Wicked Weaves
A
Renaissance Faire Mystery with Jessie Morton
Joyce
and Jim Lavene
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-425-22330-2 (0425223302)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22330-7 (9780425223307)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Jessie Morton has been working the Renaissance Faire
every summer since she graduated from college. Now that she's studying
for her Ph.D., it's not just work; it's research. This summer her
apprenticeship is with Mary Shift -- a skilled basket maker with a dark
past.
Things appear to be going without a hitch, until a man is bid a deadly
fare-thee-well and Mary's signature weave is found wrapped around his
neck. It's up to Jessie to spring Mary from the stocks of the Myrtle
Beach police station. Yet innocence is hard to prove in a place where
there's a fine line between reality and good theater -- and history is
bound to repeat itself.
Review: Joyce
and Jim Lavene introduce graduate student Jessie Morton who, while
conducting research at a local Renaissance Faire, finds more than she
expected when she's drawn into a murder investigation in Wicked Weaves, the first mystery in
this series.
Jessie's dissertation is titled Proliferation of Medieval Crafts in
Modern Times and what better place to learn more than at an authentic
Renaissance Faire, a Disney-esque attraction built on an abandoned
airfield outside Charleston, South Carolina. Her current assignment is
to work with a Mary Shift, a Gullah woman who weaves baskets from
native grasses, a craft handed down through generations of her people.
It is outside Mary's shop Wicked Weaves that a man is found strangled
with a weave with her distinctive style. Though Mary is just half the
size of the dead man and seemingly incapable of such a deed, when it's
discovered he is her estranged husband and there are ways it could have
been done, she's the prime suspect. Though Jessie has her doubts about
Mary's innocence, she's determined to uncover the truth.
A Renaissance Faire would seem an ideal setting for a mystery series,
with each book exploring a different craft, no doubt discovering how a
murder might be committed using its materials or method. Yet Wicked Weaves doesn't take
advantage of this to any significant degree. Set near Charleston and
featuring the little known Gullah people, this is an area rich with
history that could have been used to develop a more interesting,
engaging storyline. As it is, it's predictable to the point of boring,
and the flat and rather unexciting character of Jessie Morton doesn't
help. The authors already produce several books a year in no less than
four other series; maybe they're spreading themselves too thin starting
yet another series, despite its potential.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing a copy of Wicked Weaves for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Wicked Weaves? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Wicked Weaves
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback), September 2008
ISBN-10: 0-425-22330-2 (0425223302)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22330-7 (9780425223307)
Omnimystery keywords for Wicked Weaves ...
Location(s) referenced: Myrtle Beach, Charleston, South Carolina.
