The kitchen staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel is toiling away to prepare the finest meal for the guests on Christmas. And the plum pudding may very well be to die for...
Cecily Sinclair Baxter could use a Christmas miracle. Mrs. Chubb, the Pennyfoot's housekeeper, must travel up north for a family emergency, and Cecily needs a temporary replacement. The agency doesn't have much to offer on short notice during this busy time of year. But they have someone--Beatrice Tucker--who turns out to be more of a curse. She fights with just about everyone, including Archibald Armitage.
Star of the London stage, Armitage is staying at the Pennyfoot this holiday season. His presence turns out to be a blessing after he rescues the stable manager's dog from drowning in the icy duck pond. But not everyone in Badgers End is a fan of the actor...
When Armitage drops dead after Beatrice serves him some plum pudding, everyone assumes the huffy housekeeper is the culprit. But as Cecily begins to investigate, the list of suspects grows, and solving this case may not be as easy as pie...or pudding.

A dark spirit threatens the Pennyfoot's shiny and bright Christmas...

The Christmas Angel is a welcome sight during the winter season-but not this year. A killer is afoot in Badger's End, cutting a lock of hair from his victims and sticking a gold angel on their foreheads. Cecily Sinclair Baxter already promised her husband that she'd take a hiatus from sleuthing. But three killings have created a blizzard of bad publicity-and guests are canceling their hotel reservations. She will have to find the angel of death before he strikes again, leaving murder under the tree...

This holiday season there'll be murder under the mistletoe at the Pennyfoot Hotel...
As friends, family, and guests gather at the Pennyfoot Hotel to share the joys of the season, Cecily Sinclair Baxter and her staff are hustling and bustling more than ever. Cecily's friend Madeline arrives with her new baby and adds a kissing bough to the decorations. Cecily believes that the holiday couldn't get off to a better start...
But after a footman and a new maid are seen kissing under the bough and then turn up dead afterwards, the downstairs staff is convinced a serial killer is among them...perhaps the mysterious guest known only as J. Mortimer. When Madeline's baby disappears, Cecily desperately tries to find the child. If she doesn't catch this killer in time, everyone's cheer will quickly turn to fear.

Book a room at the Pennyfoot Hotel this holiday season for a charming mystery that "combines the feel of an Agatha Christie whodunit with a taste of Upstairs Downstairs"(Cozy Library). A merry hustle and bustle heralds the holidays at the Pennyfoot-and this year is doubly busy. Even as Cecily Sinclair Baxter prepares for the holidays, she's also helping her friend Madeline plan her impending wedding. This year, Cecily has a cracking holiday surprise for her guests-gorgeous Christmas crackers handmade for the Pennyfoot. And once the crackers pop, one lucky guest will discover a beautiful pearl brooch. But things soon turn less than jolly. A mysterious fire breaks out in an upstairs room, killing the mood-and two guests. And at the bottom of it all: a missing Christmas cracker. Who would deliver such a murderous gift? Cecily's dead-set on solving this mystery before another deadly present turns up, and Madeline's nuptials come unwound...

While decorating the Pennyfoot's ballroom for a Christmas reception, Cecily sends her husband Baxter and stable manager Samuel into the woods to cut some fresh boughs of holly for the ballroom. An hour later their one-horse open carriage returns with the horse, the holly...and the unwelcome gift of a dead body. Baxter and Samuel are nowhere to be found. In what should be a season of celebration with friends and family, Cecily means to reunite hers and solve the mystery-even if a killer leads her in a merry measure.