Kate Kingsbury Slay Bells

Slay Bells

Kate Kingsbury

Berkley, Nov 2006, $13.00, 304 pp.

ISBN 0425212009

Pennyfoot hotel manager Cecily Sinclair is hustling a Christmas children's party for those who reside in Badger's End, England. She doesn't anticipate any problems because it has been a year since there was a murder or any inexplicable happenings. The man who is portraying Father Christmas is going to come down the chimney but as time passes, Sid Porter fails to show up. The footman Roland who was to help Sid get down the chimney is found on the ground with a broken neck.

At first everyone thinks it was an accident but when Sid's body is found in the chimney knifed to death, Cecily believes Roland witnessed the murder and that is why he was killed. While Cecily starts asking questions, much to her husband's displeasure, a clown is seen by the servants who think it is a ghost and furniture goes missing but is found in strange places. When another person is found murdered at the Pennyfoot, Cecily is determined to find the killer but is almost killed by a person she thought she could trust.

Anytime a Pennyfoot hotel mystery is published is a time for rejoicing. The workers at the hotel are like a family and many are eccentrics who in the name of friendship help their boss who they adore. It is hard figuring out who the killer is because they are so many suspects who could have done it. The protagonist is a strong-willed assertive woman who lets no one, including her husband, make her decisions for her. Kate Kingsbury writes a charming cozy that is entertaining and will appeal to readers who don't like violence in their mysteries.

Harriet Klausner