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Authors: Sally Goldenbaum

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A Fatal Fleece

BOOK: A Fatal Fleece
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A Fatal Fleece

OTHER SEASIDE KNITTERS MYSTERIES
BY SALLY GOLDENBAUM
Death by Cashmere
Patterns in the Sand
Moon Spinners
A Holiday Yarn
The Wedding Shawl

A Fatal Fleece

A SEASIDE KNITTERS MYSTERY

Sally Goldenbaum

AN OBSIDIAN MYSTERY

OBSIDIAN
Published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
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Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, May 2012
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Sally Goldenbaum, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
OBSIDIAN and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Goldenbaum, Sally.
A fatal fleece: a seaside knitters mystery/Sally Goldenbaum.
p. cm.
“An Obsidian mystery.”
ISBN: 978-1-101-58537-5
1. Knitters (Persons)—Fiction. 2. Recluses—Fiction. 3. Right of property—Fiction. 4. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 5. City and town life—Massachusetts—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3557.O35937F38 2012
813’.54—dc22          2011049867
Set in Palatino     •     Designed by Elke Sigal
Printed in the United States of America
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

To Luke, Atti, Ruby, and Jules—
the dazzling lights in my life

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Cast of Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Gabby’s Purple Cardigan

Acknowledgments

F
irst, grateful thanks to Cheryl Erlandson, a talented designer and owner of In the Loop yarn shop in Norfolk, Massachusetts, who designed Gabby’s purple sweater in
A Fatal Fleece
. Along with Gabby (and Birdie, Nell, Izzy, and Cass), I thank her for sharing her artistry with all of us. Visit the In the Loop shop Web site: keepyourneedles
happy.com/shop/
. A special thanks to Mary Bednarowski, Nancy Pickard, and Sr. Rosemary Flanigan, who spent lots of time with me and with Finnegan, the old fisherman in
A Fatal Fleece
, exploring his life and his relationships and helping me figure out what he was all about. As always, thanks to my supportive, wise, and intuitive anchors—Andrea Cirillo and Christina Hogrebe—and to the wonderful Sandy Harding, whose magical spin brings the best out of my words. Thanks to my friends and to my family—Todd and Laila, Aria and John, Danny and Claud—and always, always, to Don. They truly make this whole business a family affair.

Cast of Characters

THE SEASIDE KNITTERS

Nell Endicott:
Former Boston nonprofit director, semiretired and living in Sea Harbor with her husband

Izzy (Isabel Chambers Perry):
Boston attorney, now owner of the Seaside Knitting Studio; Nell and Ben Endicott’s niece; recently married to Sam Perry

Cass (Catherine Mary Elizabeth Halloran):
A lobster fisherwoman, born and raised in Sea Harbor

Birdie (Bernadette Favazza):
Sea Harbor’s wealthy, wise, and generous silver-haired grande dame

THE MEN IN THEIR LIVES

Ben Endicott:
Nell’s husband

Sam Perry:
Award-winning photojournalist married to Izzy

Danny Brandley:
Mystery novelist and son of bookstore owners

Sonny Favazza and Joseph Marietti:
Two of Birdie’s deceased husbands

SUPPORTING CAST

Alphonso Santos:
Wealthy construction company owner; once married to Sophia Santos, then Liz Palazola; Gracie Santos’ uncle

Andy Risso:
Drummer in Pete Halloran’s band; son of Jake Risso

Annabelle Palazola:
Owner of the Sweet Petunia restaurant; Liz and Sheila Palazola’s mother

Angus McPherran:
Enigmatic old man called the Old Man of the Sea by the locals

Archie and Harriet Brandley:
Owners of the Sea Harbor Bookstore

August (Gus) McClucken:
Owner of McClucken’s Hardware on Harbor Road

Beatrice and Sal Scaglia:
Councilwoman and her husband, manager of the town’s deeds annex

Beverly Walden:
Artist; Moira Finnegan’s daughter

D. J. Delaney:
Owner of Delaney & Sons Construction; wife, Maeve; son, Davey

Ella and Harold Sampson:
Birdie’s longtime housekeeper and groundsman

Esther Gibson:
Police dispatcher (and Mrs. Santa Claus during holiday season)

Father Lawrence Northcutt:
Pastor of Our Lady of Safe Seas Church

Finnegan:
An old fisherman and longtime resident

Gabrielle Marietti:
Birdie’s ten-year-old granddaughter

Harry and Margaret Garozzo:
Owners of Garozzo’s Deli

Jane and Ham Brewster:
Former Berkeley hippies, artists, and cofounders of the Canary Cove Art Colony

Jake Risso:
Owner of the Gull Tavern

Jerry Thompson:
Police chief

Laura Danvers:
Young socialite and philanthropist, mother of three, married to banker Elliot Danvers

Mae Anderson:
Izzy’s shop manager; twin teenage nieces, Jillian and Rose

Mary Pisano:
Middle-aged newspaper columnist; owner of the Ravenswood B and B

Mary Halloran:
Pete and Cass’ mother; secretary of Our Lady of Safe Seas Church

Merry Jackson:
Owner of the Artist’s Palate Bar & Grill

M. J. Arcado:
Owner of M.J.’s Salon

Nick Marietti:
Birdie’s brother-in-law

Pete Halloran:
Cass’ younger brother and lead guitarist in the Fractured Fish band

Rebecca (Marks) Early:
Lampwork artist in Canary Cove

Tommy Porter:
Young policeman

Willow Adams:
Fiber artist and owner of the Fishtail Gallery

Chapter 1

I
n Birdie Favazza’s mind, city council meetings were about as bland as white bread. But tonight’s meeting, from which she was mysteriously absent, would surely make her eat her words.

“He’s gone loony tunes, that’s what. The old codger has a screw loose.” D. J. Delaney’s booming voice echoed off the walls of the city hall meeting room.

Finnegan’s land was the last item on the night’s short docket, and most people had stayed to hear what the council would decide to do about it. Or perhaps that’s why they’d come in the first place.

BOOK: A Fatal Fleece
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