"B" is for Burglar and Bitty Sugar Magnolia Cardigan

The knitting: The Bitty Sugar Magnolia Cardigan pattern by Foothill Stitches

The novel: "B" is for Burglar by Sue Grafton

I started this sweater at the beginning of the year when one of my cousins had a baby.  But then the baby grew and time passed and I should really send him something before the year is done with.  Still, I had the sweater, and a friend has a baby girl who might fit into this for a bit.  The pattern calls for drop stitches after the increases, but I decided to knit extra rows instead.  I loved this little project!  

I picked these buttons out of my stash because they looked like candy against the pink yarn (which is a little brighter and warmer in real life).  The yarn is some DK weight acrylic.  I usually use acrylic yarn for baby gifts because while I love knitting with wool, and I love wearing it, sometimes you need to be able to throw clothes into the regular wash.  Taking care of a baby is tough, and I don't want to complicate someone's laundry.

This was mailed off to some friends who had a new baby, along with the pumpkin hats for the baby and her big sister.

The novel: "B" is for Burglar

Kinsey Milhone is still a bit rattled from the ending of "A" is for Alibi, but doesn't want to talk about it.  This story starts 2 weeks after the conclusion of that novel, which ended when she found out her boyfriend had murdered some people and then she shot him to death when he tried to murder her.  But she swears everything is fine.  She's hired by a glamorous eighties lady named Beverly to track down her missing sister, Elaine, in order to get her sign off on an estate settlement.  But sister is nowhere to be found at her residence or her other residence in Florida.  After consulting her greatest informants, old neighbor ladies who like to chat, Kinsey discovers that Elaine's neighbor, Marty, was murdered and had her house burned down.  Coincidence?  Probably not!  After Beverly tells her to stop investigating, she's hired by a snoopy neighbor to continue her investigation and I honestly can't remember now if it was Elaine's bridge partner in Florida or her elderly neighbor in California.  There are a lot of overnight flights and conversations with travel agents.

This is also the book where Kinsey meets a detective named Jonah while working that murder/arson case and falls for him even though his character raises every divorced dad red flag there is.

I'm always interested in what Kinsey describes as attractive men.  There was the murdering boyfriend of the last book, who kind of sounded like a James-Caan-in-his-40s-with-more-hair type and was an embezzler and murderer.  Then there's her darling landlord, Henry Pitts, who seems charming enough but I will never understand the appeal of a wiry crossword creator in his eighties.  He does bake, though, so there's that.  And then there's Jonah, who has been with his wife since he was 14 and has two children and when she moved out she left him with nearly a year's worth of frozen dinners in the deep freezer.  Which....is one of the dumbest and saddest things I can ever imagine being told when I'm trying to access police files from a guy I'm flirting with at Rosie's bar (as the star of one such series might do).  But it's also why I love this series--the characters are realistic, but distinctive.  

Elaine looks classy, but has a drinking problem and a violent temper.  Her husband, Audrey, seems rich and worldly but he's a liar and a cheat and maybe not mentally competent.  There's a bright young woman who works as a locksmith and repair person whose work on a window sash helps Kinsey realize something and run out to get herself in danger.  There's Pat, who is shifty and weird.  A helpful dentist's wife with a Southern accent.  A nice little teen with a mohawk selling pills out of his uncle's shed.  An extra murder or two.  Some lying.  Some fraud and identity theft.  And Kinsey gets shot.

I loved this one.  The characters are rich, there a lot of twists and turns--but not too many--and Kinsey's independent streak is more often shown than tossed out like a constant refrain.  Everything about was a complete delight.  All I remember about the next book is that Kinsey has to do physical therapy to help heal up her shot shoulder.  I'm ready.