever new task her father needs her to do for his VIP clients. So when she inherits a yarn shop in the small Indiana town of Franklin, she is curious to see what it feels like to have something that is solely hers!

But when her arrival is greeted by the local law enforcement, Annie senses things are not quite as they seem in this idyllic town . . . everyone knows everybody in Franklin yet when it comes to the death of the shop's previous owner, nobody seems sure of anything!

Annie soon discovers that Eleanor Danton was in fact murdered, strangled with her own yarn . . . invigorated by her need to find out the truth, and feeling somehow at home with the friendly bunch of local yarn artists who frequent the shop, she sets out to finding the killer. Much can be achieved over a cuppa and a yarn . . .

Love it. Will recommend to others.

Annie Sara has inherited a yarn shop in Franklin, Indiana, and for the first time in her life she has something that is all her own. After a lifetime of doing someone else's bidding - her father's, the famous Camille's, or Camille's daughter's - Annie is going to be doing her own thing, making her own decisions. She'll make a quick trip to Franklin, clean up the old schoolhouse a bit, and then sell it and go home. Or will she?

I've read other books by Betty Hechtman but the reason I picked up this one is because it takes place in Franklin, Indiana, a picturesque town south of Indianapolis... except it doesn't. It takes place in the fictional town of Franklin, Indiana, near Lake Michigan. OK... well I love the small-town setting, and the area (in real life) is an amazing one with the sand dunes and the tempestuous climate.

There are some lovely characters, like Toby, the baker who literally could not be more charming; Liv, who is a bit of a hippy, nature-loving and artsy; and Dorothy, who's kind of a basket case you can't help but want to befriend. Annie Sara is a good main character, she's accepting and takes care of people, including the massively dependent Gray (famous Camille's useless daughter) who is initially incredibly annoying but kind of comes into herself alongside Annie Sara.

Throughout there were subtle digs, like the handyman Jed who won't write up a contract for his work because his word is good (and he probably can't read). The only people who didn't feel like they came fresh out of a brainwashing commune were the transplants from Chicago. It felt too much like another Californian looking down their nose at us ignorant, illiterate bumpkin Hoosiers and I found myself pretty offended several times.

One other thing I noticed about the book is that there wasn't really a mystery. There was a mysterious death, but the main character had only a vaguely passing interest in it and did no investigation. There was no gathering of suspects, no looking deeply into the circumstances of the death. No woolgathering (pun intended) with other characters. We do have a resolution in the end, and we find that clues were dropped throughout, but it felt a bit transparent and anti-climactic.

Yet somehow, despite these things, I actually enjoyed this book quite a lot. In fact, I would say this is my favorite book of Hechtman's of the half dozen or so I've read from both her other series. While I certainly do hope that Hechtman forms a better impression of Indiana between now and book two in this series, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the schoolhouse and all its many visitors and I will definitely read book two.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

A cosy crochet mystery. Annie inherits an old school house and yarn store from her uncle, and decides unclean it up and establish a tea room to make more of a profit when selling. Accompanying her is Gray, the daughter of a client of Annie's celebrity agent father. The women find themselves accepted by the local community, and they become entangled in the mystery of the death of the former owner of the school house. Can they successfully renovate before returning to LA, and can they help solve the mystery?

A nice start to the series, I liked Annie and Gray, along with the host of side characters. I loved the yarn group, and the potential romance threads will be interesting to explore. Saying that, Jack was my absolute favourite character - everyone needs a magic cat!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Betty Hechtman for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Death Among the Stitches coming out January 7, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoy this author! I was excited for this sewing cozy mystery. I thought Annie was a fun character. It’s always nice when the main character gets to live their dreams. I loved the small town vibes. It did feel like a lot of the story was being set up for future books. I’d definitely like to read more books in the future and hopefully they go further in depth with the amateur sleuthing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cozy sewing mysteries!

A nice start to a new cozy series that sees two women move from privileged lives in Malibu to a small town where they must run a business. And solve an old murder. Annie inherited a yarn shop and she's got to figure out what to do with it. Gray, who Annie has more or less taken care of for years decides to come with her and together they settle in and enjoy life even as they know there's a murderer out there somewhere. This has all the cozy feels- fish out of water, a yarn shop, a cat-but as it's the first one it feels a little scattered. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one.

I love the yarn/crafty theme! The book is slow-paced— not much happens—but it makes for a quick read. I found myself moving through it quickly, but this was really the only upside.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I like the main character. She feels flat, lacking depth and growth. She also doesn’t seem interested in the main plot—Eleanor’s death—until about 70% of the way through the book. For someone who is supposedly “invigorated by her need to find out the truth,” she sure doesn’t seem to care much. This made her character feel weird and boring.

I also didn’t like the storyline around Gray and her relationship with food. It feels extremely unhealthy and seems to be promoting an eating disorder, all while disguising it as a “diet.”

Overall, the book felt bogged down with mundane, day-to-day details and offered very little investigation or new information about Eleanor’s death. It became repetitive, with the same backstory about the Airbnb party and the constant “that’s for the next owner,” which made it feel tedious. The “reveal,” if you can even call it that, was both predictable and anticlimactic. I was hoping for something more engaging, something closer to an actual mystery, but ultimately I was disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC!

At first, I wasn’t sure about this book, especially with the rich girl from Malibu vibe, but once Annie heads to the small town to check out her inherited yarn shop, it got better. The mystery wasn’t super intense, but I loved the cozy setting, quirky characters, and watching Annie and Gray grow beyond their families' expectations. I expected a bit more mystery here!

Annie Sarah has inherited a yarn store in the Midwest and wants to see it before selling it. She lives in California and her dad is an agent to famous Hollywood stars. She’s always helped her dad, most particularly by helping Gray, the daughter of two Hollywood stars and her dad’s clients. Gray is needy and her mom forces her to live her dreams, without finding out what Gray would like to do.
The former owner of the yarn store was murdered and the store vandalized, so Annie Sarah has a lot of work to clean it in order to get a good price for it. Soon Gray has joined her and the two work on the shop together.
It’s fun to see the two work together and get a life away from the Hollywood fake and glitz. The ending is a little abrupt. I tried turning to the next page and was surprised to realize I was at the end.
Thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the ARC.

I am always less fond of books written in first person, so it took me a while to get into this one. My lifestyle is far enough from the Malibu rich-people world that it took me a while to connect with the main character or the people in her life. But, once she arrived in the small town in Illinois to check out the yarn shop her uncle left her in his will, I started liking this book more. I was annoyed that she would be so dead set against ditching her awful, superficial life in Malibu to run the yarn shop instead, but maybe I'd have a less negative impression of her life in Malibu if I read the rest of the series. I did really like the crochet element, which will be part of what draws me to read the rest of the books in the series. I do wish this book did the gimmick of including a pattern for a thing from the story, in this case maybe an amigurumi penguin. Overall, I enjoyed this book, and will recommend it to my mystery-reader friends.

Annie Hart, daughter of celebrity talent agent Bryan Hart, is accustomed to being swept up in her father’s work with high-profile clients. But when she unexpectedly inherits a yarn shop in the small town of Franklin, Indiana, she’s eager to experience life on her own terms and see what it’s like to have something that’s entirely hers.

However, her arrival quickly takes a dark turn when the local law enforcement greets her with questions about the mysterious death of the shop’s previous owner. In a town where everyone knows everyone, Annie realizes that nothing is as it seems. The townspeople are tight-lipped, and the more she digs into the case, the more she uncovers secrets that may be hidden beneath Franklin’s idyllic surface.