Darlene's Book Nook: #Book #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier @lsmeierbooks @KensingtonBooks

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

#Book #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier @lsmeierbooks @KensingtonBooks

TITLE: Mistletoe Murder

SERIES: Lucy Stone, Book #1
AUTHOR: Leslie Meier

PUBLISHER: Kensington

PUBLICATION DATE: December 1, 1998 (first published 1991)

FORMAT: Paperback

LENGTH: 209 pages

GENRE: Mystery/Cozy, Holidays/Christmas

ISBN: 9781575663708

In Lucy Stone's debut -- now in its third printing -- the mystery-solving mom takes time out from her hectic holiday schedule to discover who murdered the owner of the town's famous mail-order company.

MY REVIEW:

Lucy Stone works nights taking orders by telephone for a local mail-order company. The evening is slow, and she is having trouble staying awake. Her co-worker suggests to her to take a little break, and Lucy decides to stretch her legs and go outside for a bit of fresh air. She hears the engine of a car running, so she walks over to the parking lot to investigate and notices that her boss’s car is idling. There is a black hose on the car’s exhaust pipe running to the driver’s window, and she tries to open the car door but it is locked. She pulls the hose out of the car and runs back to the building to call for help.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery, which is the first book in the bestselling Lucy Stone series. Lucy is a very likeable character. She’s thoughtful and likes to help others, which is how she became involved in this case. There was one thing about the book that rubbed me the wrong way, when the author referred to “Mrs. Stone’s retarded brother.” Given that this book was first published in 1991, I will give the author the benefit of the doubt as this was written before the age of political correctness. I still plan to continue on in the series.

MY RATING: