Halloween Murder
While Lucy Stone is whipping up orange-frosted cupcakes for her town’s annual Halloween festival and trick or treat bonanza, an arsonist is on the loose in Tinker’s Cove. When arson turns into murder, a little digging in all the wrong places puts Lucy too close to a shocking discovery that could send all her best-laid plans up in smoke.
Not everyone in Tinker’s Cover is enchanted with newcomer Diana Ravenscroft and her quaint little shop offering everything from jewelry to psychic readings. But a gruesome murder of Diana’s friend has Lucy Stone uncovering a deadly web of secrets, and a spine-chilling brush with things that go bump in the night.
Series: A Lucy Stone Mystery – Book #2
Author: Leslie Meier
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Compilation
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 448
Rating: 
Halloween Murder is a compilation of two previously published books in the Lucy Stone Mystery Series. Both stories and enjoyable and easy to read. Both stories focus on Lucy Stone and her amateur sleuthing in two different murder cases.
Story one, Trick or Treat Murder takes place right after the birth of Lucy’s 4th child. She is a new mom again and having difficulty dealing with everything. Someone is burning down old historic homes and building in in Tinker’s Cove, and Lucy fears her home will be next. Unfortunately, one of the homes was not empty when the fire destroyed it.
Sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong tends to get it scorched, and Lucy soon finds herself going up in smoke as the killer decides that she knows too much.
In story two, Wicked Witch Murder takes place in the future after Lucy’s kids are all grown up, or most of them. A new business in town is ruffling feathers and causing some residents to harken back to a time when witches were burned. Lucy isn’t a fan of Diana Ravenscroft’s new store, and she isn’t sure what to make of witchcraft, but she knows that several people truly dislike it enough to want to run Diana out of town on a rail.
When someone is murdered, fingers point to Diana and her coven. Lucy ends up smack in the middle of the investigation and becomes a target of an overzealous bible thumper who is trying to scare the residents of Tinker’s Cove into reinstating the witch hunt, possibly with a witch burned at the stake.
Both stories are very interesting and filled with plenty of action. The writing is flawless, creative, and entertaining. There is a bit of confusion when moving to the second story, as most readers will anticipate a linear passage between stories. However, the span between them is large and can be frustrating for some.
In general, these are very good stories and worth the time to read. I highly recommend this series and this compilation. I do recommend that readers familiarize themselves with the series to get a good understanding of who the characters are, as well as a bit of background as there is little to none within this particular book.
About the Author
Leslie started writing in the late ‘80s when she was attending graduate classes at Bridgewater State College. She wanted to become certified to teach high school English and one of the required courses was Writing and the Teaching of Writing. Her professor suggested that one of the papers she wrote for that course was good enough to be published and she sent it off to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s Department of First Stories. She received $100 for the story and she has been writing ever since. The teaching, however, didn’t work out.
Leslie’s books draw heavily on her experience as a mother of three and her work as a reporter for various weekly newspapers on Cape Cod. Her heroine, Lucy Stone, is a reporter in the fictional town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, where she lives in an old farmhouse (quite similar to Leslie’s on Cape Cod!) with her restoration carpenter husband Bill, and four children. As the series has progressed the kids have grown older, roughly paralleling Leslie’s own family. They seem to have reached a point beyond which Lucy cannot age–Leslie’s editor seems to want her to remain forty-something forever, though Leslie has to admit she personally is dying to write “Menopause is Murder!”
Leslie has five fabulous grandchildren. She and her husband are enjoying dividing their time between Braintree and Cape Cod, along with their cat, Sylvester.
Represented by the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
Contact Leslie: lsmeier@comcast.net
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