Bad Guys and the Guise of Surprise: Staying Ahead of the Hat Game

If there's one thing I always say, then it's this: you can never have too many books or too many hats.  Or too many books about hats.  Yes, once again I'm chattering about my chapeau collection in the same breath as Jenn McKinlay's Hat Shop Mysteries.  Although I suppose the books will soon come to an end, as I have only two left in the series. 

Thankfully, Assault and Beret was a particularly fun one, with cousins Scarlett and Vivian swapping their home base of London for Paris.  The cause of their, ahem, wild hair?  Viv's teaching a hat-making class while Scarlett susses out a man from Viv's past.  (Try saying that five times fast.)  Intrigue -- and elegance -- abound.

I like to think that the same is true of my hat display.  Nestled among the fascinators is a new topper: the bow-bedecked, straw, LC Lauren Conrad cloche:       

Although it's quieter than its rainbow-plumed sisters, there's something simply sweet about it.  I can see myself wearing it with a long, flowy dress and carrying flowers.  Or maybe a nightstick.

You know.  Whatever brings out the bow.