Jessie Morton is an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina during the school year, but works as an apprentice at various craft shops in Renaissance Faire Village each summer. This summer, she is serving as an apprentice to Andre Hariot, who came from working on Hollywood movie sets to run a hat shop in the Renaissance Village.
The summer gets off to a good start for Jessie, but then ladies’ man Cesar Rizzo, one of the village chocolatiers, is found dead in his shop. Closer investigation shows that it’s death by chocolate – Cesar has drowned in one of the shop’s large vats! The top suspect is Andre, and unless Jessie can find the real murderer and keep Andre from going to prison, she’ll lose her apprenticeship and spend her summer selling “frogs” to kids for the catapult game.
Harrowing Hats is the fourth book in the Renaissance Faire mystery series. The setting is unique and the characters are very different than those you find in many cozies. Jessie is extremely independent, to the point of being afraid of totally committing to and depending on anyone else, even her wonderful boyfriend, with the unfortunate name of “Chase Manhattan.” Chase is the village bailiff and is responsible for keeping law and order in the village. This is a year-round job and Chase wants nothing more than for Jessie to also stay in the village permanently. Jessie doesn’t want to give up on getting her PhD so that she will always have that degree to fall back on to support herself. She also is afraid of losing touch with the real world outside the village if she stays there year round.
The Renaissance Faire Village really is a make-believe world. The people in the book live like the characters they portray for the village’s guests almost all of the time. There are hierarchies amongst the employees depending on their position/role in the village that remind me of high school cliques. For example, the man and woman who portray the King and Queen are married in real life, live in an air conditioned castle, and have people waiting on them. Robin Hood and his Merry Men live in tree houses without running water in the forest. As Andre says after “Princess Isabel” appears to be taking her role as royalty a little too seriously,
“I really think some of the actors in Renaissance Village have forgotten they’re acting.”
It’s strange, and sometimes tedious, to see these characters taking on the roles of the characters they are portraying all the time, even when they are off work. However, that same thing that makes the characters seem a little bizarre also provides a chance for the reader to get totally immersed in this fantasy world. The book is a quick, fun read and transports you to the Middle Ages.
I have not followed this entire series, but have read one of the earlier books. I am happy to see that Jessie and Chase’s relationship has progressed, and even though she still has problems with commitment, Jessie had matured over the course of the series to become an even more likeable heroine.
The information about life in the Middle Ages is included throughout the book, and there is some background material about hats and a recipe at the end. The mystery itself is interesting and there is no shortage of suspects in Cesar’s death. With Jessie on the case, all loose ends are tied up by the end of the story.
Readers who enjoy husband and wife authors Joyce and Jim Lavene’s Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries or anyone looking for something a little different will want to give Harrowing Hats a try.
~ Christine K. |
