The four Seaside Knitters of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts are a closely knit group of friends -- Izzy Chambers, Nell Endicott, Birdie Favazza and Cass Halloran. They gather each Thursday night at Izzy's Seaside Knitting Studio and make caps for cancer patients, socks and scarves for the homeless, and eat heartily and sip on cold white wine. A newcomer has come to town, Willow Adams, who climbs into a window of Izzy's store late one Thursday night and falls asleep in the shop's window. A few months back Izzy and her Aunt Nell had seen an example of Willow's fiber art and had e-mailed her with an invitation to teach a class and/or talk to Izzy's customers about fiber art. When everything is cleared up to the police's satisfaction, Willow is offered a guest cabin at Nell and Ben Endicott's home. Nell's maternal instinct warms to this young waif and it is all she can do to keep from hugging her.

Willow is from Wisconsin and she has a major agenda to be in Sea Harbor apart from her fiber art. Willow is looking for the father she has never known; the man who took her young mother's will to live. The man who is the devil incarnate, according to her late grandmother who raised Willow. All of this comes out when Aidan Peabody, Willow's father, is murdered and the young woman is the prime suspect in his death. The Seaside Knitters, along with art teacher Brendan Slattery, know Willow could not be guilty of killing anyone and they set out to find the real villain.

Sally Goldenbaum has created some wonderful, talented, and intelligent characters who were introduced in DEATH BY CASHMERE. Aidan's death is a huge and personal loss to these real people. PATTERNS IN THE SAND is a real whodunit that throws out a lot of suspicious characters to the reader in this evenly paced story, and keeps you guessing until the very end.