Death with Reservations

This is the first Pennyfoot Hotel book I have read and I will definately read more. The characters are fun, some reminding me of characters in Fawlty Towers, so they seemed like old friends. The mystery is a bit predictable, and the solution rather evident as you get about half way through the book, but there is alot of enjoyment along the way, although it sometimes is a bit disjointed, jumping between characters suddenly. It is a great book if you want something to relax and escape with for awhile.

I have read all the Pennyfoot Hotel mysteries having stumbled across them in the library. They are delightful - like a good cream cake and hot cup of tea in the local tea shoppe. Ms. Kingsbury depicts her characters in such a way as to make the reader truly care or revile them - my favorite to revile being the Vicar, who is hopeless. The local constabulary is also without lightbulbs. I hope to see Cecily & Baxter marry eventually. And I hope to see that poor maid with the twins go to Scotland and finally find some happiness. I reccommend these books highly!

The winds of social change are in the air, sweeping across Edwardian England in 1908, even reaching isolated villages such as Badger's End location of the famous Pennyfoot Hotel. Two London suffragettes have come to the hotel in order to make one of the guests miserable. Lord Bertram is the judge who sent the pair to prison and insured that they suffered during their incarceration. The duo never has a chance to put their plan into operation as their intended victim is poisoned. The hotel's owner, Cecily Sinclair and her new partner (business and personal) Baxter cannot help but be concerned with the Lord's death. Food poisoning has been identified as the cause and the hotel is the only place he ate. Cecily begins to investigate, but before she gets very far her gardener dies in a suspicious accident. Cecily soon realizes that there is a plethora of suspects, both staff and guests, who had ample motive to want the judge dead. The latest installment in the "Pennyfoot Hotel" saga is as delightful and charming as the previous book in the series. Readers are treated to an intriguing who-done-it and a glimpse into a society that is on the verge of enormous change that blurs the line between the gentry and the middle class. The developing relationship between Cecily and Baxter adds spice to a delicious meal. Harriet Klausner

The winds of social change are in the air, sweeping across Edwardian England in 1908, even reaching isolated villages such as Badger's End location of the famous Pennyfoot Hotel. Two London suffragettes have come to the hotel in order to make one of the guests miserable. Lord Bertram is the judge who sent the pair to prison and insured that they suffered during their incarceration. The duo never has a chance to put their plan into operation as their intended victim is poisoned. The hotel's owner, Cecily Sinclair and her new partner (business and personal) Baxter cannot help but be concerned with the Lord's death. Food poisoning has been identified as the cause and the hotel is the only place he ate. Cecily begins to investigate, but before she gets very far her gardener dies in a suspicious accident. Cecily soon realizes that there is a plethora of suspects, both staff and guests, who had ample motive to want the judge dead. The latest installment in the "Pennyfoot Hotel" saga is as delightful and charming as the previous book in the series. Readers are treated to an intriguing who-done-it and a glimpse into a society that is on the verge of enormous change that blurs the line between the gentry and the middle class. The developing relationship between Cecily and Baxter adds spice to a delicious meal. Harriet Klausner