Cloche and Dagger (Hat Shop Mystery, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Nov 28, 2022 Genevieve rated it really liked it

For ages people have been telling me to try this series and though it has been on my list I have never gotten around to it. One reason I am leery of books set in England by a non English author they tend to write what they they think English people sound like and act like rather than what they are.

I am so glad I got over my wariness and decided to read this series. Though I felt it was a little slow to get into I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved the descriptions, the story line and the ...more

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Jun 22, 2025 Olivermagnus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cozy, mystery, 2025, june-25

Cloche and Dagger is the first book in the Hat Shop Mystery series by Jenn McKinlay. Scarlett Parker has escaped an embarrassing end to a romantic relationship and joined her cousin, Viv Tremont, in London, to help run the hat shop their grandmother left to both of them. That is, she thinks she’s joining her cousin. Instead, handsome business manager Harrison Wentworth picks her up at the airport with the news that Viv is missing.

Things start to heat up when one of Viv's clients, Lady Ellis, is ...more

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Sep 05, 2023 Lali & Michelle rated it liked it

Shelves: cozy-series-dnf

3.5 stars

This is the 3rd series by Jenn McKinlay (after Books Can Be Deceiving in the Library Lovers series and Sprinkle with Murder in the Cupcake Bakery series) that I have tried and I am pretty sure that she is an author who is not for me. While I liked Cloche and Dagger better than the other two books (Books Can Be Deceiving was forgettable and Sprinkle with Murder was annoying), it fell into the okay category. My main problem, as with the other books, is that the characters seem quite immat 3.5 stars

This is the 3rd series by Jenn McKinlay (after Books Can Be Deceiving in the Library Lovers series and Sprinkle with Murder in the Cupcake Bakery series) that I have tried and I am pretty sure that she is an author who is not for me. While I liked Cloche and Dagger better than the other two books (Books Can Be Deceiving was forgettable and Sprinkle with Murder was annoying), it fell into the okay category. My main problem, as with the other books, is that the characters seem quite immature. I know they are supposed to be in their later twenties (unlike many cozy mystery sleuths who are in their thirties) but they behave even younger.

Scarlett has left Florida after losing her job at a hotel when a video of her flinging anniversary cake at her married boyfriend went viral. Supposedly, he had assured her that his marriage was over--except for the pesky divorce part--and she believed him. Later, we learn that Scarlett has never been without a boyfriend for more than two weeks since reaching puberty. We also learn that she is a real people-pleaser, which is the skill she brings to the hat shop in England that she co-owns with her cousin. Which is good, because she is a disaster at making hats. Since their grandmother died several years earlier, the cousin has been running the shop alone but this seems like a perfect place for Scarlett to escape to. Only problem is, when she arrives her cousin is missing.

The mystery centers around the murder of some titled woman who was jealous of the cousin because her husband was in love with the cousin in college. When the titled woman turns up murdered, wearing only a hat made by the cousin, the cousin is the #1 suspect even though she has been nowhere to be found for the past week. In order to protect her cousin, Scarlett sets out to find the killer--with some help from handsome childhood friend Harrison. Although Harrison is still somewhat bitter that Scarlett stood him up on their date when she was ten and he was twelve. Later we find out that Harrison is an extremely successful finance guy--and very handsome and fit--and wanted by all the women but Scarlett is so unforgettable that he is still harboring a grudge over something that happened when they were preteens? Not to worry, Harrison and Scarlett clearly are attracted to each other, when they are not suspecting each other of murder that is.

The book gets 3.5 stars because there were some humorous lines, but overall it is quite ridiculous in many ways. Probably my last try with Jenn McKinlay. ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Alison (Lady Coffin) S rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: family, cozy-mystery, goal-winter

A cute Cozy Mystery series with potential to not be too cookie cutter. For me the Hat Shop and it being in Notting Hill, England added some variety. Hope that book two is as interesting.

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