You know me by now; I love a good cosy mystery. Yes, I have books that I don’t enjoy in the genre – if you didn’t know that, just check out my review of The Thursday Murder Club – but they are few and far between.
Knit One, Heist One by Donna Moore is not what I expected at all. I signed up for a book review tour with Random Things Tours, and it sounded like it would be fun, but I honestly thought it was going to be different. Reading that it was based in a retirement community, I was imagining something somewhat similar to The Thursday Murder Club and was, for a moment, dreading it!
On reading, I was pleasantly surprised. This is a cosy mystery, but it has humour, and though it deals with some deeper topics, it’s lighthearted and enjoyable.
Janus Lodge isn’t your typical retirement community. Sylvia Abercrombie and her knitting-obsessed gang of octogenarians are feisty, foul- mouthed, and fiercely protective of their home. So when a shady developer plots to evict them and build a ‘gentlemen’s club’, they hatch an audacious plan to save their sanctuary – by starting a secret knitwear empire with a scandalous twist. As sales skyrocket, secrets unravel, and Sylvia’s ex-husband lurks in the shadows, the gang must pull off the ultimate heist to protect their beloved Lodge.
When these residents discover that their home is at risk from a crook who looks after several rather dodgy bookies, they don’t take it lying down.
Knit One, Heist One may start as a book about friendship and old people enjoying their twilight years, but becomes a determined battle to save their home from criminals who want to replace it with a Gentlemen’s Club (for that, read brothel).
The property is owned by the rather dimwitted son of two residents who ensured that he couldn’t sell it while they were alive, but that’s not going to stop the crook from trying to bypass the caveat!
Sylvia, Francine, Harriet and other residents of the community start knitting their way to buy their home and prevent it from being sold out from under them. They don’t just knit the balaclavas worn by Sylvia’s biker grandson, Jake; they’re starting to branch out!
Smart, inventive and curious Harriet, who spends most of her life surfing questionable places on the internet as well as social media (which, it could likely be said, is also rather dodgy), has noticed that novelty sex toys are making a comeback!
These grannies are more Blanche Deveraux than Esther Walton!
Soon, the residents of Janus Lodge are knitting all manner of items, and they’re selling like a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte! Ball gags, handcuffs, gimp masks, whips! They become a cult item, shared on social media and popular with influencers.
Sylvia is a character. She’s smart, sly, stealthy (despite being in a wheelchair) and knows how to plan. Despite being seriously injured in the car accident that took her daughter’s life, she is determined not to give up; she has a battle to fight, and she fully intends to win!
Yes, some moments in Knit One, Heist One are hilarious – including the moment that the serious but stupid RJ – who is being threatened into selling his parents’ home from under them – is bonked on the head and then kidnapped by a determined octogenarian!
She keeps him wrapped in rubber and protects her identity by imprisoning him in a restrictive gimp mask. However, there are also more serious moments when Sylvia and her estranged husband Gregor actually discuss the reason for their late-in-life divorce.
I really enjoyed Knit One, Heist One. In fact, I am going to start checking out Donna Moore’s other works because if they’re all as funny and moving as this one, then she’s an author I’ve been missing out on.
Looking for something similar to Knit One, Heist One?
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
Too Many Cooks by Rosemary Shrager
Just Desserts by Suk Pannu
Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto
