Anne Canadeo - A Stitch Before Dying (Black Sheep Knitting Series #3)  

The Black Sheep knitting series has it all: Friendship, knitting, murder, and the occasional recipe create the perfect pattern. Great fun.

New York Times bestselling author Jayne Anne Krentz

Praise forKnit, Purl, Die

The fast-paced plot will keep even non-knitters turning the pages.

Publishers Weekly

An engaging story full of tight knit friendships and a needling mystery.

Fresh Fiction

Praise forWhile My Pretty One Knits

The crafty first of a cozy new series . The friendships among the likable knitters help make Canadeos crime yarn a charmer.

Publishers Weekly

Fans of Monica Ferris will enjoy this engaging amateur sleuth as much for its salute to friendship as to Lucys inquiry made one stitch at a time.

The Mystery Gazette

A Stitch Before Dyingis also available as an eBook

Delightful. Enchanting. Humorous. Impressive. Witty.
Those are just a few adjectives to describe Anne Canadeos
effervescent cozy debut, While My Pretty One Knits.

Book Cave

[A] unique murder mystery . Fast-paced and electrifying .
First in a new series you are sure to enjoy.

Fresh Fiction

The diverse group of friends and their heartwarming camaraderie is what makes While My Pretty One Knits an enjoyable read.

Kwips and Kritiques

Maggie Messina, owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, is a retired high school art teacher who runs her little slice of knitters paradise with the kind of vibrant energy that leaves her friends dazzled! From novice to pro, knitters come to Maggie as much for her up-to-the-minute offerings like organic wool as for her encouragement and friendship. And Maggies got a deft touch when it comes to unraveling mysteries, too.

Lucy Binger left Boston when her marriage ended, and found herself shifting gears to run her graphic design business from the coastal cottage she and her sister inherited. After bigcity living, she now finds contentment on a front porch in tiny Plum Harbor, knitting with her closest friends.

Dana Haeger is a psychologist with a busy local practice. A stylishly polished professional with a quick wit, she slips out to Maggies shop whenever her schedule allowsafter all, knitting is the best form of therapy!

Suzanne Cavanaugh is a typical working supermoma Realtor with a million demands on her time, from coaching soccer to showing houses to attending the PTA. But she carves out a little me time with the Black Sheep Knitters.

Phoebe Meyers, a college student complete with magenta highlights and piercings, lives in the apartment above Maggies shop. Shes Maggies indispensable helper (when shes not in class)and part of the new generation of young knitters.

Gallery Books
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New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either
are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Anne Canadeo

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary
Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books trade paperback edition January 2011

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-4391-9139-2
ISBN 978-1-4391-9141-5 (ebook)

With love and gratitude, to my dear parents,
Joanna and Louis Canadeo
(I think this one should have enough suspects for you).

The wise man does not fear death.

BUDDHA

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, HAMLET,
ACT I, SCENE V

Lucy was late, the very last to arrive. Everyone was waiting.

She knew that for a fact when she spotted their cars, parked one after the next, in front of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop.

She quickly pulled over to the sidewalk and parked behind the rest, as if adding the final stitch to a neatly knit row.

At least shed brought something good to eat, an apple crumble. Theyd forgive her once they saw their dessert. It was that kind of crowd. The smell alone could earn her clemency.

The shop was closed for business at this hour, though all the lights inside were on, glowing warmly in the big bay window. Maggie had just changed the display from summer to fallhand-knit items and skeins of yarn, dangling from birch branches, above a bed of cut-out paper leaves. Maggie, who was once a high school art teacher, had a sharp eye for color and design.

A dedicated knitter and excellent instructor, Maggie had opened the shop about three years ago. Shed been lucky to find the perfect spot, the first floor of a free-standing Victorian building in the middle of Plum Harbors busy Main Street.

Set back from the street a fair space, the building had a peaked roof, a wraparound porch, and plenty of classic Victorian trim. Maggie had added flower boxes and a thick border of perennials along the brick path that led from the sidewalk and more flower beds in the front of the house. The shop looked very inviting, luring both knitters and nonknitters. And it didnt disappoint in the least once they went inside.

Lucy spotted her friends through the window, sitting in the rear room at the long farm table. They met once a week, rotating among their houses and Maggies store, sharing knitting tips, good food, and gossip. The shop was their unofficial home base, the place theyd met several summers ago in one of Maggies classes.

She hurried up the walk to the porch, her purse and knitting tote hooked over one shoulder, the baking dish balanced in both hands. Branches above swayed in a cool breeze and golden leaves drifted down, as if graceful ladies were shedding their finery at the end of a long evening.

The flowers Maggie had planted alongside the pathblue stasis, white flox, and dusty pink echinaceaflopped to one side, in one last burst of glory before the frosty nights set in.

Lucy smelled autumn in the air. The change of seasons made her sad. Maybe not sad, exactly, but keenly aware of time passing.