At the Drop of a Hat

Paperback, 292 pages

English language

Published Feb. 3, 2015 by Berkley.

ISBN:
978-0-425-25891-0
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
900557852

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(1 review)

Cousins Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont's fashionable London hat shop, Mim's Whims, is visited by a new customer bearing an old hat box. Ariana Jackson is getting married and wants to restore her mother's bridal hat and veil for the occasion. The elegant item was made by Scarlett and Vivian's grandmother over thirty years ago, so Viv is delighted to take the job. When Scarlett goes to Ariana's office to consult about the restoration cost, she finds her outside, standing over her boss's dead body. Though Ariana claims to know nothing about his demise, the investigation unveils a motive for murder. Now, with the bride-to-be in custody and the wedding on hold, Scarlett and Viv must find the real killer before Ariana's future is boxed up for good.

1 edition

reviewed At the Drop of a Hat by Jenn McKinlay (Hat shop mysteries)

Review of 'At the drop of a hat' on 'Goodreads'

This is a very light and silly book, which is sometimes exactly what one wants. The prose induces the occasional cringe, sometimes validly because the protagonist would have had just that cringe-inducing thought right there, and sometimes not. The book stands alone in terms of the crime solved, but fits into its series in terms of the (at least) two star-crossed love stories among the continuing characters.

I gave it three rather than four stars mostly due to one oddly jarring scene in which, in a book otherwise perfectly comfortable with two gay characters, a background "metrosexual" (or "fop") character is introduced just in order to be ridiculed (bet he does a full-body wax, narf narf), shown as a cad, and seen off by the main love-interest, and Our Heroine can remark how a proper man should be strong and have chest hair. I mean, what?

But anyway, with that …

Subjects

  • Hats
  • Murder
  • Investigation
  • Fiction