Review: Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay

Cloche and Dagger
(A Hat Shop Mystery)
Brand New Series
Cozy Mystery
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
The Berkley Publishing Group August 6, 2013)
Published by The Penguin Group
Cover Illustration by Robert Steele
Cover Design by Diana Kolsky
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425258897
E-Book File Size: 679 KB
ASIN: B009RYS39A

Not only is Scarlett Parker’s love life in the loo—as her British cousin Vivian Tremont would say—it’s also gone viral with an embarrassing video.

Scarlett agrees with Viv that it is time to get out of Florida for awhile so she jets across the pond to visit her cousin and check in on the business they share.  Mims’s Whims was left to them by their grandmother. Viv has the perfect touch of creating outstanding and outlandish hats just like her grandmother, Scarlett is a novice when it come to creating any type of chapeau.  So when Scarlett arrives in London only to find her cousin not in residence she is like a fish out of water.

Harrison Wentworth is the business manager for the hat shop and is used to Viv taking off on whims of her own. But when one of Viv’s hoity-toity clients ends up dead people including Scarlett and the coppers start to wonder if she is really off on a buying trip or in hiding.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Jenn McKinlay has done it again!!! Scarlett is a fantastic character! I absolutely love her. She spent most of the book worried about her missing cousin and I did too.

With all these viral videos hitting the internet lately, and I know a couple from one of the latest personally, Scarlett’s story is current and believable and hilarious!! I didn’t need to see it with my eyes this author made me see it in my mind perfectly.

It was fun to follow the murder mystery too along with a couple other unusual happenings. No spoilers here!!

Jenn has laid the foundation for another wonderful series. Harrison has captivated me with his stories of infatuation for Scarlett when they were young and she still holds a place in his heart. After recent events she is not ready to see that yet. Viv was missing for most of the story but these three together along with Fiona “Fee”, Andre and Nick are going to take us on some wild rides. Death of a Mad Hatter can’t be released soon enough for me!! I wonder what part Ferd the Bird will play in that one.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”