I like the setting, Renaissance Faire but I wasn't too taken with any of the characters. Jessie the main character doesn't act like much of a college professor. I'll give the next book in the series a try to see if it improves. ( )

What a dreadful book. Do you really think women are that stupid? I read about 10 % of the book and gave up.

The woman is supposed to be a professor at a university. But upon finding a dead body she immediately concludes that her mentor has killed the person and lies to the police. REALLY??

The characters are flat and the descriptions are horrible.

( )

I don't see how anyone who is allegedly a PH.d candidate would behave as stupidly as this person does. Also the bbok can't tell whether it's cheap romance novel or a cozy mystery. I expected more since i enjoy the authors' gardening mysteries.

And as an ex- Ren Faire person some of it is just stupid. ( )

This is the first book in the Renaissance Faire mystery series. The main character in this book is Jessie Morton. She is a professor who is earning her doctorate. Every summer she works at the Renaissance Faire and apprentices to different people to learn everything she can about the period and the crafts. This year she is working with Mary Shift, a master basket-weaver. When Mary's ex-husband turns up dead outside her shop, she is the prime suspect. The fact that nobody knew she had ever been married or had a son added to the mystery. As days go on and Jessie and Chase, the town baliff and her new boyfriend try to figure out who the murderer is. When Mary disappears, Jessie thinks she knows what is going on. I really enjoyed this series. The characters were a hoot as they acted in character during the story. It was funny, romantic and there was a mystery, what else could you ask for. I am definitely going to look for the next one in the series. ( )

This is one of those books where the concept is very interesting, but I felt that it sort of failed when it came to execution and getting the facts/setting right.

The setting is a Ren Faire--a permanent one. While there may be permanent Renaissance Faires in existence, all the ones I know of (at least in the United States where this book is set) are temporary things. They are open for a period of weeks or months, often in the late summer and through the autumn months. Given the descriptions, the Renaissance Faire depicted in the book seems more like a living history/reenactment museum mixed with a theme park.

On the storytelling front, well, it felt more like work to read this than anything else. I had trouble caring about the characters, and the mystery wasn't particularly compelling to me either. Nothing about it really had me wanting to read any more books in this series. ( )