For fans of:  Nancy Atherton

Summer has returned to the tiny town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, and Nell Endicott is hard at work getting her backyard ready for her niece Izzy’s wedding.  So excited is Nell about the impending nuptials, it seems nothing can ruin her good mood – until the young stylist who was going to do the wedding party’s hair is found murdered in the basement of the local salon.  The death casts a pall over the community, particularly since it appears to have ties to an unsolved crime that rocked Sea Harbor fifteen years before.  Can Nell and the Seaside Knitters help catch the killer in time to prevent the mystery from putting a damper on Izzy’s big day?

The Wedding Shawl is the fifth installment in Sally Goldenbaum’s Seaside Knitters Mystery series, and it’s marvelous.  The story is rich and textured, the prose is graceful and reads effortlessly, and the mystery is complex, intriguing, and incredibly well-crafted.

Goldenbaum is a master of writing atmosphere.  Her books all have this wonderful mood about them – a warm, cozy, inviting feeling that envelops you from word one – and The Wedding Shawl is no exception.  It’s a vibe that sticks with you long after you’ve finished the book, and it’s a big part of what makes you want to return to Sea Harbor again and again.

The pace is gentle, but this book is by no means boring.  While The Wedding Shawl is a murder mystery – and a compelling one, at that – Goldenbaum has crafted a tale that’s less about the process of solving a murder than it is about the act of coping with the aftermath of a crime.  She does a great job of illustrating the emotional impact a murder has on those left living, and makes the reader realize just how surely surviving friends and family members can be victims, as well.

Goldenbaum’s characters are all marvelously well-developed.  She writes each one with warmth and affection, making you feel as though you’re among friends for the duration of the book.  Lobsterwoman Cass Halloran, yarn shop proprietress Izzy Chambers, retiree Birdie Favazza, and Nell, herself, are all people you’d be lucky to call neighbors, let alone partners in crime (or, rather, crime-fighting, to be more precise).  Even the story’s more minor players are three-dimensional and fully fleshed, making for a thoroughly engaging reading experience.

Is The Wedding Shawl is a little more sentimental and schmaltzy than I tend to like my books?  Yes.  But if you ask me, we all need a little schmaltz and sentimentality in our lives from time to time.  It’s a soothing, comforting, happy-making read, and a darn good mystery to boot, and you’d do well to go out and buy yourself a copy today.

~ Kat