Service for Two

This third in the Pennyfoot Hotel series is a comfortable little cozy. I find that I enjoy the characters in this book (especially the serving staff), and the mysteries are usually a little tricky puzzle like this one. Cecily is faced with having her hotel connected to a ring of jewel thieves and to a murder, so she must set out to solve the murder on her own with the help of the faithful Baxter. It all starts with the wrong body in a casket at a funeral. These books are set in Badger's End during the English Edwardian era, so that also makes them interesting. These little stories are a lot of fun.

What a shame that this book is no longer readily available. It's definitely one of my favorites in the whole Pennyfoot Hotel series, and I'm a diehard fan. The mystery itself is one of the best plots in the series. Someone has been using the Pennyfoot Hotel to traffic stolen jewels, and now the body of a notorious criminal from London winds up in a coffin--but at the wrong funeral. In fact, he's nearly buried at the funeral of one Dr. McDuff, who is a friend of the protagonist, Cecily Sinclair. Cecily is the widowed owner of the Pennyfoot and now has a double interest in searching out the killer--before the malicious Inspector Cranshaw finds out about the jewel thefts and has an excuse to close down her hotel!Kingsbury has not yet fully developed several of her characters (this is the third book in the series) but she's getting there. The subplots involving the hotel servants are sweetly captivating: will Gertie and Ian get married? And what about Ethel, who's just fallen in love for the first time--with the local hero? I love all the characters in the series, especially Cecily, and her faithful, stuffy manager Baxter. This is the book in which Baxter starts to look at Cecily in a Certain Way (and we may assume he's not thinking about her as his employer in those moments)--but trouble arrives in the form of Dr. Kevin Prestwick, the handsome replacement for Dr. McDuff, who also sees Cecily with more than a little interest. It's the beginning of a very entertaining rivalry.So if you're a fan of cozy mysteries, this one is worth your special order. Highly recommended! (As if you couldn't tell.)