Pay the Piper

The Pennyfoot hides many secrets and its downstairs staff keeps a tight lip, even when the Edwardian aristocrats are spotted dallying with damsels in the boudoirs, or gambling in the forbidden card rooms hidden below the floorboards. Should now and then one of the hotel guests fall prey to a dastardly murderer, however, it is up to Cecily Sinclair to restore order before Scotland Yard steps in and shuts down her infamous seaside hotel.





PAY THE PIPER





The appearance of Scottish pipers in Badgers End has the downstairs staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel all agog. The pipers are there for the bagpipe contest, and the aristocrats upstairs are just as intrigued by all the excitement. Cecily is as thrilled as everyone else, until one of the contestants is found hanging from a hook in the butcher’s cellar, as dead as the beef carcasses on either side of him.





The twenty-first and final Pennyfoot book, MULLED MURDER, one of Kingsbury’s beloved Christmas editions, was published in November 2013 by Berkley Books.