Christmas Cookie Murder - A Lucy Stone Mystery [Hardcover]

Leslie Meier (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Kensington Books; First Edition, Second Printing edition (1999)
• ASIN: B000U0TL6E
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,838,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I started writing in the late '80s when I was attending graduate classes at Bridgewater State College. I wanted to become certified to teach high school English and one of the required courses was Writing and the Teaching of Writing. My professor suggested that one of the papers I wrote for that course was good enough to be published and I sent it off to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Department of First Stories. I got $100 for the story and I've been writing ever since. The teaching, however, didn't work out.

My books draw heavily on my experience as a mother of three and my work as a reporter for various weekly newspspers on Cape Cod. My 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 mine on Cape Cod!) with her restoration carpenter husband Bill and four children. As the series has progressed the kids have grown older, roughly paralleling my own family. We seem to have reached a point beyond which Lucy cannot age -- my editor seems to want her to remain forty-something forever -- though I have to admit I am dying to write "Menopause is Murder"!

I usually write one Lucy Stone mystery every year and "Wicked Witch Murder" came out in August, 2010. I fell in love with one character, a four-year-old boy named Nemo, and he makes a second appearance in a Christmas novella included in "Gingerbread Cookie Murder," which also features tales by Laura Levine and Joanne Fluke, due to be published in October, 2010. I've just finished "English Tea Murder" in which Lucy and her friends visit England, coming out sometime in 2011. My books are classified as cozies but a good friend insists they are really "comedies of manners" and I do enjoy expressing my view of contemporary American life.

Now that the kids are grown -- I now have two grandchildren -- my husband and I are enjoying our empty nest on Cape Cod which we share with our adorable Brittany, Sylvie.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A charming holiday mystery, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Christmas Cookie Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 5) (Hardcover)

The quiet town of Tinker's Cove, Maine is a place where everyone knows everyone else's business and doors or cars are never locked. It is Christmas time, but newspaper reporter Lucy Stone struggles with the season's spirit after an overflowing toilet drowned her cookie party. Lucy likes the newest female resident, Tucker Whitney, an assistant at the daycare center.

Before Lucy can truly pursue a friendship, Tucker is found strangled to death. All the townsfolk know that Tucker was having an affair with Steve Cummings, who was separated from his wife Lee. The acting police chief arrests Steve for murder, but even his wife strongly feels her spouse is incapable of performing the act. Lucy begins to snoop, which lands her into more trouble than she ever has been in before and she knows trouble with a capital T.

The Lucy Stone mysteries are reminiscent of the Jessica Fletcher TV series even though the heroine of Tinker's Cove is much younger. The towns are similar with their respective residents interchangeable. However, Lucy Meier places her own special mark on each novel as readers have a refreshing opportunity to meet each character. CHRISTMAS COOOKIE MURDERS is simultaneously the most humorous yet melancholy of the all the books. By pulling off such a dichotomy inside an intriguing who-done-it, Ms. Meir demonstrates her writing abilities that turn this amateur sleuth into a fine novel.

Harriet Klausner

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun & Entertaining, August 17, 2000

By 

Barbara O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas Cookie Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 5) (Hardcover)

Christmas Cookie Murder is a pleasant way to spend a weekend. Nothing too deep or profound, the book filled the bill nicely for me when I wanted a fast and fun read.

This was my first glimpse into the life of Lucy Stone, and I find now I should go back to book 1 and advance from there, for I think that I've missed out on much of the backstory of her life and family.

The story takes place in Tinker's Cove, Maine and features Lucy as reporter for the town's paper and inveterate amateur sleuth, this time the victim is a young woman rumored to be the reason for the breakup of the marriage of the town's dentist and his wife. Did the good doctor do it? The police think so and arrest him. But suspicion also hovers over the head of the good doctor's wife, who had been overheard to mouth vile thoughts toward the deceased. Add to this a growing concern over the use of alcohol by local teens, the influx of hard drugs into the tiny coastal town, a police chief whose ideas and attitudes come into direct conflict with just about everyone and Lucy has a lot to ponder and solve. And how she solves the mystery is quite by fluke.

Even though this is my first Lucy Stone mystery, I have the rest in my ToBeRead pile and look forward to learning more about Lucy and Tinker's Cove.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasing Change Of Pace!, December 29, 2001

By 

Kevin Spoering (Buffalo, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas Cookie Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was an easy, fun read for me, I tend to read very serious books ( my last was HUBBERT'S PEAK: THE IMPENDING WORLD OIL SHORTAGE) so I found this novel very refreshing. CHRISTMAS COOKIE MURDER is perhaps the second murder mystery I ever recall reading. I thought the story line and characterization were excellent, and I see that Leslie Meier has used the character Lucy Stone five times previously, obviously a well developed character and fine tuned indeed. The writing style used here is homey, very relaxed.

As a man I enjoyed reading of the bickering a group of women are capable of, with their petty squabbles and jealousies, I suspect that Leslie Meier may have a keen insight into women's minds that few men do. Also, much of the book centers around Christmas and families and normal everyday events, and of course a perplexing murder, all told I found this a charming novel, definitely worth reading.