Ringing In Murder

A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery

by Kate Kingsbury

Berkley Pub Group

November 4, 2008

ISBN-13: 042522399X

Available in: Trade Size

Ringing In Murder
by Kate Kingsbury

An all-new Yuletide mystery featuring the incomparable staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel— from "a descendant of Agatha Christie." (The Statesman Journal) (OR)

A merry hustle-and-bustle always heralds the holidays at the Pennyfoot. Even as she prepares for the holiday meal, Cecily Sinclair Baxter is also helping her friend Madeline plan her wedding. And this year, Cecily has a cracking surprise for her guests—Christmas crackers. Once the crackers pop, one lucky guest will discover a beautiful pearl brooch...

But when two crackers go astray, things turn less than jolly. A mysterious fire has broken out in an upstairs room, killing the mood—and two guests. And at the bottom of it all: one of the missing Christmas crackers. Cecily's dead-set on solving this mystery before another deadly present turns up...



Kate Kingsbury's Bio

Doreen Roberts Hight was first published at the age of eight. Her letter appeared in the children's section of a national newspaper in her native England. Born in London five years before the onset of WW II, she remembers vividly the days and nights spent in bomb shelters, where she entertained her schoolfriends by making up stories. She often contributes her love of writing about danger and suspense to those perilous times, when just waking up in the mornings was a major victory.

Although she dabbled in writing all her life, it wasn't until after her fiftieth birthday that she saw her first book in print. After reading romance novels since her teens, she blended danger into her love stories, and sold her first romantic suspense to Silhouette Books Intimate Moments line in 1987.

After writing several books for Silhouette under the name of Doreen Roberts, her agent suggested she try her hand at writing mysteries. Thus Kate Kingsbury was born. Many of Kate's characters in the Pennyfoot Hotel series are based on people she met while managing her family's seaside hotel on the southeast coast of England. Her current series, The Manor House Mysteries, was inspired by her experiences during the Second World War.

Doreen now lives in Oregon with her husband, Bill, who is also her manager. They share the household with Tippi, a rat terrier who thinks she's a Great Dane. In the last fifteen years, Doreen has written over forty books, many of which have appeared in countries all over the world. She has made the Waldenbooks Top Ten Romance list six times.