I didn’t have a lot of hope for this book when I picked it up – Decked with Folly by Kate Kingsbury. The cover reminded me of a series I hadn’t liked, and it all looked too cute. Appearances can be deceiving!
It turned out to be a good Victorian/Edwardian/pre-World War I mystery about the Pennyfoot Hotel, somewhere on the southeast coast of England. Good details, good characters of various social stations, a smart hotel owner, who’s handicapped by having a husband who’s always sure she’s going to meet with disaster. Understandable perhaps, but not helpful in mystery solving. After lots of twists and turns, and great descriptions of that England, all is solved just in time for the Christmas pantomime.
Very satisfying!