Kate Kingsbury

It's the holiday season and the Pennyfoot staff is brimming with anticipation. But when a former employee is found dead, the proprietor, Cecily, starts feeling more jinxed than jolly.

An all-new Yuletide mystery featuring the incomparable staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel— from “a descendant of Agatha Christie.”(The Statesman Journal) (OR)A merry hustle-and-bustle always heralds the holidays at the Pennyfoot. Even as she prepares for the holiday meal, Cecily Sinclair Baxter is also helping her friend Madeline plan her wedding. And this year, Cecily has a cracking surprise for her guests—Christmas crackers. Once the crackers pop, one lucky guest will discover a beautiful pearl brooch...But when two crackers go astray, things turn less than jolly. A mysterious fire has broken out in an upstairs room, killing the mood—and two guests. And at the bottom of it all: one of the missing Christmas crackers. Cecily’s dead-set on solving this mystery before another deadly present turns up...

While decorating the Pennyfoot's ballroom for a Christmas reception, Cecily sends her husband Baxter and stable manager Samuel into the woods to cut some fresh boughs of holly for the ballroom. An hour later their one-horse open carriage returns with the horse, the holly...and the unwelcome gift of a dead body. Baxter and Samuel are nowhere to be found. In what should be a season of celebration with friends and family, Cecily means to reunite hers and solve the mystery-even if a killer leads her in a merry measure.

The second Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas reunion.Cecily Sinclair Baxter's Christmas becomes a working holiday when the man playing Santa Claus for her hotel is found murdered.

Sitting Marsh, a World War II town threatened by invasion, is overdue for a celebration. But when a stranger appears at a wedding--and is stabbed--sleuth Lady Elizabeth is on the case, and there's no shortage of suspects.

Meet Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton. She's the house-rich, money-poor keeper of the manor—and keeper of the peace...In World War II England, the quiet village of Sitting Marsh is faced with food rations and fear for loved ones. But Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton, lady of the Manor House, stubbornly insists that life must go on. Sitting Marsh residents depend on Elizabeth to make sure things go smoothly. Which means everything from sorting out gossip to solving the occasional murder...In the thick of the Allied invasion, Elizabeth is sick with worry for Major Earl Monroe. To make matters worse, people and things keep going missing from the manor—namely Martin, the elderly butler, and ladies' knickers from the washing line. Before Elizabeth can track either down, a man is found shot dead. Few will miss bad-tempered Clyde Morgan, and the police are ready to call it a suicide. But Elizabeth's not so sure…

204 p. ; 18 cm