Trick or Treat Murder (Lucy Stone Series #3)

by Leslie Meier

Overview

Reprinted Edition

"A charming setting and likable cast. . .enjoyable reading." —Publishers Weekly

Haunted-house parties and ghostly galas. . .grinning pumpkins, mayhem and murder. It's going to be one heck of a Halloween for Lucy Stone and Tinker's Cove. . .

It's October in Maine, and everyone in Tinker's Cove is preparing for the annual Halloween festival. While Lucy Stone is whipping up orange-frosted cupcakes, recycling tutus for her daughters' Halloween costumes, helping her son with his pre-teen rebellion, and breast-feeding her brand-new bay, an arsonist is loose in Tinker's Cove. When the latest fire claims the life of the owner of the town's oldest house, arson turns into murder. . .

While the townsfolk work to transform a dilapidated mansion into a haunted house for the All-Ghouls festival, the hunt for the culprit heats up. Trick-or-treat turns deadly as 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. . .

"Lucy Stone is an endearing sleuth." —Dorothy Cannell

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780758278425
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Series:	Lucy Stone Series , #3
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	322,102
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Leslie Meier is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty Lucy Stone mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. She is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery. Readers can visit her website at www.LeslieMeier.com

Editorial Reviews

The serenity of Tinker's Cove, Maine, is shattered when an arsonist creates havoc and sends amateur sleuth Lucy Stone, introduced in How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams, on her second adventure. After several historic buildings are damaged or destroyed by fire, the stakes escalate when the body of socialite Monica Mayes is found inside the charred wreckage of her summer home. Lucy, mother of four, including new baby Zoe, casts a suspicious eye on Roland Mayes, Monica's unfaithful husband, and decides to do a little investigating of her own. Lucy's husband, Bill, a restoration carpenter, has reluctantly joined the local historic commission, which has recently denied the plans submitted by unsavory Randy Lenk to remodel his gas station. Another suspicious fire coincides with Halloween trickery and leads to a red hot finale. Although the plot is thin, the charming setting and likable cast, including crotchety old Miss Tilley, former librarian and head of the historic council, and Lucy herself, juggling motherhood and murder, make for enjoyable reading. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Not content with a flickering jack-o'-lantern for Halloween, somebody has torched the old Hopkins Homestead. It's the fourth case of arson Tinker's Cove has seen in five months, and the most deadly, since Homesteader Monica Mayes, enjoying a rare off- season overnight stay at her summer house, was killed in the flames. Whodunit? The obvious suspect for Lucy Stone (Tippy-Toe Murder, 1994, etc.) is the widower, Dr. Roland Mayes, who's been extending his gynecological research to bodybuilding bimbo Krissy Wright. But would Mayes really go to the trouble of burning down all those other buildings in preparation for offing his inconvenient wife?

Forget the mystery; the burning questions here (and the only time the tale flickers to life) concern the commercialization of rural Maine, the need of older drivers to turn in their licenses, and the breast-feeding of Zoe, the latest among fecund Lucy's progeny.

Kirkus Reviews