Fleece Navidad is a Christmas-themed, Knitting Mystery cozy that I picked up at a book sale a few months ago. Set in a Colorado college town, the main character, Kelly, is determined to prove that newcomer Claudia is not a murdering gold-digger, and certainly didn’t kill her romantic rival.

The knitting crew at Lambspun have an addition when newcomer Claudia joins the group. Widowed three times due to accidents, Claudia decided it was time to make a fresh start by leaving behind her life in Florida. A flirtatious and friendly older woman, Claudia quickly joins clubs at the Senior Center in addition to the Lambspun knitters. Her incredulous background makes some of the knitters suspicious that maybe Claudia is a gold-digger after her next victim.

They aren’t the only ones who think this. Arriving shortly after Claudia is Sheila, Claudia’s former step-daughter. Sheila believes her father’s death, as well as those of Claudia’s two previous husbands, was no accident. She has been trailing Claudia from Florida and is set out to prove that Claudia is a murdering exploiter. It is soon discovered that Claudia already has a new man in her life, a wealthy professor. The professor was until recently, dating Juliet, a librarian nicknamed “Little Brown Wren” for her plainness. When the middle-aged librarian is found dead, the police have to investigate if this was an accident or an act of foul play.

The supporting characters in this story include Kelly’s friends and fellow knitters, a pair of elderly, spinster sisters, the owner of a fabric shop, a retired detective, and and rancher. If all that is too much information, the author provided a cast of characters page at the beginning of the book, which listed each character and gave a brief description. I did find myself referring back to it because details of the characters were left out of the story. I kept thinking, who was this person again? They all blended together in a mass of cliche dialogue. It felt forced, and was well..a bit cheesy. Their actions didn’t make them any more memorable and I mixed up several characters and their descriptions for the first 50 pages or so.

I had to take several breaks while reading this cozy. Instead of wanted to pick it up, it made me want to put it down. Even the lamb, who is the mascot for the Lambspun knitters, was disappointing. The inside cover promised the appearance of a lamb and she didn’t show up until the final third of the book and wasn’t helpful in solving the mystery or even comic relief, it just baaed and a few characters cooed, and rolled my eyes, hoping the story would get back to the mystery soon.

I expected more of a private setting of friends instead of a knitting shop as the main location of action. There was so much arguing among characters throughout the book for me to enjoy it and it felt like many of the characters were just filler. Some of the chapters were completely irrelevant, like when Kelly, her boyfriend, and another couple played tennis together. Maybe it was supposed to be a glimpse into her regular life? Whatever it was, it didn’t move the story along.

Our heroine Kelly keeps telling herself that she promised her friends she wouldn’t do any more sleuthing, but she is overcome with the urge to prove that this woman she just met is innocent. It felt weak. In other cozies I’ve read, the characters’ motivation for solving crimes is that someone they love could either be the next victim or accused of murder. Kelly didn’t know this woman and I felt that Claudia wasn’t innocent or even very likable. It is mentioned several times that she is suspected in the deaths of her two previous husbands. Why didn’t we ever find out more about that story? That’s the one I want to read.

But it wasn’t all bad. The knitting, location, and caffeine kept me interested. I really enjoyed the conversation of alpaca scarves. I’m interested in learning to knit scarves, hats, everything. Earlier this year, I posted about someday moving to Utah. It was refreshing to read a cozy took place in the West, rather than in the South. Fleece Navidad takes place in Colorado and the scenery described was very reminiscent of Utah. I also appreciated the constant stream of coffee Kelly was guzzling down. I’m starting to associate cozies with coffee.

Probably one of the most ridiculous things that kept happening throughout the story was the constant dropping of knitting. Every time there was a bombshell of accusations or rumors, at least one of the characters would drop their knitting into their laps. I imagined this as one dramatic gasp and then hands opening and the knitting slowly hitting the woman’s lap in an excessively loud and dramatic fashion. I mean, there was no other way to picture this.

Compared to other cozies, this wasn’t my favorite. Kelly wasn’t a nosy or curious character. And really, she didn’t do much sleuthing, just spilled out a lot of theories and little evidence that sounded incredibly unlikely. What are the chances the murderer would leave such obvious evidence? We learn little about the victim and her supposed boyfriend. The friends don’t speak to him, don’t see him in town, he doesn’t even have any speaking lines.  For a small town, you would think he would make at least one appearance and speak whether he thought the accused was guilty or innocent or make some kind of display of mourning or shock, but he is not included in the story at all.

I had high hopes for this cozy and it let me down. I was even rooting for it because it was stamped with “Withdrawn” inside. At least it was only a dollar. Now that I’m finished with it, I can donate it to my local Goodwill and someone else can take a chance on it.

Drink of Choice: Skinny Hazelnut Latte

Cost: $1.00