Excerpt: Knitting Wars

The area was a typical small-town American region. It stretched from Bridgewich Retreat in the North, to Richwich Reserve in the South. From Kingside Village at its East, to [insert name of town here] at its West. It had been built by hardworking farmers, almost destroyed during the Great Depression, recovered during World War II, and blossomed during the Baby Boom. The twentieth century had sprouted into the twenty-first, and [insert name of geographic area here] was still finding the identity that would shape its future. But one thing was certain. If you wanted big, sprawling farms and country living, you went to Kingside Village, where Clay Jarnigan, Senior, ran Pitcairn Farms, which included the biggest greenhouse with the freshest produce, hardiest plants, and had an ice cream shop, to boot. If you wanted upscale chain hotels, big-box, open-air mall shopping, and cookie-cutter condos, you went to Richwich Reserve. [Insert name of Western town here] was the wrong side of the tracks; housing projects, bad schools, and a hospital and free clinic that serviced the uninsured and under-insured. Bridgewich Retreat was the upscale suburb. Giant McMansions, pristine landscaped yards ... just about all of it built on the back of organized crime. In addition to the usual racketeering and drug traffic, there was another area controlled by an organized crime syndicate ... not one that one might usually think of. Under its quiet, unassuming facade, Bridgewich Retreat was harboring a yarn mafia.