This book is the first in a series of cozy mysteries called “A Renaissance Faire Mystery”.

Jessie is a professor most of the year but also lives and works at a Renaissance Faire during the summer. She has a twin brother named Tony and she is at least 6 feet tall, kind of a goofball ditz and after a dead body shows up, she is suspicious of everyone!

She works every summer at a different shop and this year she’s working at the Basket Weaving shop. She’s also in love with the handsome 6’8″ “Chase Manhattan” the bailiff who lives at the village year round.

I know what a cozy mystery is but are they all kind of tongue in cheek silly/cheesy? I’m not sure what we’re supposed to like about Jessie. She admits she likes the Faire because it’s an escape from the hum drum. She likes going back to her students. She hooks up with a different guy every summer. She also kept accusing everyone of the murder without much motive – she’s kind of a busy body!

The setting of the Faire and the village sounds pretty cool if you’re a visitor. It sounds like there is always something going on – onstage and behind the scenes. I like the idea of the villagers that take it very seriously and literally live the part. One of the villagers even changed their name to Robin Hood legally!

The mystery gets solved in the end of course and Jessie goes back to her real life. Now that everyone’s roles have been established, hoping Book 2 “Ghastly Glass” will keep me interested.

Since it’s not a genre I’m familiar with, I wanted to try reading a cozy mystery series. Luckily author and blogger James had the same idea. Click here to see general info and links for this read-a-long!