The Silence of the Llamas by Anne Canadeo

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (January 22, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451644795
• ISBN-13: 978-1451644791

This book is also available as an e-book.

Release date: January 22, 2013 | Series: Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries

Llama Drama! Ellie and Ben Krueger arrived in Plum Harbor eager to live out their dream—tending a herd of gentle, friendly llamas for fun and profit, on a farm just beyond the village. Their grand opening fiber festival kicks off on a bright note but abruptly ends in malicious mayhem. Knitting shop owner Maggie Messina and her friends soon learn that this is not the first time a vicious visitor has called.

The Kruegers suspect that Justin Ridley, their eccentric neighbor, is the troublemaker. A misfit and loner, he’s known to roam the woods all night, though no one knows for sure what he’s hunting. Then there’s Angelica Rossi—the lovely owner of a rival fiber farm—who’s been as busy as a spider, spinning spiteful lies about the Kruegers’ yarns. Or, are the naïve newcomers merely caught in the tangle of Plum Harbor politics, and an intense land protection debate?

Suddenly, vandalism turns to murder—and the Kruegers’ dream descends into a nightmare. The Black Sheep knitters must pull the threads together and uncover this crafty menace . . . before more lives—and more llamas— are lost.

My take on this book:

The Black Sheep Knitters consists of  Lucy,Dana, Suzanne Phoebe and Maggie Messina, who owns the shop where they all normally meet in every Thursday night. While it was originally their love of knitting that brought them together they have become fast friends.  Ellie Krueger and her husband Ben have recently moved to Plum Harbor to run a llama farm called the Laughing Llama farm. When someone shoots the llamas with a paint gun it hard to imagine who would do such a thing. It doesn't take long though for vandalism to escalate murder, will Maggie and the gang be able to figure out who- dun -it?

Because I am a crocheter/knitter this book really appealed to me. I enjoy reading a good cozy mystery and when the story includes needle crafts  yarn etc it is an added bonus for me. This story is very fast paced, with well written down to earth characters, that are easy to like and relate to. I enjoyed the descriptions of the llamas, as  well as the yarn and the projects that the Gang worked on. I felt like there were a few well placed twists in the story that kept it interesting. The ending was a bit surprising, but wrapped up the story nicely.

While this is the fifth book in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series it can easily be read as a stand alone work. I have only read a couple of the books and had no problems jumping into this one. A cast of characters list at the beginning of the story refreshed my memory allowing me to jump right into this story. Overall, anyone who enjoys reading cozy mysteries should give  this one a try.  If your a knitter, it will certainly appeal to you. The recipes  and  links for several knitting patterns are an added bonus. I really enjoyed reading this story and plan on going back to read the books that I missed in the series!

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.