The Clue is in the Pudding

Pennyfoot Hotel #20

by Kate Kingsbury

WELCOME BACK TO THE PENNYFOOT

The kitchen staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel is toiling away to prepare their guests the finest Christmas meal. And the plum pudding may very well be to die for…

When the Pennyfoot’s housekeeper is suddenly called away, Cecily Sinclair Baxter needs a quick replacement. On short notice, the agency sends Beatrice Tucker, who proves more of a curse than a Christmas miracle. She even fights with the Pennyfoot’s latest VIP guest, the famous actor Archibald Armitage.

When Armitage drops dead after Beatrice serves him some plum pudding, everyone assumes the huffy housekeeper is the culprit. But as Cecily investigates, the list of suspects grows, and solving this case may not be as easy as pie…or pudding.

Genres: Mystery, Christmas, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Historical, British Literature

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 6, 2012

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

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found The Pennyfoot Hotel Mysteries later than probably everyone, but I enjoy them. Thus, I have read a bunch. Kate Kingsbury’s The Clue is in the Pudding is a special holiday mystery. I meet a few new characters in this one, and the author has quite a few of the characters with something going on. I am never sure what will take place next except The Pennyfoot’s Christmas activities such as the caroling evening by thr local choir, Mrs. Baxter’s friend’s Christmas Eve’s disastrous Holiday Presentation, plus with the regular housekeeper taking care of her daughter and grandchildren for awhile, a substitute from a agency has to fill in at the last minute who becomes known as Tucker the Terrible as she screams at the entire staff. Of course, there are Gertie’s twins, Pansy’s romance with Samuel, and the dead person in one of The Pennyfoot’s rooms. Lots going on and in the end, does the killer get caught, and is a Happy Christmas had by almost all? My lips are sealed, but I will tell you I had fun!

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun cozy mystery! Easy read and kept me interested from start to finish.

[Larraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was leaving the library a couple of weeks ago, I saw this book with a display of Christmas themed books. I had just read Mulled Murder and really liked it. I've read a few others in the series, but missed this one from last year. They are a quick read with a predictable ending, but with a few surprises. The Pennyfoot's housekeeper, Mrs. Chubb, is called away when her daughter becomes ill. Cecily hires a temporary worker who is very disagreeable. Then one of the guests, an actor, is found dead in his room. It is, of course, murder. Then the fun begins..... This is a pre-WWI series with an interesting cast of characters. The author ended the series with Mulled Murder. I haven't read them all, but will probably get around to reading some of the older ones next year. For me, this is a series that doesn't disappoint.

[Roberta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sophomoric drivel...I read the whole thing but only because I kept thinking that for sure it must get better. Nope.

[Jen Mays · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy holiday mystery set in a charming English countryside inn—very Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie meets The Great British Baking Show. It’s part of a series, and while there are definite nods to past events and character relationships that longtime fans will appreciate, it’s written in a way that keeps new readers from feeling lost. You can easily enjoy this one as a stand-alone.

There are a lot of characters and side stories woven throughout, to the point where the actual murder mystery sometimes feels like an afterthought—still present from start to finish, but not always the focus. I also found myself wishing we’d gotten to know the victim a bit more before their demise; most of what we learn comes from other characters after the fact.

Overall, nothing particularly extraordinary happens here, but it’s a nice, fun, cozy read—exactly the kind of warm, low-stakes escape I wanted. Will I remember much about it a year from now? Probably not. But for a couple of relaxing evenings with some holiday vibes, it ticked the right boxes.

[Linda Klinedinst · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on my Kindle as a Kindle Book and I really enjoyed this Cozy Mystery. It is a very good Cozy Mystery Book to read.

I highly recommend the Series called Pennyfoot Hotel by Kate Kingsbury.

This Book is #20 in the Series. Of course I never read the books in order of any series. That is the way I am.

I give this Book 5/5 Stars.

Take Care & Happy Reading :)

[Diane Large · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Christmas cozy mystery at the Pennyfoot Country Club with a happy ending. Kingsbury does an excellent job of building the characters and intertwining the help and the owners in finding the murderer.

[Amybarker · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Pennyfoot Hotel books (even though this is #20) but I found it easy to pick up and the characters likable. The mystery was OK, I think the appeal with these books are the characters and setting. I would read more of them, though.

[Maryann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I just counted and I have just finished the 7th book in the Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas series. Why did I read this one? It's just the same thing over and over again. Apparently, there are two more!!!

[Sandra Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have liked this light mystery series but this time I just wasn't in the mood for it.

[Sandra Holladay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable cozy mystery with all the right things: murder, danger, love. Ms. Kingsbury writes well and the story has lots of suspects.

['jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay mystery. Probably shouldn’t have started with #20 in the series; seemed a bit contrived, jumped from scene to scene without enough description.

[Josh Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this type of stories and I loved it, it's very good.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Thoroughly delightful Christmas mystery!

[Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

An entertaining quick read.

[Samantha Dupont · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it to be a cute cozy mystery but didn't really enjoy the storyline as much as I thought it would. Nice holiday time ready tho.

[David Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 20 in the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery series.

The Pennyfoot Country Club is hoping to have a quiet Christmas season, but the Christmas curse seems ready to strike again. First the housekeeper is called away to look after a sick relative and her temporary replacement is an annoying woman who argues with everyone including some of the guests. One of those guests is Archibald Armitage, a stage actor spending his Christmas at the Pennyfoot. When Archibald is poisoned, The new housekeeper is the first suspect. Unfortunately as Cecily Sinclair Baxter looks into the murder, she finds several other suspects among the guests and staff. Could the killer be the jilted lover, the parents of a girl who committed suicide because of Archibald, the mechanic who lost money in an one of Archibald's investments, or someone else?

I have not tried this series. I am not usually drawn to books set in this time period(the beginning of the 20th century). But i was looking for some more Christmas mysteries and decide to give it a shot.

I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would. The mystery was a solid mystery. Usually, the reason the police aren't solving the mystery instead of the amateur detective feels contrived. Not this time. This was a period of change, Horse drawn carriages are starting to be replaced by motorcars, telephones are still new, and women are just starting to get some rights. The Pennyfoot is still divided into different social castes. There are the servants and those they serve. The constables all take off for Christmas and crime will have to wait until after then to be solved. Mrs. Baxter makes a great detective. She is motivated to solve the mystery to both keep her guests safe and in the dark about the murder. Between the etiquette of the time and her desire to avoid negative publicity, she still manages to run a competent investigation.

I also enjoyed how the story is played against the (love) lives of the various staff members. It added another level of realism to the story. It made the story feel like it was about a real group and not just the main character and a bunch of filler characters.

I probably will not switch to reading historical mysteries all of the time because of this story, but I will not be as quick to dismiss them either.

[Amy Lignor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This never before published Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery is an absolute ‘gift’ to readers and fans.

With this tale, the Pennyfoot Country Club is gearing up for the Christmas holidays. However, judging from past years, they probably should close for Christmas seeing as that every year someone has been killed in the beautiful Victorian establishment. But, seeing as how fate works, if anything bad is going to happen, it will - no matter who or what tries to stop it. Therefore…Christmas is on!

Mrs. Chubb, the Club’s housekeeper, is called away on a family emergency and the Club has to hire a temporary for the holiday season. Taking on Beatrice Tucker, they soon find out that she is more of a curse than a cure as she begins fights with practically everyone.

Unfortunately, this year’s victim is Archibald Armitage. This stage actor with an attitude has never had a nice word for anyone, but has just done a good deed by saving the stable master’s dog from an icy-cold death in the nearby pond. Beatrice Tucker had a recent confrontation with the victim and then sent him a taste of the plum pudding made especially for the Christmas feast, so the locals immediately assume that poison was in his pudding.

The usual sleuth of the village, Policeman Northcott, has gone off on vacation so the manager of the Club, Cecily Sinclair Baxter, decides to look into the case with a couple of her loyal workers. When the doctor tells Cecily that the victim was poisoned with arsenic, it seems more and more likely that Beatrice is the ‘bad guy.’ But is that way too easy of an answer? Find the killer, solve the crime and organize the Christmas pageant and carol-singing while persuading the guests that the “Christmas Curse” doesn’t exist…time is running out!

This marvelous cozy will make you want to spend every holiday season from here on out at a lovely Victorian Inn in England. Or, on second thought, maybe not!

[Jessica Sinn (Books and Trouble)]

Read the full review on my blog, Chick Lit Café: http://loonachicklit.wordpress.com/20...

There’s nothing I’d rather do on a cold winter’s night than nestle down into my comfy couch with some fireball whiskey, a tubby gray housecat and a Pennyfoot Hotel mystery. The author does a fine job unraveling just bits and pieces about the eclectic cast of hotel staff and dangling that carrot as their love stories develop. In this book, I finally got to see some sparks fly between Gertie and the enigmatic groundskeeper, Clyde. I promise to not give anything away, but I will say that there was a moment between them that was so incredibly sweet, I had to re-read it several times!

So this year, the Christmas curse comes in the form of a dead actor named Archibald Armitage. Seriously, what mother would name her kid Archibald? Well, I guess you could nickname him Archie like that cute freckled redhead dude in the comics…but I digress. So when the maid stumbles upon Archie’s dead body, it appears he was poisoned by a lethal dose of arsenic-laced plum pudding. All eyes point to the temporary head housemaid Beatrice Tucker (aka Tucker the Terrible), who personally served him the plum pudding up in his suite. She may be a tyrant, but is she capable of murder?

As Cecily hunts down the clues, she finds that several houseguests – and even some of her staff – have a beef with Archie. While her staff prepare for the holiday festivities, and her husband continues to sit on his ass with the newspaper, she will stop at nothing to ferret out the killer before he (or she?) strikes again.

I raise my mug of spiked cider to the author for delivering a deliciously atmospheric Christmas mystery filled with loveable characters, red herrings and romance! I look forward to meeting up with my old friends at the Pennyfoot next December.

Merry Christmas to all – and be sure to not accept unsolicited puddings from frienemies.

[Drebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The past few Christmases at the Pennyfoot Country Club have been anything but quiet but Cecily Sinclair Baxter is hoping that this year will be different especially since her housekeeper, Mrs. Chubb, has been called away on a family emergency. Unfortunately, Cecily's wishes are quickly dashed as first her staff does not get along with the temporary housekeeper and second a guest at the Pennyfoot is murdered. Although her husband Baxter doesn't want her to get involved, Cecily wants the murder solved as soon as possible even if she is the one that has to solve it.

"The Clue is in the Pudding" is the delightful eighth book in Kate Kingsbury's Holiday Pennyfoot Hotel cozy mystery series and it is always a pleasure to visit the Pennyfoot at Christmas. I love catching up with Cecily, Baxter, Madeleine, Phoebe, Kevin Prestwick, and even Colonel Fortescue and of course it wouldn't be Christmas at the Pennyfoot without Phoebe's entertaining Christmas pageants which never go as smoothly as Phoebe and Cecily would like. In addition to Cecily and friends there are the stories of her staff. Some of the storylines have played out over several of the books in this holiday series and without giving too much away I'll say I was quite happy with the developments of some of the storylines in this book. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens in future books. The mystery itself is well plotted with plenty of suspects, some of whom have poignant reasons for wanting the murder victim dead. There are some genuinely suspenseful moments towards the end of the book that will have readers quickly turning the pages hoping Cecily can once again catch a killer without harm to herself.

"The Clue is in the Pudding" is another nice cozy mystery by Kate Kingsbury - a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

[Marilyn Fontane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2012 Pennyfoot Hotel Christmas Mystery. Most of the series is delightful and this year's is no exception--far better than last year's. Once again, the servents are almost, if not completely, as interesting as the "main" characters. Cecily Sinclair Baxter runs the Pennyfoot Hotel where every year someone gets killed. In order to keep her guests at the most profitable period of the year, she must solve the mystery before the bungling officials scare them off. Mrs. Chubb, the housekeeper, is away and replaced by a disaster, Beatrice Tucker, who serves Archibald Armitage, a famous London stage actor, some plum pudding. He dies, and the list of enemies, who might want to do away with him, grows.
However, the main interest is the love affairs of the staff. Gertie and Clive come to an understanding as do Pansy and Samuel. Clive plans to start his own business and make toys at the urging of Gertie, for whose twins Clive has shown his ability in this line. Samuel, the groom, plans to leave and start a garage to fix the new-fangled autos that people are more and more using (It is around 1905) and Pansy will, of course, go too. Who will be left to provide interest for next year's Pennyfoot mystery? Cecily's husband wants to move too, so there may not be one.
Who cares? The readers. The lovable characters, the nicely detailed setting, the Christmas emphasis make these novels a must to get into the Christmas spirit. They may be more fluff than serious literature, but they are wonderful for engendering the holiday mood while presenting an entertaining mystery for their fans to solve.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Clue In The Pudding is the 8th book in the Holiday Pennyfoot Hotel series. I look forward to the fall/winter for another enjoyable story about the hotel, not the snow and cold.

The Pennyfoot Hotel is more turmoil than usual, as Mrs. Chubb has been called to her daughters. Cecily has retained Beatrice Tucker to fill in and she is more of a tyrant than Mrs. Chubb. Everyone is walking on egg shells.

Archibald Armitage, of notoriety both on and off the stage, risk his life to save the stable manager's dog from an icy duck pond, but before anyone can express their thanks, he dies shortly after eating some plum pudding that Tucker takes up to his room. Of course Cecily knows that the local constable is hardly qualified to investigate Armitage's death and set off to investigate on her own. And with the help of her staff too.

Cecily soon finds out the Armitage was not well liked, in fact a new hire in the stables stated that he would like to fix the brakes on Armitage's car so that they wouldn't work. Then there is the couple whose daughter had her engagement broken off by Armitage. Armitage had swindled a couple backers of his plays, too.

Now it just up to Cecily to sort through the facts and hopefully find the murderer before they find another victim and the hotel will have a wonderful Holiday season.

Most all the usual characters are in this book and the maids are a real laugh.

[Penny McGill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I love a Christmas book. Especially one where there is a murder. What better time to kill - when tensions are high (all that shopping, relatives visiting - I can understand the desire to start thinking evil thoughts) and everyone is distracted - so it's a great time for murder. I am a big fan of all cozy mysteries with a theme of Christmas and found this one on a migraine afternoon so it seemed a perfectly relaxing choice. It wasn't really. Not enough clues left behind to make me start thinking I knew who the killer might be. I wasn't ever off on my own little mental trail, not even a lukewarm trail, and I love thinking I know who the killer is and then being wrong in the end. It's so satisfying to keep thinking I'll be right someday... but with this book I had no idea at all.

I enjoyed the lives of the servants in the manor and I think that they might be the only thing that causes me to return to this series again. It's possible that, this being #20 in the series, Kate Kingsbury might have been having a low point in her creativity arc so I'll not write this one off. The bare bones are there. English country house, crazy visitors, lots of opportunity for misunderstandings and poisonings galore. I'll try her again and hope that my next visit to Pennyfoot Hotel is more fun.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cecily Sinclair Baxter is hard at it, trying to have a successful, uninterrupted holiday season at the Pennyfoot Hotel. But, once again, murder rears its ugly head and Cecily can't help but get involved any time her beloved Pannyfoot is in jeopardy.

When well known actor Archibald Armitage is found dead in his room food poisoning is thought to have done him in but further investigation proves that that was not the case. Someone laced a bottle of whiskey with rat poison and gave it to Armitage as an anonymous gift. And, who would want the great actor dead? Many people it seems, as he was not a very nice man.

As Cecily battles to find the unknown murderer she also has to deal with her unhappy staff as Mrs. Chubb the regular housekeeper has had to leave temporarily on a family emergency. Her replacement is not likeable at all and may be a suspect in the murder.

To top it all off, Cecily's husband is not happy with her because she gets to involved in these investigations and often finds herself in danger.

A good, fast read with great characters. Always fun with the quirks of Cecily's friends and inner workings of upstairs/downstairs.

[Nancy Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyment of story a 3, but character development is a 1. Okay, not all characters, but let me rant about Gertie's twins. Don't they age? Are they like Benjamin Button (aging in reverse)? If you have a series that only gets told once a year, then you have to keep your timelines straight. You know the saying "they grow up so fast" -- except for Gertie's twins. Once you hit adulthood changes occur more gradually, but kids change a lot year to year, so it is very noticeable that after 19 books (in the entire Pennyfoot storyline, not just the Christmas ones), that the kids would no longer need a nanny, would be at least teenagers, and would start developing their own relationships instead of clinging to Mr. Clive like a 5 year-old.

Okay; rant over. Ignoring my obvious displeasure about the twins age, as usual I enjoyed following the continuation of life for the people we have grown to love. I guess that's why I just can't get past the twins never developing. Sorry. Rant really is over now.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, another Pennyfoot Christmas edition. This is book 20. Ive read each one back to back and they have really brought a lot of Christmas spirit and even some decorating ideas for my own home.

Things start getting a bit rough when Pansy one of the house maids has broken up with Samuel the stable man. I cringed to see that happen.
Gertie is still holding back from Clive, but her twins embrace him completely. Will she ever succumb to her true feelings?
As the title implies a plum pudding is on the evidence table this time. Is this the murder weapon? Who did it and why.
I loved trying to figure out this whodunit with a question of whatwasit. As it seems the pudding isn't the guilty party.
I highly recommend anything by Kate Kingsbury.

[Kristi | Hidden Staircase | · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know, the mystery on these keeps going downhill. There wasn't much to this book. Cecily didn't do much sleuthing, in my opinion. It was more about what Gertie and Pansy (the Pennyfoot maids) are up to. Which was fine, I do enjoy the character development. It felt to me by the end that Ms. Kingsbury is possibly close to ending the series for good, the character stories seem to be coming together for a nice happily ever after. My bet is that she'll publish one more next Christmas and that will be it. So read this book for a continuation of the characters, if you're looking for a good mystery, look elsewhere.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a certain comfort found when indulging oneself within this cozy series. This novel finds the Pennyfoot Country Club in the midst of the Christmas season. A famous actor is found murdered in the hotel after he has shown courage in saving the club's pet from an icy death. How could such a kind heart be slain?

As Mrs. Baxter soon finds out, the actor was indeed an actor and his personal life was far from the image the public held of him.

This tale set among the holiday excitement, stressful staffing issues, and hidden secrets did not disappoint me.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nice holiday tale set at the Pennyfoot Hotel. The main mystery being looked into by Cecily Baxter is okay, but the sub-plots about the maids Pansy and Gertie and the things going on in their lives that could make this a very special Christmas for each of them is what makes this story. Gertie provides several clues to Cecily and I hope she plays an even larger role in future books in this charming series.

[Nancy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this series, but I am getting a bit tired of the 'murder-at-Christmas curse' theme. I think also in this book that the character of Baxter is developing a bit too much of the 'curmudgeonly' attitude; in fact, someone reading just this book would question why Cecily would even marry someone like him. All that being said, however, it is still a good series and I will continue to read it.