This is the 19th book of the Pennyfoot Hotel. With the last seven books being set at Christmas time, with Cecily managing the country club for the holidays.

It rather busy at the Pennyfoot, what with holidays quickly approaching. The staff is busy with the cooking and cleaning, Madeline is in to decorate the tree and athe rooms. Cook and her staff are having their normal squabbles which are always very entertaining.

Then P.C. Northcott shows up at the Pennyfoot, this is never a good sign as it usually means the police are in over their heads with trouble. Northcott reports that there have been two murders and that the victims had angel stickers attached to their foreheads and had a lock of hair removed. With his superior in London at the yard, Northcott knows their is no way he can solve the murders so that him and his wife can go to London for the holidays without Cecily help.

Cecily enjoys helping the police with there investigations, so she and Sam head off to what they do best. Almost before they can really get started on the investigation, there have been five murders, with very little to tie them to the the same murderer. But with good vision and investigative skills Cecily is able to wrap the murders up so that Northcott can spend Christmas in London.

And of course Phoebe Fortescue is on hand with a Christmas pageant-- a pantomime of Peter Pan and finger are crossed that it won't be a disaster like some have been in the past.

I really enjoy these stories as they are written in such a way that that I see in my mind's eye the scenes being played out.

Wonderful holiday season read. ( )

Cecily Sinclair's Pennyfoot Hotel, now Country Club, has weathered numerous holiday disasters. The latest Christmas season brings another killer to Badger's End. In a surprising change of pace, the police solicit Cecily's help catching the killer, who has become known as the Christmas Angel. All of the hotel regulars are back for the holiday season and the threat of the Angel.

As a mystery, I liked the concept, but I figured out the culprit VERY early in the story. Kingsbury makes the who and the why rather obvious. I did enjoy the Christmas setting, and the characters in the series are always fun. ( )

It is Christmas time again at the Pennyfoot Country Club and Cecily Sinclair Baxter is determined to enjoy it - she's even promised her husband that she would stop trying to solve murders. But she soon has to break that promise - someone is killing people in Badgers End, cutting a lock from their hair, and sticking a gold angel on their foreheads. As the victims pile up, people start canceling their reservations at the Pennyfoot. Cecily is determined to stop the killer before Christmas is ruined.

For several years now, Kate Kingsbury fans have been lucky enough to have a Pennyfoot Hotel mystery to read for the holidays and "Herald of Death" carries on that tradition. The first page sets the tone for the rest of the book - it gets off to a nice cozy start until the shock of the third paragraph - it is a wonderful way to start the book.

What I love about the Pennyfoot Hotel series is the characters, starting with Cecily who just can't help getting involved with mysteries (why she gets involved in this one is a nice touch by Kingsbury). Truthfully, Baxter is starting to annoy me a bit, I wish Kingsbury would tone him down a notch. Madeline is more mysterious than ever (or is she - she pulls off an amazing stunt towards the end), while Phoebe is even more obnoxious than usual (long-time fans of the series may be surprised at what happens with her pageant in this book and delighted at who stars in it). When the book isn't focused on the mystery it is mostly focused on the love lives of the household staff mainly Gertie/Clive and Pansy/Samuel (I like the Gertie/Clive storyline; I'm not quite sure how I feel about Samuel in this book). As for the mystery - it is certainly one of the bloodier cozy mysteries I've read. It is not graphic by any means but the bodies do pile up - quickly. The plot could have been tighter - I did figure out very early on who the killer was - but Kingsbury does plant some nice clues and throws in a red herring or two in an attempt to throw off the reader. There are some tense moments towards the end of the book as they work to trap the killer.

"Herald of Death" is another nice holiday gift for Kate Kingsbury fans. ( )