Grounds for Murder

Pennyfoot Hotel #6

by Kate Kingsbury

A young gypsy girl is found murdered with an axe and Cecily Sinclair is disturbed by the way her staff and guests incessantly recount the gruesome details of the crime. She is even more disturbed to find that the axe from the hotel woodshed is missing. Now, Cecily must leave her guests to their gossip, as she scours the Pennyfoot in search of a killer.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Cozy, Historical Mystery

236 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Kate Kingsbury grew up in London, England, and at a very early age began telling stories to her school friends during the London Blitz of WW II while huddling in bomb shelters. Kate moved to the U.S. in the early sixties, and had passed her 50th birthday when she published her first book. Writing as Doreen Roberts, (her real name at the time) she published 26 romance novels for Harlequin/Silhouette. In 1991 her first Pennyfoot Hotel book was published and since then Kate has written 35 mysteries, including the Manor House mysteries, the Bellehaven House mysteries(written as Rebecca Kent) and the Raven's Nest mysteries, (written as Allison Kingsley.) Her new series, The Merry Ghost Inn Mysteries debuted in January, 2017 with Dead and Breakfast, featuring a B & B on the Oregon coast. She has one son, Regan, and lives with her husband, Bill, in the beautiful state of Oregon.

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why, why, do I keep reading these? They're so easy to read but so OTT soap opera with so little care put into the mystery elements. The entire story is in the subplots here; none of the crimes even take place on stage. Too bad that the most mysterious subplot is painfully beat into the reader's head to the point that even an 8-year-old would figure it out before the characters do. There is practically no fair play--the clue that's presented as the big telling point is weak at best. The will-they-or-won't-they is also becoming a bit silly. I'm continuing to read these mostly for the comedic value: what bizarre thing will the historically inaccurate characters accept as totally plausible next?

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grounds for Murder (1995) by Kate Kingsbury is the sixth book in the Pennyfoot Hotel series which features Cecily Sinclair, innkeeper and sometime amateur detective, and is set in the Edwardian era. This particular episode finds the hotel full of rumors of gypsies living in the woods near Badgers End (home of the Pennyfoot). Cecily is pretty busy--organizing the annual Guy Fawkes Ball held in the ballroom of the hotel and preparing for an influx of new guests. Belowstairs is pretty hectic as well. Gertie, one of the maids, is expecting a child any day now and is trying with intermittent success to train a new tweeny to help out. Doris is an odd girl--shy, clumsy and frail one minute and mouthy and strong the next. No one knows what to maker of her. And as soon as Doris assigned the job of chopping sticks, the Pennyfoot's shiny axe starts disappearing and reappearing like a regular jack-in-the-box.

Meanwhile, a gypsy girl is found murdered...beheaded with an axe. And another murder soon follows. Doris may be behaving strangely, but at least she hasn't expressed any prejudices against gypsies...unlike most of the current Pennyfoot guests. Cecily vows to stay out of this particular murder mystery--to the relief of her manager and right-hand man Baxter. But such vows are meant to be broken, especially when the innkeeper begins receiving anonymous notes begging her to stop "George" from killing any more gypsies. The only problem...nobody knows who George is. Cecily convinces a reluctant Baxter to help and then gathers enough clues to spot the killer's next target. But will they be in time to save a life?

Definitely not meant to be a fair-play, intricate mystery, this book (and the series) is firmly in the cozy camp. The recurring characters are, for the most part, likeable and the on-going story lines could certainly make for compulsive reading. Good reading for a rainy afternoon (which we've had plenty of lately) with a mystery that is solvable and not too taxing for armchair detectives.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Els · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soms lees je een boek van een auteur en dan valt dat tegen. Ik kan heel goed begrijpen dat er dan mensen zijn die zich voornemen om er niets meer van te lezen, maar ik wil toch iedereen een tweede kans geven. Zo verliep het ook met deze schrijfster. Het eerste boek dat ik las van haar vond ik maar zo en zo. Een aantal weken later probeerde ik er nog eentje en dat verhaal lag me beter en dat scheelt ook een pak. En gisteren begon ik in zelfs in een derde van haar schrijfsels en deze vond ik al het beste tot hiertoe.
Hier wordt nog maar eens bewezen dat je niet te snel mag opgeven want zo zou je toffe dingen kunnen missen.
Het verschil lag, voor mij, in het feit dat er meer humor in verwerkt was.
De titel en de cover zijn heet goed gekozen alleen vind ik de verhoudingen een beetje vreemd.

Conclusie

Leuk tussendoortje. 3 sterren

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is fairly light reading, I am really enjoying the Pennyfoot Hotel series. The setting of an aristocratic boutique hotel in a small British coastal village run by a widow and her gentlemanly manager in the early 1900s is intriguing. The murders are fairly simple. This was the first one that was rather gory, but the thread of a slowly budding romance that runs through the series is what keeps you purchasing the next book in line.

Will he or won't he and what is she going to do about it. Keep reading. It's great fun.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pennyfoot Hotel is a retreat on the coast of England that caters to the wealthy and naughty. Cecily Sinclair is the owner. Her goal is pamper the guests and make sure their stay is all that they want. The fly in the ointment seems to be the murders that occur in the small village and somehow always involve one or more of her guests. While trying to keep the guests happy, the gossip contained, she insists on solving the murders. She drags her handsome manager into the investigation whether he likes it or not.
I have been enjoying the series and this is one more of the novels that I enjoyed reading. I would recommend this book (and series) to others.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books in this series are like potato chips, once I start, I can't get enough! I really enjoyed this storyline - slightly ghoulish, with bits of mystery, intrigue, and a sprinkling of romance! One of the characters is about to have a big change in her life - off to download the next book so that I can find out more.

[Valorie Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be careful what you say to someone interested!!!!

Wow, I give this book 15 stars!!!!!!!
I love this series, Cecily Sinclair is amazing, I like she reads Sherlock Holmes and applies that to figuring out what is going on.
This story really shows you, you can't judge a person by looks. Wrongly rejecting a person can be deadly.
You won't be disappointed.

[Laura Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally!

Only took what--six books?--for Baxter to BEGIN to thaw. That Cecily is one patient woman! On to the next one to see how far these two will go!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick easy read. Perfect to read when curled up in front of a fire with a cup of tea!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to visit the Pennyfoot Hotel. Hopping spot.

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review

Loved the book. Cecile Sinclair is brilliant and before her time. Baxter needs to loosen up and start romancing Cecile. I love the whole series.

[D.w. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thankfully things are a little better at the Pennyfoot these days. Mystery and Red Herring wise. The language and situations we are expected to believe that our staff at the hotel get into is still extremely hard to credit.

Edwardian England meets the 90's of the end of the century. "Put a sock in it." Is not very Edwardian, or even British. But when our writer has been exposed to American television culture, one can see that she falls to it. Then she has issues with prose, 'Her enormous hat was a magnificent concoction of ribbons and ostrich plumes in brilliant shades of purple and pink...' Reading this makes the entirety that much worse than it should be. The author further sites Dickens and Sherlock Holmes (not Conan Doyle) as good literature for her time. Dickens of course is fifty years prior, and Conan Doyle is very populist at the moment.

At least Kingsbury's mystery is solvable whereas some of the jumps the 'Master', Holmes made defied all logic and clues in the novels. Here there are a few clues, but the Red Herring keeps you distracted enough that the work is better than most of the previous part of the collection. There are still problems with the entirety though.

The sleuths son, such a trial in the last issue and just a few hundred feet away, is mentioned in one line in this novel. A great hotel, or converted manor house. This story she has not monopolized the Library for her office, but as a hotel the named staff seems too few. And they still suffer from an operational issue, hotel business will not wait, but here conveniently for the time of the story needing to develop, characters still forget or put off doing the daily and hourly tasks that need attention in any hotel of the period.

Pick this up and have a gander but avoid the others after the first.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death on the Downs

There are fewer guests at the Pennyfoot Hotel in autumn, but preparations must be made for the Guy Fawkes Day celebration.

But there's been an awful murder on Putney Downs, a gypsy girl with a missing head. And rumor has it that the police do not intend to investigate because, after all, it's only a gypsy.

Gertie's baby is due any day now, and there's something strange about the new maid. There's a second murder, then a third, identical to the first, and Cecily and Baxter have reason to believe that someone connected with the Pennyfoot is involved.

[Donna Zigmont]

I enjoyed this book. But the Colonel got on my nerves quite a bit in this story. Phoebe did as well. I like the character of Gertie but she acted like a spoiled child in this one. I enjoyed the addition of Doris/Daisy. I really like the building friendship between Cecily and Baxter. I was surprised he actually called her by her first name. I was happy that I was unable to guess the killer until right before he was revealed. I feel bad for Madeline. I like her because she lives her life on her terms and doesn't care what others think.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say, I have to read them in groups because they're like popcorn. The gypsies are still residing in Putney Downs, near Badger's End, site of the Pennyfoot Hotel. Young gypsy girls are being decapitated, by an axe that keeps disappearing and reappearing the the Pennyfoot Hotel shed. Edwardian prejudices deem that the police don't have a lot of time to spend on gypsy murder, so Cecily puts her mind to the task, all the while hoping it isn't a guest of the hotel.

[Nancy Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue to enjoy the developing story lines of the characters I've grown to adore and anxiously look forward to what the future holds for everyone, but the plots are becoming somewhat predictable. If you are looking for something to grab your attention and keep you in suspense, this is not it. But if you are already a fan of the Pennyfoot Hotel I think you will enjoy this one as it continues to develop the stories of the characters and makes what to continue on the journey with them.

[KayDee · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a headless body of a young woman shows up in the woods, the police don't pursue the investigation because the believe the woman to be a gypsy. Soon other bodies appear which coincide with an ax disappearing, and reappearing, at the Pennyfoot Hotel.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the ending had a slight (but still pretty predictable) twist, I found this the most tedious I've read yet of the Pennyfoot Hotel series, with quite possibly the longest, most obvious red herring in the history of mysteries. I just wanted the book to be over long before it actually ended.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The background story continues.
Someone is decapitating gypsy women.

[Linda Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice mystery

Great read. Enjoyed all of the book and the mysteries that were solved. The characters are a big plus in this series