Molly Pink is a widow who worked for her husband's PR firm. Now she works at a bookstore as an event coordinator. She's also a member of the Tarzana Hookers, a group of women who crochet items for charity. As a novice crocheter, she's also the target of sarcastic remarks from Adele, another bookstore worker who dislikes Molly because she got the job that Adele wanted. One morning another crocheter named Sheila shows up miserable because she'd been crocheting beautiful scarves and giving them to a shop across the street for consignment. It turns out that the old owner had passed away, and her nephews took over the shop; one of the brothers refused to give her the set upon price telling her that they weren't selling as well.

Sheila needs the money to make ends meet as she doesn't make enough working at a gym and is staying in a woman's home in return for part-time babysitting. So the women agree to come with her for moral support while she demands the full amount owed her. So they all head over to the Cottage Shoppe and wait for an opening. After talking with Drew, Sheila comes downstairs disheartened that he laughed at her. But then they hear a woman's scream and all run up to his office and find him dead. While Sheila is afraid that the police suspect her, and no one seems to be looking in any other direction, Molly knows she can't abandon her friend. Especially when they tell Sheila that she'll find the killer. Now, Molly's in the middle of a situation she can't get out of: she needs to find a killer and keep her homicide detective boyfriend from finding out about it. And, of course, the killer, who might be closer than she thinks...

This is the second book in the series and is a bit of an improvement over the first, but still there were things that bothered me. I just can never get over the fact that amateur sleuths think it's perfectly fine to go snooping into homes and offices and they never seem to get caught, no matter what they do. It's rather uncomfortable to read about. Then, I wondered why Barry showed up when Molly and Dinah were suspected of being robbers. Isn't he a homicide detective? Why would he show up? He wouldn't even have been notified since there was no dead body.

Aside from that, it was a decent book. There weren't a whole lot of clues to the murderer, which was fine; but the worst thing is Adele. I really, really dislike her as a person. She's what I call the 'evil nemesis,' and it's just not needed in a book. What's worse is the fact that she's trying to take over Molly's job, and Molly's okay with that. She doesn't even see what Adele's really doing. Either Molly has no backbone or she's just numb altogether.

Then there's her relationship with Barry. She's sleeping with him, but wants a casual relationship, knowing that he wants more. She's allowing him into her life which is giving him hope (he wants to marry her) but she's not figured anything out. You know, if you find a nice guy and don't snap him up, someone else will eventually. I got tired of her playing games with Barry and Mason, even though we're given a hint in the end.

All in all, the murder itself wasn't bad, and everything came together nicely in the end, and I really did like the way it all tied together. So, saying that, I will continue with this series and hope that it improves over time. ( )

When one of the hookers gets paid less for her handmade scarves than was first agreed upon, she confronts the store owner. Her courage comes from the hookers who stand behind her. And when the store owner is found murdered, the hookers, mostly Molly with Dinah’s help, endeavor to find the real killer, thus stopping the suspicion that surrounds their friend. The book is an entertaining and quick read. The characters are lively and well thought out, and the plot is intriguing enough to keep readers flipping the pages. ( )

I thought something was fishy about the culprit. Next please. ( )

Molly heads over to a consignment shop with her friend Sheila, a quite timid person, who is finding herself at odds with the new owners. When he ends up face down in a bowl of soup, Sheila becomes a suspect because her scarf is on the desk and because she had handled the paperweight on the desk while talking to the man. No one in the stitching group believes Sheila is capable of murder. Taking her cues from The Average Joe's Guide to Criminal Investigation, Molly sets out to investigate, completely ignoring her detective boyfriend's warnings. There are some humorous moments in the investation. As in the first book in the series, Molly's boyfriend removes himself from the case because she was present at the time of the crime. A light, but pleasant read. ( )

"Crime Scene Groupie" Molly Pink (bookstore manager) seems to frequently be in the wrong place at the wrong time but mainly because she's just trying to help a friend. In this second installment of the Crochet mysteries, Molly goes to the Cottage Shoppe to support her friend Sheila who is having troubles with the new owner of the consignment shop that handles her scarves and blankets. When that owner turns up drown in his tomato bisque soup shortly after a private confrontation between Sheila and the deceased, Molly sets out to find the true murderer before Sheila is slapped in jail by Molly's rival Detective GIlmore.

The murder mystery is fun and entertaining as well as the characters getting into hilarious predicaments. The subplot rivalries/family-dating issues definitely give you a good chuckle. This series could get to be addicting! ( )