Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Half Double Murder
AUTHOR: Marshall Thornton
PUBLISHER: Kenmore Books
LENGTH: 259 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2026
BLURB:
It’s about making a sweater. A warm, cozy, crocheted sweater
When a troubled teen named Brown and a senior citizen named Chester meet at an LGBTQ fiber arts group, they both want to crochet sweaters. But yarn, hooks and needles are set aside when the director of The Center is accused of murdering the owner of a neighboring hair salon who posted transphobic attacks on social media. Brown, Chester and the rest of the fiber arts group set out to prove their friend’s innocence. He is innocent — right?
This new mystery by three-time Lambda award-winner Marshall Thornton is set in the familiar universe of Wyandot County, Northern Lower Michigan, but Half Double Murder jumps ahead to the year 2016 with a mix of new and old characters.
REVIEW:
Chester is part of the fiber arts group that meets at the local LGBTQ Pride Center in small town Michigan. Brown is a teen at loose ends. She decides she wants to crochet a sweater and while looking at books at the local library branch, Rochelle, one of the librarians suggests she go to the fiber arts group to learn more. She shows up and Chester or “Chess” as his friends call him, is happy to help her since he is also crocheting a sweater. Brown is quiet and observing. Then a reporter shows up and the Director, Vaughn, responds to the transphobic statements of a local hair dresser. It doesn’t go great.
Soon the group is protesting in front of the hair salon. Within days the salon owner is dead and the director is accused or murder. Chess is certain Vaughn didn’t do it. In the meantime he’s dealing with his own legal issues with the breakup of his relationship and the sale of an incomplete “dream home” that he now can’t afford to finish 🙁 His lawyer seems to be handling both matters and he and Chess try go work in a way to help Vaughn.
Meanwhile Chess grows more concerned about Brown. He correctly surmises that she’s living out of her Jeep. He offers to have her park in his driveway at least if she won’t consent to taking his spare room. She’s been on her own for some time after a tough family situation and she’s disinclined to trust the motives of anyone who appears to just be “nice” to her. She reluctantly agrees and she and Chess spend a lot of time together – both crocheting and also trying to find out who murdered the hair dresser and what their motive could be.
Turns out all is not as it seems. There is more going on than meets the eye and the bizarre family dynamics of the hair dresser and others in the community require closer scrutiny. The local librarians and others in the community try to help, but it seems like it’s up to Chess (and Brown) to try to figure out who had the most to gain. For a small town, there does seem to be a lot of danger about.
Oh what a delightful find this book was for me 🙂 Full disclosure – this isn’t a romance, but a fun read in any event. The characters are delightful – fully human and believable. I really loved Chester – maybe because I’m “older” too and I just related to him so much – although I personally cannot wait to be retired also 😛 Brown was in such a predicament. I shudder to think just how many young people share her plight. Chess was such a good egg. He and Rochelle both just wanted to do what they could for her without either offending her or causing her to run and avoid them. Spending time at the library and then at the Center was really her only respite until Chess insists that she let him help her – even if it was slow going and she didn’t want to trust that people could be good and not want something from her. The rest of the crew at the center is a mixed bag and I really liked that. No group is a monolith and the various personalities, motivations and priorities were frankly refreshing. Also the varying degrees of willingness of people to put their neck on the line or purposely put themselves in the spotlight I thought was very much true to life. Lots of people like to complain, but what it comes to putting their money where their mouth is, well there are lots of considerations – not the least of being made the “example of” or “spokesperson for” for a diverse group of people. The bigotry and homophobia and transphobia are unfortunately still with us and in our current times seemingly on the rise instead of retreating. Marshall Thornton continues to deliver interesting characters and situations that are wholly believable and very entertaining while illuminating issues that continue to plague our society. There is no preaching or heavy-handedness in this story. In fact there is plenty of humor to be found here along with the serious business of murder. Despite the sad state of affairs in this world, the end of this book is very uplifting and I really enjoyed this world and these characters. I sure hope that we will get to see more of them in the future. I haven’t read the previous series set in this small town Michigan universe, but it didn’t impact my reading of this story and I plan to read that series soon 😀 Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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