I couldn’t stop thinking about Philip Treacy, the milliner who designed the hat, which then led my brain to wonder about the British custom of wearing hats. It became a worm burrowing into my skull. I loved it all – the pomp - the circumstance – the crazy hats! And then, there she was, Princess Beatrice with that beige thing on her head. On April 29th, 2011, I roused myself (like 22.8 million other American viewers) to watch the royal wedding. They come from a variety of places but for Cloche and Dagger, the first of the London hat shop mysteries, the idea came to fruition in a matter of hours. Like many of the fabulous authors here at Jungle Red, readers frequently ask me where I get my ideas. Now what if your fashion faux pas was photographed, went viral and inspired a traditional mystery series? Yes, Princess Beatrice, I’m talking to you. The only evidence of my bad choices is a sleeve of negatives in a musty box in my mother’s basement. Obviously, that wasn’t enough, so I decided to wear a Pea Coat and combat boots bought at the Army Navy Surplus shop because high school guys love asking out a girl who looks like a dude, right? Yeah, this is one of many reasons why I am so grateful that the Internet was still in its blessedly innocent infancy during my teen years. At the tender (read dopey) age of seventeen, I decided it would be fabulous to shave the sides of my head and bleach my brown hair a brassy shade of blonde only found on clown wigs or troll dolls. (And remember I said to pay close attention to the hat in the photo from the film The Women in Monday's post? See anything familiar in the photos here today? What goes around, comes around, it seems.) Here's Jenn! So I asked Jenn to tell us a bit about how she came to write this very English story, and what is the deal with the hats?

London? A hat shop? In Portobello Road, no less? A heroine named Scarlett? And a murder? What's NOT to love! Cover of Cloche and Dagger, that I really loved Jenn McKinlay's new book.

Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay