Killed At The Whim Of A Hat

Looking for a mystery featuring a murdered monk, a camp-as-Christmas cop and a canine kleptomaniac? You may be in luck. Killed at the Whim of a Hat brings together an assortment of unlikely characters for a quirky crime story set in Thailand. It’s narrated by the melodically-named Jimm Juree, a crime reporter who’s on the verge of promotion when her mother suddenly uproots the family from the big city to a sleepy fishing village. With little to do but gut mackerel, Jimm resigns herself to life in dullsville. But famine turns to feast when she’s faced with three simultaneous mysteries, including a brutal murder in the nearby Buddhist monastery.

Cracking these cases will take all of Jimm’s resourcefulness, along with the support of her oddball family and the theatrical Lieutenant Chompu. It's a light-hearted tale, as whimsical as its title. But even the cast of eccentric characters can’t save a plot that’s lacking in Thai spice. There’s never any real sense of danger, and the resolution is barely credible. That said, the story is related with a comical charm that's reminiscent of another single-minded female crime-buster. It could easily have been renamed The Number One Ladies’ Crime Reporting Agency. [James Carson]