Book 1: The Vampire Knitting Club
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 500-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?
Book 2: Stitches and WitchesWhen an older gentleman keels over in his scones and tea at the Elderflower Tea Shop in Oxford—a victim of poison—Lucy Swift and her band of undead amateur detectives are on the case.
Elderflower Tea Shop is next door to Cardinal Woolsey’s, the yarn shop Lucy runs and home to the late-night Vampire Knitting Club. The tea shop owners are a pair of octogenarian spinsters and old family friends, so Lucy wants to help clear up the mystery that’s keeping their shop closed. But murder isn’t the only issue troubling the Miss Watts. A man has come between them. Miss Florence Watt is being romanced by an old flame, one Mary Watt distrusts.
In between figuring out who, among his many enemies, might have poisoned the unpleasant Colonel Montague, Lucy’s trying to brush up on her magic spells before the Wiccan potluck dinner her witchy cousin insists she attend.
However, she’s still settling into being a witch and since she botched a spell and blew up her kitchen, she’s taking the magic slowly.
Her knitting endeavors aren’t much better. Between purling when she should knit and dropping so many stitches her hand-knit scarf looks like it was attacked by giant moths, there are days Lucy thinks she’ll pack it all in and move back to Boston. She might, except she’d miss her beloved undead grandmother, her new friends, one very sexy vampire and a local detective who is very much alive.
Book 3: Crochet and Cauldrons
My Grandmother, Agnes Bartlett, used to own Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting shop in Oxford then died and left her shop to me, without informing me that she wasn’t actually dead. She’s a vampire and part of the world’s strangest craft circle – the Vampire Knitting Club.
As you might imagine, this means she’s free to interfere in how I run the business that used to be hers. She’s trying to teach me to knit and it’s not going well. She’s also trying to teach me how to be a witch, since it turns out I’m from a long line of witches. Another tiny detail about my family that no one ever told me, along with the long-lost witch cousins I recently discovered.
But I’m learning. I’ve got my family spell book, my black cat familiar, some powers that sometimes scare me, and an interesting new group of friends.
My archaeologist parents are coming to visit and bringing me a gift I could do without.
So, to recap, I run a knitting shop and I can’t knit. I’m a beginning witch who can’t always control her cat, never mind her magic, and my love life is as tangled as the last sock I tried to knit. Oh, and for some reason, I keep getting involved in murder investigations. Good thing I have my vampire knitters to help sniff out clues.
At least I’ve finally hired the perfect assistant, a real demon with the crochet hook. Or is she too perfect?
Book 4: Stockings and SpellsThe Vampire Knitting Club decide to take part in Oxford’s Holiday Market, selling exquisite hand knit scarves, sweaters and gift items. Their most popular item is the hand knit Christmas stocking, brightly colored and extra long to squeeze in a few extra small gifts.
But when a sales clerk in another booth is found strangled with one of the stockings, Lucy Swift and her undead detectives are on the case, determined to find out who would do such a terrible thing. And why.
In the meantime, Lucy’s working hard at her spell book, learning to be a witch, with the help of her black cat familiar and her new assistant. Meritanum is a three thousand year old Egyptian witch and she’s having trouble with some of the concepts of modern life, such as traffic, Smart Phones and anything powered by electricity.
Life at Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting shop, in Oxford, England, is as colorful as the most garish Christmas sweater.
