Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell is the first book in the NEW “Tangled Web” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Kensington, November 2015

Time has not been kind to sleepy Dorset Falls, Connecticut, where an erstwhile resident is hoping to bring a tattered yarn shop back to life—but with a murderer on the loose, the whole town is in knots. . .

Josie Blair left Dorset Falls twelve years ago in hopes of making it big in New York City. But after earning an overpriced master’s degree and getting fired by a temperamental designer, she finds herself heading back to her hometown. Her great-uncle was injured in a car accident, and newly unemployed Josie is the only person available to take care of him. Uncle Eb’s wife didn’t survive the crash, so Josie is also tasked with selling the contents of her Aunt Cora’s yarn shop. But the needling ladies of the Charity Knitters Association pose a far bigger challenge than a shop full of scattered skeins. . .

Miss Marple Knits is one of the few businesses still open in the dreary downtown. Josie can’t imagine how it stayed open for so long, yet something about the cozy, resilient little shop appeals to her. But when one of the town’s most persnickety knitters turns up dead in a pile of cashmere yarn, Josie realizes there’s something truly twisted lurking beneath the town’s decaying façade. . .

I enjoyed this new entree to the cozy genre with its mystery that was full of twisty turns that kept me changing direction as the author intended. I had my suspicions as to how this was going to end, but it was the road to get there that kept me engaged in all aspects in this finely stitched story. What I liked most was that the heroine didn’t play amateur sleuth outright, but instead her inquisitive nature and keen observation is what made her able to pinpoint who was the killer with some surprises that added to the telling of this story with its multiple subplots. The characters are a lovable group that included Josie, the newcomer and longtime residents Evelyn and Helen and even the curmudgeon, Uncle Eb. A good ending that befitted this yarn of a tale and I look forward to my next visit to Dorset Falls with Josie and the gang.