The Vampire Knitting Club (Vampire Knitting Club #1)
by Nancy Warren
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
Vampires who knit
A troublemaking witch
Who killed Granny — and is she really dead?At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she’s not exactly homeless, but it’s close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran’s undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey’s, Gran’s knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she’s going to do.
Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there’s a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door—including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?
When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there’s no body in the grave. Between a hot 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan.
The only one who seems to know what’s going on is her cat … or is it … her familiar?
My Review
I liked the idea of a vampire knitting club and decided to buy a copy of this book. It sounded like a fun paranormal cozy mystery book and that’s exactly what it was. It mostly was a fun read, but it failed to fully grab my attention. And it was one of those books where there were lots of little things that didn’t quite work for me and they just add up.
The story follows Lucy, who is in her late twenties and isn’t sure what to do with her life. When she is visiting her grandma in Oxford she discovers her grandam died weeks ago and they weren’t able to reach her as she was on an archeological dig site with her parents. Then it turns out her grandma is actually undead now, but was almost murdered before a vampire saved her. And Lucy gets the knitting shop. Lucy has to decide what to do with her life, deal with multiple changes and new things she learns about herself and the world and solve a murder.
I liked the set-up of this book, it read like a typical cozy mystery and I was curious how the paranormal would play a role. There are some likable side characters and also some less likable ones. It does very much read like a first book in the series with so many elements getting introduced that it felt like the mystery got solved a bit quickly. I had some issues with little things that didn’t make sense, were too convenient or weren’t explained enough to get a good feel for it. I think those are mostly because this is the first book in the series. I hope the rest of the series is better, but I am not sure if I’ll continue the series.
This book has all the typical elements you expect in a cozy mystery, the main character returns to a place she often visits with fond memories, has to decide whether to leave or stay, discover herself in the process and has to solve a mystery. Then it has some typical paranormal elements thrown in, involving a mysterious character who is cold to the touch, walks around at night and pops up in the shop while the door is locked. Things that don’t add up and paranormal elements are the only explanation. At times it felt like all the tropes and clichés from both genres were stuffed in this book and it just felt a bit much. And then there is also a set-up for a possible love triangle.
The mystery was a bit slow to get going with Lucy first having to find out her grandma is dead, then learn her grandma is actually undead and only then finds out her grandma was almost murdered before being saved by a vampire. So the mystery only starts in earnest quite late in the book and there isn’t much investigating. Most of the mystery solving sort of happens to her, not because she figures it out, but because the killer comes back. I wasn’t too surprised when we find out who the murderer is, but that’s mostly because there are very few suspects and only a few possible motives. There also is a plot line related to break-ins and whether that’s connected or not. I liked the way things got resolved at the end.
Lucy was a nice enough main character, but somehow I never fully warmed up to her. She didn’t really have any particular personality traits that stood out or called to me or made her likable. She seemed a bit bland at times. I liked how sometimes she could be very smart with how she handled things, but then other times she acted almost stupid. It felt very contradictory.
There is little we learn about vampires and witches and the rest of the supernatural world in this book. It’s very limited and because the story has to move along, I felt like sometimes we didn’t get enough answers and Lucy didn’t ask all the questions. Sometimes she assumed things without checking, but besides that there just was very little the vampires tell her besides the few basics. It also bothered me how her grandma forgot the last few weeks of her life, which just seemed too convenient.
To summarize: while I liked the fun setup of this book and idea of a vampire knitting club, the book failed to fully pull me in. This book has all the typical elements of a cozy mystery and paranormal elements and at times it almost felt too much. Lucy was a nice enough character, but without any personality traits that made her stand out. She could be very smart at times and almost stupid at other times, which felt very contradictory. The mystery only started pretty late in the story, with very few suspects and it didn’t surprise me when we discovered the murdered. The paranormal world only gets touched upon a bit and besides the basics we don’t learn very much, but it works well as an introduction. While I didn’t fully enjoy the book I do feel like it has a lot of potential and I think the rest of the series will be better and this one very much feels like an introductory book and I think the rest of the series will read smoother. If you enjoy paranormal cozy mysteries you might enjoy this one.
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
As you say, a bunch of little niggles can add up and make it a so-so read. It definitely sounds like it had a lot to explain- introducing characters, the world including the paranormal elements, and the mystery. And, it sounds like some of that was under-developed or too slow to develop. It might get better in book two when it can go straight to the mystery story, but I can see why you were less than impressed with this one.
I’ve read a few three-stars lately and they mostly were that because I felt that they really didn’t explain why behind the conflicts in the story and, in one, didn’t develop any of the elements because it had introduced way too many things in the first book.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Wrath & Mercy – Sins of the Virtuous Book 5 by Faye Hall #TGPUL2019
It just felt very much like an introductory book, which makes sense as it is the first book in a series, but I just felt like ti was a bit too slow and under developed indeed and it just didn’t fully keep my attention. I do think book 2 might be better as the stage is set already then and it can die right into the mystery and other issues, but I am not sure if I want to give book 2 a try.
Those 3 star reads are tricky sometimes with how you don’t dislike them, but also don’t like them as much as you hoped.