Kelly Flynn / Knitting Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Knitting Mysteries Books

The Knitting Mystery series is a series of thriller and cozy mystery novels featuring the main protagonist Kelly Flynn. The novels of the series are written by the famous American author Maggie Sefton. Main lead Kelly Flynn is introduced in the series as a young, athletic, and a tall woman. She is described by the author as working as a corporate CPA, which is too stressful and demanding for her and does not allow her to do anything else that she loves. Kelly Flynn is forced move to her home in Colorado after the death of her aunt. There, she is helped by a group of local knitters in trying to find the truth related to the death of her aunt. Author Maggie Sefton began writing the series in the year 2005 and saw instant success after the publication of the first novel of the series. This allowed her to write a few more novels in the exciting series. Maggie makes sure that she completes and publishes at least one novel each year for her patiently waiting readers and is still working on the latest novel of the series. The series consists of a total of 13 novels published between the years 2005 and 2015. Maggie says that she began doing the characterizations of the main protagonist Kelly Flynn and her knitting friends in the year 2003. After having a good start to her writing career, she had decided to write a novel on nonfiction projects and had to interview a group of knitters about the effects of knitting on their lives. The interview helped her to pen down the interesting plots of the series. She was also benefitted by her real-life knitting friends who helped her in developing the plots of the series. After a while, Maggie visited a knitting shop suggested to her by a friend. She was very much impressed by seeing the diverse mixture of young and old knitters, weavers and spinners in the shop. They shared their experiences with Maggie and it helped her to complete the plots of her novels. Maggie visited the shop multiple times throughout the course of the series and took important notes from the knitters. The list of important characters described in the series by author Maggie Sefton is as follows:

KELLY FLYNN
Kelly is depicted as a 29 year old, tall, thin and athletic woman with dark brown hair. She loves to play different kinds of sports, but hardly gets any time from her demanding and stressful job as a corporate CPA. She is required to work for long hours and this prevents her from thinking about other important things in her life. Then, she leaves for her childhood home on account of her beloved aunt’s death. Aunt Helen was very close to Kelly and her death left her heartbroken. However, she is befriended by several local knitters who seem to be filled with warmth and affection. They also try to help Kelly Flynn in discovering the truth behind the tragic death of her aunt.

LISA GERARD
Lisa Gerard is introduced in the series as a 31 year old woman, who is tall, blonde, and works as a physical therapist as well as an outdoor enthusiast. She is also a no-nonsense knitter who is the first one to provide instructions to Kelly about knitting. Lisa is also described as a pitcher in the local softball team having coed players, and also forces Kelly to join the team as a first batsman.

STEVE TOWNSEND
Steve is described by the author as a 31 year old upcoming architect and builder. He befriends Kelly after meeting her for the fist time. He loves the Rottweiler owned by Kelly and helps it to get away from troubles while chasing golf balls. Steve Townsend is also a star athlete and likes to tease Kelly for her scowling. Kelly feels annoyed at his athletic skills and remembers her old boyfriend whenever she sees him.

BURT PARKER
Burt Parker is shown as a retired police detective of 62 years age. He takes up knitting at the frequent suggestions of her daughter for staying relaxed and away from a possible heart attack. He enjoys spinning the wheel and comes out as an expert and natural spinner.

MEGAN SCHMIDT
Megan is a 29 year old gifted knitter. She is also a very good designer and a computer geek. Megan is described in the series as a raven-haired and fair woman. She used to work in an IT company, but left it to start her own consulting business. Outside work, she is a better softball player and a little shy in nature.

JENNIFER STROUD
Jennifer is depicted as a 30 year old woman with auburn hair. She works as a Salsa dancer in parties and likes to knit in her free time. Jenny possesses a quick wit and tongue and does not like to play softball in under the scorching heat.

HILDA AND LIZZIE VON STEUBEN
These two are described as spinster sisters in their late 70s. The retired from their job as school teachers and have become excellent knitters.

MINI SHAFER
Shafer is one of the knitters in the North Colorado hometown of Kelly Flynn. She is in her fifties and is inspired to knit as well as teaching. Shafer is depicted as the owner of the knitting shop named House of Lambspun, which is always filled with the knitting expertise of Kelly and her friends.

The first novel of the Knitting Mystery series was published in the year 2005 by the Berkley Prime Crime publishing house. It was titled ‘Knit One, Kill Two’ and introduced Kelly Flynn and her group of knitting friends. The plot of the novel is set in Fort Connor, Colorado, United States. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Kelly is depicted as the niece of an expert knitter, Aunt Helen. Despite having an expert knitter in her family, Kelly never tried to pick up the knitting needles and learn the art of knitting. However, when she moves back to her hometown on account of Aunt Helen’s death, she begins to learn how to knit and purl. Back in Fort Connor, North Colorado, Kelly joins the knitting group in the House of Lambspun shop and befriends the knitting experts. She wishes to learn the skills of knitting from them and at the same time take their help in uncovering the truth about her aunt’s death. Before moving back to her hometown. She used to work in Washington, D.C., and had a pretty dull life. Although she seemed excited to leave her boring life in Washington and move back to her hometown, she could not express it because of her beloved aunt’s death. Upon investigation, the police report that Aunt Helen died because of a burglary turned bad, but Kelly finds it difficult to add the things up. Also, she could not digest the fact that her aunt had borrowed $20,0000 just a few days before her death. Kelly decides to take the help of the knitters at the House of Lambspun for learning the lessons related to knitting and at the same time, luring the killer to come out of his hiding place. The novel became very much successful and went on to be nominated for the Agatha Award in the Best First Novel Category in the year 2005.

One of the other initial novels of the series was published in the year 2006 under the title ‘A Deadly Yarn’. It was published by the Berkley publishing house and continued to depict the suspenseful life of the primary character Kelly Flynn. The plot of this novel also introduces many of the knitting friend of Kelly. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Megan and Kelly as shown being happy and cheerful for their friend Allison Dubois, who was a young and talented upcoming artist. She gets invited by a designer at the New York Studio, from where she is expected to begin her new life. But, Kelly and Megan reach at her apartment to take her to the airport, they discover Allison lying dead on the floor. She appeared to have taken an overdose of sleeping pills. The investigating officials declare it to be a case of suicide, but Kelly and Megan are not convinced that Allison could do anything like this. After a while, they discover that even though Allison’s career was flourishing quickly, she was facing a lot of difficulties in her social life. Kelly lists a number of people among the prime suspects, including Allison’s bad boyfriend, a jealous student and a man named Brian. Now, it is up to Kelly and her knitting friends at the House of Lambspun to solve the deadly puzzle of Allison’s death and catch her killer.