60.
Author(s): Colin Cotterill
Title: Killed at the Whim of a Hat
Publication: Early Review
Pages: 384
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Acquisition: borrowed
Date Completed: July 31, 2011
Rating: ****

Set in Thailand and peppered with the brilliance of a former American President, Killed at the Whim of a Hat is a cozy mystery following Jimm Juree, a crime reporter who is transplanted to a rather rural community when her mother suddenly sells the family home and purchases a remote "resort." Constantly brooding over this twist of fate, Jimm Juree carefully catalogs all that is wrong with her new home, until she is (blissfully) distracted by the discovery of two hippie skeletons in a buried VW bus. Suddenly, this little community doesn't seem quite so dull.

However, it is a second mystery - the rather daring murder of an abbot - that really sweeps Jimm Juree off her feet, and into the community. By the conclusion of the novel it is the sense of satisfaction that Jimm finds, rather than the resolution of the crime, that is most compelling. Killed at the Whim of a Hat is more a novel of character development, with the "mysteries" functioning as a catalyst for discovery rather than major narrative motivation. Recommended.