A Veiled Antiquity

While I sit here and wait for Barnes & Noble to send me the latest copy of the First Look Book Club book, I'll read A Veiled Antiquity the second in the Torie O'Shea cozy mysteries by Rett MacPherson.

Torie O'Shea is a genealogist and town historian in New Kassel, Missouri. She is also a wife, daughter of the woman who is dating the town sheriff, and the mother of two young daughters, and in her spare time she solves murders and centuries old mysteries.

Marie Dijon is found dead at the bottom of her basement stairs. The police rule the death an accident, but nosy Torie thinks there is more to the story, much more. Especially when she finds an envelope with some very old French documents and a key duct-taped to the underside of the kitchen table.

Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson

Family Skeletons is the first in the Torie O'Shea mystery series and I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of this book which was published ten years ago. In this book we meet the main characters who will carry on through all the rest of the books as Torie solves her first murder and starts to come to grips with her mother dating the local sheriff.

Torie (Victory) O'Shea is the local genealogist/historian/tour guide in New Kassel, Missouri. When she is approached by Norah Zumwalt to find out about Norah's father who didn't returned from WWII to marry her mother, Torie discovers that he did not die in the war and is still living in the area. Torie goes to Norah's house to give her the results of the search, and finds Norah has been brutally murdered.

With the help of the sheriff, Torie follows the clues and solves not one, but four vicious murders.

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Last night I finished Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton, a quick and quirky read.

Chloe is the only non-magical inhabitant of Sugar Maple, Vermont, a small tourist town. Chloe's ancestor cast a spell that protects Sugar Maple and its inhabitants from, well everything; death, illness, accidents, crime, and even black ice. Then one day a beautiful stranger falls through the ice and drowns after visiting Chloe's yarn shop, Sticks & Strings. Because there is no crime, there is no police force, and because the beautiful stranger was having an affair with a married politician, an investigation is in order.

Enter Luke MacKennzie, a burned out Boston cop and friend of the dead woman, Suzanne. Luke leaves his job in Boston and is hired to find out what happened to Suzanne. Sparks fly (literally) when Chloe and Luke meet and continue to fly as he solves the mystery and falls in love with the beautiful Chloe.

Quirky characters, romance, magick, a power struggle, gorgeous people, and knitting. What more can an author provide?

Graduation Socks

I finished Shayna's socks, now she must finish her book reports and graduate.



I sure hope she likes them, the Peapod pattern was great and I like the way the socks turned out. Jen Jensen designed the socks and she made the instructions so easy to follow Even for me!







I used Knit Picks' Imagination hand painted yarn in the Unicorn colorway. I usually love Knit Picks' products, but I'm not buying this yarn again as the color variations are noticeable from one hank to the next. Not good when you want the socks to match.




On another note, I found something I like even more than Fiber One bars, Kellogg's Fiber Plus Chewy Bars. OMG they taste like Girl Scout cookies, the good ones.

Fleece Navidad

Fleece Navidad is a Christmas, knitting, murder, mystery with knitting patterns and cookie recipes. Hmmmm, I can't think of anything Maggie Sefton left out that I like.

Set in Fort Collins, Colorado and centering around Kelly Flynn and her knitting friends, this book's takes place at Christmas and the hit-and-run murder of the town librarian. Fleece Navidad is the sixth book in the Lambspun Yarn Shop mysteries and, of course, Kelly starts snooping around and finds clues the police have missed.

Although I enjoy Maggie Sefton's Lambspun mysteries, there wasn't a whole lot of mystery in Fleece Navidad. I hope the next book in the series centers more on the main characters, with the mystery being a little more mysterious.

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Spend the summer with Benji, Reggie, NP, Bobby, Marcus, and the rest of the Sag Harbor friends. A self proclaimed autobiographical novel, Sag Harbor is well worth your time. Benji (oops, Ben) and his friends are your typical almost men teenagers, trying to fit in and move forward with all the hassles and tests that line the path to adulthood.

Sag Harbor is a very interesting look into the mid 1980s as seen through the eyes of an African American teenager who spends his summers away from his predominately white prep school and reconnects with his black friends.

Happy Birthday Mary

Sometimes I wonder what my friends really think about my hobbies, since they usually get birthday presents made by me signifying my latest obsession. Last week Mary, Marie and I got together for lunch to celebrate Mary's birthday. I gave her a pair of homemade socks.

The socks are called (Black)Hearted and I used Stariel's pattern. It was a fairly quick knit and I will probably do it again in a solid colored yarn with beads.


We had a great lunch and visit at La Hacienda. When I came home I took some pictures of the Trumpeter Swans in the field in back of my house. It is so fun to watch them, because as soon as I get anywhere near the field they start walking away from me and talking loudly to each other. I wonder what they are saying about me; wait that doesn't make me paranoid, does it?