Read Online Perilous Pranks (Renaissance Faire Mystery) by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene - Free Book Online

Andre at his hat shop. He was a dapper hat designer in his fifties who’d once been a hat maker to the stars in Hollywood before coming to the Village. He was a small man but he had big style, especially when it came to hats.
    The hat he was wearing that day was bright blue and held three peacock feathers in the wide brim. Of course it matched his outfit and the shoes he wore.
    He’d been accused of murder—once in the Village and once before he’d left Hollywood—exonerated in both cases. I figured he understood my position better than most.
    “I only wanted to dye her blue. Now her ghost is following me, wanting me to find her killer. The only thing worse than Wanda alive, is Wanda dead.”
    Andre and Beth exchanged disbelieving glances.
    “Well.” Beth cleared her throat. “Let’s get this fitting over with. Is Wanda here now?”
    “No. She’s out in the Village looking for people who can see her, people she can scare. Death hasn’t made her any nicer.”
    I stepped behind the beautiful tapestry Beth used as her fitting screen and removed my loose white blouse and blue skirt. Beth came around the back, and with the help of one of her assistants, she lowered the wedding gown over my head.
    “I’m not sure about this inset.” Beth played around with one of the darker pink panels in the skirt. “Why doesn’t Wanda know who killed her?”
    “I don’t know. She says it happened too fast for her to see a face.”
    Andre walked around the tapestry. “I saw a ghost once. It was Errol Flynn. That was a man who liked his hats, on and off screen. I’d been working on a hat for him. He died, and I set it aside. A few months later, I went to my shop, and there he was—trying on the hat. He gave me a quick salute and vanished.”
    “Did he take the hat with him?” I asked.
    “No, but I took that to mean that he approved. He would’ve looked fabulous in it!”
    “What about you, Jessie?” Beth’s hands were on her hips while her assistant measured the hem of my gown. “Do you plan to wear a hat for the wedding, or a veil?”
    “You should let me design the perfect hat for you,” Andre offered. “You have great cheekbones. Hats look good on you. I’m thinking of something in plum, with a three-foot brim, and a large plume. We could attach a nice veil as well. You’d look splendid .”
    “Aren’t you making a hat for Chase?” I asked.
    “Yes. It’s going to be astonishing ,” Andre said with enthusiasm. “A handsome man like Chase shows off a hat to its full advantage.”
    “Then I guess I’ll wear a veil. Two hats seem like a lot to me. I don’t want to crash my big hat into his hat as we take our vows.”
    “I agree with Jessie,” Beth said. “Two hats are too much. We can do a great veil that will stream out behind you with your train.”
    “What about a tiara?” Andre asked. “That might work.”
    That was one of the big side effects of everyone knowing we were getting married. They had an opinion on what we should and shouldn’t do. I loved weddings at the Ren Faire and had dreamed of one for years. I didn’t want to give mine up. I just had to hang tough on what I did and didn’t want.
    “No tiara,” I said. “I’m too tall.”
    “Flowers?” Beth asked as she checked the inset on the dress again. “Flowers would look nice.”
    “I don’t know about flowers.” I noticed my reflection in the mirror. It didn’t even seem like me. “I might start sneezing.”
    Andre looked at my reflection too. “Have you thought about shoes? I know a shoemaker who makes wonderful shoes out of spun glass.”
    That was it for me. Beth’s assistant had finished pinning the gown. I stripped it off—after Beth shooed Andre from behind the tapestry. “I have to go.”
    “Your wedding is going to be wonderful,” Beth reassured me. “People are going to talk about it for years.”
    I thanked her and left Stylish Frocks. Being remembered for years could also be a curse. Kind of like the