Check-out Time [Paperback]

Kate Kingsbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

The London aristocracy has discovered the pleasures of seaside holidays, and Cecily Sinclair's job is to keep them happy and comfortable at the Pennyfoot Hotel. The apparent suicide of one of her more distinguished guests has Cecily juggling her plans for a Midsummer Ball while trying to solve the puzzle of his death.

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; First Edition edition (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425146405
• ISBN-13: 978-0425146408
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in London, England, and at a very early age began telling stories to my school friends during the London Blitz of WW II while huddling in bomb shelters. I moved to the U.S. in the early sixties, and had passed my 50th birthday when I published my first book. Since then I've written over fifty romance and mystery novels. I have one son, and married for the second time shortly after my 60th birthday.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The author does not know her business, February 20, 2009

By 

David Wilkin (La Habra Heights, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Check-out Time (Paperback)

From bad to worse. Kingsbury is just pretty bad at her craft. This time the only saving grace is that the mystery has more meat then in the three previous outings. Yet there are three elements that ruin the book

First can you see an Edwardian Officer leaving the service to run a Pub with a Fuzzy-Wuzzy native wife back in the south of England on the Dover Road? This is how bad it gets. But it is not some minor character to us. It is the beloved son of the heroine. Here we have a modern woman forcing her views on a prior time. If such would happen, it would be so few and far between that it would be extraordinary. Why much up the book with this.

Then we have voodoo. The sticking pins in doll type. That is Haitian or New Orleans voodoo which the author attributes to West Africa. This took me right out of the book. The author just thought to mention something that an educated person would not give credence too. Forcing me to confirm my knowledge and stop my reading. And further find fault with this historical, for it has no bearing on history.

Last, the lower class servant employed at this very uppercrust resort has a POV with this "leaning over him with her tits brushing his shoulder..." while I am sure that lower class men might think of a 1908 bosom as tits, a serving girl in a very respectable establishment. It was beyond vulgar. Again the author took me right out of the story.

So can I recommend this to anyone. Save your money and stay away from this author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best cozy I've ever read, November 22, 2008

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Check-out Time (Paperback)

Up to this book I've been enjoying the Pennyfoot Hotel series. I like the seaside Georgian setting, and I like the recurring characters (especially the maid Gertie). This book still has the characters and that is good, but the story was definitely lacking in plot and in suspense. It is almost simplistic in its style, and I did not enjoy that. I love the cozy genre, but I love a multi-layered story that keeps me coming back in order that I can learn what is happening to the characters that I have come to love. This book did not do it for me this time, but I will try some more, and hope for better.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another entertaining cozy mystery., February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Check-out Time (Paperback)

As always Kate Kingsbury manages to throw in some twists to the lives of the inhabitants in the Pennyfoot Hotel. The addition of Cecily's son and African wife and a new charming doorman who comes between Phoebe and Altheada. All the books in this series is worth reading.