Kristina Anderson
A Passion for Haunted Fashion by Rose Pressey is the sixth tale in A Haunted Vintage Mystery series. Cookie Chanel the owner of Vintage Y’All in Sugar Creek, Georgia is doing the costumes for Sugar Creek Theater’s production of A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She is in the costume room checking out a trunk when the ghost of Peggy Page appears. Peggy does not know what happened to her and Cookie agrees to help her. Then Cookie hears a scream from the stage and takes off running. Her best friend, heather Sweet is standing over Morris Palmer with blood on her hands and he has a knife sticking out of his chest. This is definitely not part of the play. With Heather the prime suspect and Dylan being pressured to make an arrest, Cookie dons her investigators cap and plunges into the case. Cookie needs to track down the killer or Heather’s new role will be that of a prisoner! A Passion for Haunted Fashion is a light, humorous cozy mystery. While is sixth book in the series, it can be read alone. The book is nicely written and has a steady pace throughout. However, Cookie did not seem like herself in A Passion for Haunted Fashion. Cookie is normally a fun character with a flair for vintage fashion. In this story, Cookie was scared, nervous and paranoid throughout the whole book. The murder of Morris Palmer was uncomplicated. I felt the author missed the mark by not introducing readers to the victim before he was offed. Peggy’s story was sadly neglected. It is the one that I found more appealing, and I wanted to know more about Peggy and what happened to her. I enjoyed the interactions between Charlotte, Peggy and Cookie. Charlotte’s witty and sarcastic dialogue had me laughing along her tips for the afterlife. Wind Song (or Cookie’s Grandma) had a bigger presence, and I like how she aided the investigation. I do wish that the ghosts were better utilized in the investigations and during dangerous situations. I love the descriptions of the vintage fashions and Cookie’s 1948 red convertible. I am rating A Passion for Haunted Fashion 3 out of 5 stars. A cute story, but it is not my favorite book in A Haunted Vintage Mystery series.