Kath Rutledge is travelling home to the small town of Blue
Plum, Tennessee, for the worst of reasons - the memorial
service of her grandmother, Ivy McClellan, and to settle
Ivy's affairs. Ivy was well known in Blue Plum for her
craft store, Weaver's Cat, which had a loyal group of fiber
and needlework artists known as TGIF - Thank Goodness It's
Fiber. The TGIF group meets at the Cat, which Kath finds
out she has inherited. This turns out to be the first of
several surprises in store for Kath.
Before Ivy's death, there was a murder in Blue Plum, and it
seems that many think Ivy is the logical suspect. Kath
doesn't understand how people can think her elderly
grandmother can possibly be guilty of killing someone, and
she wants to prove her innocent. As she's reading a letter
her grandmother left her, Kath discovers that Ivy has
bequeathed her a gift besides the Cat - that of being "kind
of a witch." Kath's powers kick in that night when she
starts seeing, hearing, and talking to a ghost -- a woman
who ends up being the wife of the man who was murdered.
Soon, Kath, the TGIF members, and the ghost are all working
together to solve the mystery. But Kath has some other
problems to take care of in the meantime. Apparently, Ivy
sold her house before her death and now Kath can't get into
it to recover Ivy's possessions. And two of Ivy's workers
have offered to buy the store before Kath can figure out
what she even wants to do or where her future lies.
LAST WOOL AND TESTAMENT a Haunted Yarn Shop mystery
is fun to read, and Kath is
a great character. The town is populated with fun
characters, although some of them fall into the "love to
hate" category. While I found most of the TGIF members to
be fun and relatable, Ivy was so central to the book, I wish
she hadn't been dead before the story even started. I was
disappointed that I had most of the mystery solved before
Kath did. Another disappointment was that the series
is called Haunted Yarn Shop but the ghost really has
nothing to do with the Weaver's Cat. LAST WOOL AND
TESTAMENT itself,
though, is a promising start to a new series.
Kath Rutledge is about to learn the true meaning of TGIF—
Thank Goodness It’s Fiber.… That’s the name of the spunky
group of fiber and needlework artists founded by Ivy
McClellan, Kath’s beloved grandmother. Though Ivy has
recently passed on, the members still meet regularly at her
fiber and fabric shop, The Weaver’s Cat, which Kath has now
inherited. But that’s only the first in a series of
surprises when Kath returns to the small town of Blue Plum,
Tennessee, to settle her grandmother’s affairs.
There’s been a murder, and it turns out her grandmother was
the prime suspect. Before she can begin to clear Ivy’s
name, Kath encounters a looming presence in the form of a
gloomy ghost. It turns out the specter has just as much
interest in solving the murder as Kath. So, with a little
help from the members of TGIF—and a stubborn spirit from
beyond—she sets out to unravel the clues and hook the real
killer.…