Gentle Reader, you know my favorite mystery series is the Seaside Knitters Society series by Sally Goldenbaum. I love the little seaside village in Massachusetts, with its yarn studio, tea room, bookstore, and arts colony. The village large enough to have several successful restaurants such as Gracies, Sweet Petunia, and the deli, but small enough where everyone largely knows everyone else. Where friends have standing Friday night dinners and Thursday evening knit potlucks. I want all of that in real life. So every year I eagerly await the new mystery in Sea Harbor so I can visit with Nell, Izzy, Birdie, and Cass.
This year's book is The Herringbone Harbor Mystery. It's early summer in Sea Harbor, but everyone is starting to think about the fall mayoral election. Mayor Beatrice has run unopposed for several years, and some locals think it might be time for a change in leadership. Everyone is looking forward to the summer tourist season and a possibly exciting mayoral race if Nick Cabot can be convinced to run opposite Beatrice. But those summer plans are derailed when murder and a fire devastate the town.
Victims in previous books were known to our little band of knitting detectives, but in this book, Ms. Goldenbaum spends so much more time on the grief and shattering disbelief that affects the main characters. There are many discussions and passages where internal ruminations on grief occur. While some might find this off-putting, I found it very comforting, because one week into the book a friend of mine, a friend of 31 years, was found dead in his house. I was plunged into a similar unexpected grief. Reading about Nell's and Birdie's feelings and grief was actually very helpful to me. It wasn't until I read the acknowledgments at the end of the book that I learned that Ms. Goldenbaum lost her husband of many years while she was writing this book. It's very clear that she was processing her own grief in her story. My deepest sympathies to Ms. Goldenbaum and her family. I hope writing the book helped her through her grief as reading it did mine.
As for the plotlines in The Herringbone Harbor Mystery, I did suspect the murderer quite early on, but the denouement was deftly handled and still afforded me a surprise or two. The subplot surrounding Gracie's lobster shack provided a necessary redirection from the main murder plot. Gracie is a nice addition to the group, and I hope we continue to see more of her in future stories. I enjoyed meeting more of the extensive Palazola clan, all of whom seem to have the magic touch to create restaurants I'd love to eat in.
While the series builds on former stories, it's easy to start with any of the novels. The four main characters are so well drawn that the differences in personalities are noticeable, but the reasons why these 4 women are such deep friends is evident. You will easily succumb to their charms and want to live in Sea Harbor, too.
