This series gets better every book. The mystery is always a win and the sub-plots really mix things up and keep me turning the pages. ( )

This book is set in the south coast of England during the Regency period (specifically 1908 for this one). Cecily finds her beloved Pennyfoot Hotel in the middle of another murder when one of her guests is found hanging from the Maypole. She of course can't resist trying to find out who the killer is since she doesn't have much faith in the police getting anywhere, so she starts asking questions. These books are nice little cozies, but the mystery in this one is pretty simple to figure out. I enjoy Cecily and her friends and staff though, so I will read more in the series. ( )

When an author does not have a lot to make a book rich, it is evident. Evidence being a primary part of solving mysteries. Here with the lack of evidence hanging over the murder, our heroine has lots of time on her hands.

Now how is that? I am four books into this series, and we have a struggling hotel proprietor who has a lot of time on her hands. Not only that there are two failing subplots in this book that eat up entire pages of the small 200 page story. Well it is 200 pages less the blank pages in between chapters, what, What! That double what is how one of the characters that is becoming very one dimensiional speaks. Those two subplots, one dealing with a character we have thought of as permanent just rings false.

Early Edwardian england must have had a lot of bigamy, it being so cavalierly dismissed so quickly. The other a guest who won't leave his room and days go by thinking of using the pass key to enter the room. Just something to get around to, or couldn't find the member of the hotel staff that has the key? There are not that many staff members.

So enough with all the excess to the mystery. Was that good? No. Where are a believable red herring, where is some back story so we have some idea that there are things obscuring our view. There aren't. The circumstances surrounding the murder are not so strong that the conclusion does not rush at you. The devices the author indulges in to keep you interested are non existent. The ambiance of Edwardian England are thin.

If you have a choice, this series is something that you should pass on. ( )