Below is the complete list of Jenn McKinlay’s Hat Shop Mystery books in order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Hat Shop Mystery Books
About Hat Shop Mystery
Jenn McKinlay’s Hat Shop Mystery series is a seven-book cozy mystery sequence centered on American Scarlett Parker and her British cousin Vivian Tremont, co-owners of Mim’s Whims, a fashionable millinery shop on Portobello Road in London. The series mixes murder investigations with British social life, custom hatmaking, romance, and the contrast between Scarlett’s American perspective and Vivian’s more impulsive familiarity with London. Although each novel contains a separate crime, the evolving relationships among Scarlett, Vivian, and business manager Harrison Wentworth give the books a clear continuing arc.
Cloche and Dagger begins after Scarlett’s personal life becomes a public embarrassment in Florida. When a humiliating video spreads online, she accepts Vivian’s invitation to leave the United States and join her in London. Mim’s Whims was inherited from their grandmother and gives Scarlett both a refuge and an unexpected new career. Her arrival becomes considerably less restful when Vivian disappears and one of the shop’s clients is found murdered while wearing a hat Vivian made.
Scarlett’s introduction to Harrison Wentworth is equally important to the series. Harrison manages the financial affairs of the hat shop and initially approaches Scarlett with the reserve and skepticism of someone uncertain whether she is prepared to take her responsibilities seriously. Their relationship develops gradually through shared investigations, arguments, attraction, and mutual loyalty. Rather than resolving the romance immediately, McKinlay allows it to evolve alongside Scarlett’s growing attachment to London and her increasing confidence as part-owner of Mim’s Whims.
Vivian provides a very different energy. She is an accomplished milliner, creative and socially adventurous, but her impulsive decisions frequently complicate life for everyone around her. Her friendships and romantic history create several of the later mysteries, particularly when old acquaintances return with problems that cannot be solved by designing the right hat. Scarlett and Vivian work well as amateur investigators precisely because they approach people differently: Scarlett is often more cautious and observant, while Vivian’s sociability opens doors that would otherwise remain closed.
Millinery remains central throughout the series. Customers arrive for bridal veils, special-event hats, theatrical creations, formal headpieces, and eccentric commissions, giving the cousins access to wealthy families, weddings, charitable events, and fashionable social circles. Hat restoration can also connect present-day clients with earlier generations, allowing old possessions and family histories to become part of a murder investigation.
The series gradually moves beyond Portobello Road. Assault and Beret takes Scarlett and Vivian to Paris, where Vivian’s unresolved marital history and a missing artwork become entangled with a new crime. Later installments return more strongly to Britain, including a dog show involving Harrison’s aunt Betty and a castle wedding where murder transforms an elaborate social occasion into a closed-circle investigation.
There was a notable gap after Assault and Beret, originally published as the fifth installment, before McKinlay revived the series with Buried to the Brim. Scarlett and Harrison are engaged by this point, reflecting how much personal development has occurred since the opening book. Fatal Fascinator continues the revived sequence and brings the cousins into another high-society setting shaped by elaborate hats, family tensions, and murder.
The individual cases are generally self-contained, but publication order remains the strongest approach because Scarlett’s decision to remain in London, her partnership with Vivian, and her relationship with Harrison develop steadily across the books. What begins as an escape from public humiliation gradually becomes a story about building a new home, protecting a family business, and discovering that life above a Portobello Road hat shop can be considerably more dangerous than Scarlett ever expected.