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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another nice visit to the Pennyfoot, November 26, 2010
This review is from: Mistletoe and Mayhem (A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Myst) (Paperback)
Cecily Sinclair Baxter loves just about everything involving Christmas - decorating the Pennyfoot, celebrating with family and friends, caroling, giving gifts, even her friend Phoebe's disastrous pantomimes. The one thing she doesn't like is that the Pennyfoot seems like a magnet for murder during the Christmas season. Cecily hopes this Christmas will be murder-free but her hopes are quickly dashed when a member of her staff is murdered. Even worse, more murders quickly follow and Cecily fears a serial killer is loose at the Pennyfoot. Cecily vows to stop the killer before Christmas is totally ruined.
Like Cecily, I love Christmas and part of my holiday ritual is reading the latest Christmas Pennyfoot Hotel mystery. "Mistletoe and Mayhem" is a delightful addition to that holiday tradition. All of the favorite characters are there: Cecily and her husband Baxter, Madeline Prestwick and her husband Kevin, Phoebe Fortescue and her husband Frederick, as well as the household staff - Gertie, Pansy, Mrs. Chubb, Michel, and Samuel. Visiting them feels like visiting old friends. While this is a cozy mystery, this entry is a tad "bloodier" (for lack of a better word because it's not really bloody or gory at all) than other entries in the series and the body count is higher than usual. The mystery is well written and plotted and there are more than a few surprises along the way (without giving anything away I loved the subplot involving one of the guests!) Readers will have a good time trying to figure out who the killer is and author Kate Kingsbury provides plenty of suspects. Kingsbury also gives lots of hint as to who the killer is but the identity of the killer may still surprise many readers as will the (sad) reason behind the murders.
Kingsbury says in her introduction to "Mistletoe and Mayhem" that she isn't sure there would be more Pennyfoot books and accordingly she wraps up several ongoing storylines from the series (mostly the romantic storylines) but ends the book on a bit of a cliffhanger. Fortunately, on her website and Facebook Kingsbury says she is writing another Pennyfoot book (yay!) and it will be interesting to see how she resolves the cliffhanger. In the meantime, enjoy this year's trip to the Pennyfoot.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent Edwardian England cozy, November 6, 2010
This review is from: Mistletoe and Mayhem (A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Myst) (Paperback)
It is the holiday season at the Pennyfoot Hotel in Badgern's End, England and this year the manager hopes to finally break the Christmas curse. Every year during the holiday season, proprietor Cecily Sinclair Baxter is involved in a murder case usually at the hotel. Cecily's husband Baxter prays for a quieter time because he worries about his wife investigating a homicide and has something on his mind that he needs to tell his spouse.
Alas, their hopes are dashed when the body of Charlie the footman is found in what looked initially as if an accident occurred when a gargoyle fell from the roof bashing in his head. However, they quickly realize a murder was committed. When Ellie the maid goes missing, another maid Pansy and stable hand Samuel find her body. Soon afterward, more homicides occur. Cecily investigates with the intention of uncovering the deadly culprit but she is ignorant to the fact the killer is observing her movements very closely.
The latest annual Special Pennyfoot Hotel Myst Series amateur sleuth (see Decked with Folly and Ringing in Murder) is a terrific holiday cozy that contains more than one mystery. Besides the murders, readers will want to know what is disturbing Baxter that he needs to inform Cecily of. The characters who many appeared in previous tales bring continuity to the Pennyfoot saga. Village life in Edwardian England provides a sense of time and place as Kate Kingsbury writes another entertaining yuletide whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellant Book, November 12, 2010
This review is from: Mistletoe and Mayhem (A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Myst) (Paperback)
I have enjoyed all of the Pennyfoot Hotel series, especially the Christmas series.
The new book, Mistletoe and Mayhem, did not disappoint me at all. Kate Kingsbury
knows how to keep her readers attention at all times. It's nice to feel like you
are there at the Pennyfoot Hotel, she writes her books so well that you feel like
you are staying there and involved with the characters.
Thanks again for another GREAT book !!!!
Don't pass this one up - if you have never read the Pennyfoot Hotel books, I do
suggest you start at the beginning of the series as characters grow with each book
and you become entwined in their lives making each book that follows much easier
and nicer to read.
Mar
[...]
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