While I've occasionally been involved in SCA activities I've never been to a renfair. This is a story of Jessie Morton, who is doing research on medieval crafts, and date the manager, Chase Manhattan. It's Halloween and there are a lot of halloween extra characters around. One of them is death and then he turns up literally dead. Then there are more accidents and incidents and things get complicated.

She gets involved in the investigation and almost gets killed several times and honestly is almost too stupid to live. She keeps stumbling into things she should know better but failing, even when she's warned to actually pay attention and take some care.

Honestly I wanted to shake her or slap her she's supposed to be intelligent and many of the people around her are also supposed to be clever, but the amount of stupid behaviour and activity including some behaviour that is either sexist or bullying and honestly I would have either lodged a formal complaint or left the insanity behind.

It wasn't a terrible read but it didn't make me want to find any more from this series or anything by these authors. ( )

The romance side story was too annoying and cliche for me. Got to page 50 and tossed it. ( )

I tried to read this, only made it about 30 pages in. Don't bother if you've ever worked a Renaissance Festival in any capacity (I've been a musician at the MD Faire for 30 years) or have even been to one, which I don't think the authors have. Every detail of the setting was wrong. It was like a cross between an SCA event (with guilds and apprenticeships and volunteers living on the site) and a Renaissance theme park (open daily year round, supplying the costumes for workers). Once the first murder occurred and they had the village sheriff and deputies actually being the security force, I couldn't take it any more. I had picked up 2 of this series at Borders going out of business sale, really glad I didn't pay full price. They go right into the re-sell bag. ( )

Adequate. Another "themed mystery" book, second in this series. Not a bad read, but the main character has so many mood swings and doubts regarding boyfriend Chase Manhattan that he'd be well advise to look elsewhere. ( )

In this second book of the Renaissance Faire Mystery series, Jessie Morton, an assistant professor at a local college, continues her research on Renaissance crafts by becoming an apprentice at the Glass Gryphon, one of the shops at Renaissance Village.

When the Grim Reaper, or the man playing him, is killed, Jessie takes it upon herself to track down the killer. Halloween hijinx make it difficult to determine what is real and what is fake in this place of make believe. The message “Death shall find thee,” which was found on the Grim Reaper’s robe, starts appearing all over the village and no one is sure if it’s a warning from the killer or just part of the scary decorations.

Will Jessie find the answers in time to stop the killer from striking again?

What could be a more fun setting for a mystery than the Renaissance Faire? Ghastly Glass captures the magic of swashbuckling pirates and fluttering fairies, peasants and pageantry, and the many shoppes boasting beautiful wares that make up a Renaissance village. When Halloween hits the village, craziness ensues.

I enjoyed the main character, Jessie, but didn’t like that she seemed to be the only intelligent character in the book. For me, it’s difficult to read a book where everyone is being duped except the hero or heroine. Can so many people be wrong? But, even the hero or heroine can be duped so never assume anything.

My favorite character in Ghastly Glass is the man who took over the role of Grim Reaper. I can’ say much without saying TOO much but if you read the story, you’ll understand why.

There were a few red herrings thrown in to the story which are a must in any self-respecting cozy mystery. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the ending. It felt a bit thrown together and sophomoric. I know the writing team of Joyce and Jim Lavene have written some terrific stories but I think this one could have been better.

If you’re into the world of Renaissance and don’t mind a few story quibbles, Ghastly Glass has some fun moments and an endearing character you’ll hope to see again.

Bonus: Recipes & fun facts are included. ( )