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Cecily Baxter, the proprietor of Pennyfoot Hotel, is in the midst of a Christmas party for the town's children. Unfortunately Father Christmas, the town drunk, does not appear as arranged. The party continues without any additional hitches and the children leave happy. Later that day, a footman is discovered dead after falling off the roof and the man hired to play Father Christmas is found dead in the chimney. The local constables are not reassuring in their approach to this investigation, as they believe the two men killed each other. As there is no evidence to prove this nor has the murder weapon been recovered, Cecily has her doubts about this conclusion. For this reason, Cecily decides she must investigate before her hotel loses all of its business or one of her staff is accused of murder. Cecily once again discovers that the members of her community have their share of secrets including prison records and unsuitable spouses. In addition, she discovers that her husband has not been completely truthful about his activities in the city. Cecily must hunt down the truth in order to resolve her personal problems, keep her staff safe and out of jail and stop a killer from claiming more victims. SLAY BELLS is a small-town cozy. Like many cozies, the focus of this book is on the characters and their relationships rather than the grittiness or realty of a criminal investigation. For fans of this series, this book (the 14th in the series) provides an opportunity to reconnect with familiar characters. For people who have never read any of the books, it is a little disappointing, as SLAY BELLS does not provide a lot of background detail about the characters' situations. While it is entirely possible to read and appreciate the mystery without having this background information, the book would be stronger with more depth. I am not a large fan of this type of cozy. I prefer mysteries with a little more depth and a little more action. In addition, I do not like books where it is easy to guess the killer's identity. While there are always exceptions to the rule, this is not one of them, although the book does suffice as a non-threatening Christmas mystery.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, December 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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