Photo by Nikos RoussosĪlthough Scarlett and Harrison and the others don’t wander far beyond Portobello Road in Notting Hill near Kensington Gardens, we get a good sense of the neighborhoods of Notting Hill. Things spiral downhilll for Scarlett from there. And one of them (the rich and titled) gets dead.

The customers are a varied bunch, tending toward the rich and titled. Other characters that sound like the kind of people you’d like to have a cup of tea and a pub meal with include the intern in the shop, a gay couple down the street whose conversations are guaranteed to have everyone laughing out loud, and a couple of policemen. Harrison, the shop’s financial manager takes her under his protection and tempts her to renege on her resolution to stay away from men. When Scarlett arrives she contributes her people skills to the business in lieu of chapeau artistry. Although Scarlett inherited half-ownership of the shop, it is Viv with her creativity that has run the shop for five years. When she becomes the subject of an embarassing viral video, she flees for England to visit Viv, only to find that her cousin as gone missing. Scarlett was born in England and spent summers with her cousin Viv at their grandmother’s hat shop, Mim’s Whims. Her light-as-a-feather novel tickles the reader’s fancy with more concentration on the neurotic worries of heroine Scarlett than on any gruesome scenes of havoc. The author admits to being a bit nervous about setting her new series in a foreign country, but she can relax. A hat shop in Notting Hill, London, is the focus of her usual wit, puns, romance, gal-pals, and, oh, yes–murder.

But she’s gone abroad for her newest series, debuting this week with Cloche and Dagger. Her Library Lover’s mysteries are set in New England. In June, we talked here about Going, Going, Ganache, the latest of her Cupcake Mysteries, which are set in fashionable downtown Scottsdale. Book: Cloche and Dagger, A Hat Shop Mystery by Jenn McKinlay (NEW August 6, 2013) Photo by Barbara CouroubleĪrizona author Jenn McKinlay juggles not one but three series of mysteries in her writing life.

Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay