Customer Reviews

St. Patrick's Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 14)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This installment in the Lucy Stone series is the best one yet. It is obvious the author did a lot of research on the Celts and Irish culture. Set around the St. Patrick's Day holiday, the author gives us that inside look into modern family life and issues that we all face daily. The book hold your interest while Lucy solves yet another murder. Lucy seems more together and polished in this book. She pays attention to detail and sees things the police do not see. This not only helps her solve the murder but helps her save a life. I am already looking forward to the next novel by Leslie Meier. Well done!

A headless corpse and two eccentric Irish visitors provide gossipy fodder for the townsfolk of the chilly Tinker's Cove, Maine, also for intreped Pennysaver reporter Lucy Stone who is thrust into a dangerous collection of events that even she doesn't see coming. The quinessential New England sound, Tinker's Cove is the perfect backdrop for a tale of murder that all comes to a shattering climax in this harsh and unyeilding wintry landscape.

Beginning her day like any other, Lucy's interest is caught by a handful of people gathered outside the Bilge, a Tinker's Cove landmark and a steady source of news. A dark and dingy dive where the beer is cheap and the gossip is good, the up has a reputation; Old Dan Malone never turned a paying customer away, not even if he was straight off the boat and stank of lobster bait. But the Bilge is uncharacteristically closed, which is peculiar because Old Dan has always opened his pub at ten o'clock like clockwork.

When Lucy discovers the Bilge has been shut for over three days, the investigation becomes the focus of her attentions. But what is even more suspicious is when the new harbormaster Harry Crawford spies the ice in the bay breaking up and something coming to the surface. Soon enough, everyone discovers that the object is a badly decomposed body, possibly that of Old Dan. The problem however, is that the body is headless, which makes an authoritative identification difficult at best.

When Dan's wallet and his driver's license are found in his pocket, Lucy is of course eager to get back to the office and file her story. His death is big news, especially to the crowd of unemployed fishermen and construction workers who begin their day at the Bilge and word spreads quickly about the gruesome find in the harbor, the beheading obviously done by someone with a sharp blade and a good bit of strength. But who would want to have murdered the seemingly harmless old publican?

Almost immediately, suspicion falls in local boys Dave O'Reilly and Brian Donahue. It seems that Dan owes five thousand dollars to Dave and he'd been moaning around town about how Dan stiffed him on money he owed him for some repairs. Little grudges can get out of hand, and a lot of people had a bone to pick with Dan, but the local police offer little hope of solving the mystery of Old Dan's death anytime soon.

When Lucy learns from Father Ed O'Neil that this year's gala production on of Finian's Rainbow is to be held on St. Patrick's day and the show is to be directed by a professional actor from Ireland, Dylan Malone, Dan's younger brother, she becomes certain that he's somehow connected to his older brother's death. When Dylan arrives in town from Ireland with Moira, his wife and their little girl, Deirdre wondering where his brother actually is.

Dylan is obviously shattered at the news of Old Dan's demise, but Lucy just can't help wondering if Dylan Malone is genuine or if his has been staged for her benefit. She wants to believe both Dylan and Moira them, but she can't help remembering that they are actors, after all, trained to manipulate the audience's emotions.

Lucy's ten year old daughter Zoe strikes up a friendship with the ethereal Deirdre, but the child is too flighty and too caught up in make-believe. Everything comes to a climax when the children go missing and Lucy finds herself vulnerable and afraid, caught up in an ancient vendetta where the innocent little Deirdre is placed in grave danger.

When the rehearsals for Finian's Rainbow begin to fall apart, Moira's increasingly frequent emotional outbursts draining everyone's patience and Lucy finds herself wanting things to be like they were before Dylan and Moira came to Tinker's Cove bringing all this murder and mayhem with them. Even the overly dramatic Moira admits that they have unleashed forces that can't be explained or controlled. Obviously Dylan remains at the center of the mystery even as he's happy to infiltrate the lives of the local population and use whatever he can to pursue his own motives such as upgrading the Bilge.

The strength of Leslie Meier's work lies is in her attention to regional detail as she brings out all the colourful attributes of the inhabitants of Tinker's Cove, vividly recreating all of their eccentricities. Unquestionably the star of this novel is the chilly and wintry landscape of Maine, its locales a perfect backdrop for all of the escapades that play out in this lighthearted murder mystery where everything seems to connect to an old and legendary Irish curse that finally rears its ugly head. Mike Leonard January 08.

Tinker's Cove, Maine is a quaint New England town, but nobody can call the Bilge anything but a dive; a bar known for its customers constantly fighting. The owner Dan Malone ignores the laws that might trim his profits. He is a rebel with a cause of making money regardless of what he does to others. He opens when he wants and closes long after the legal time set by the town. He is not a well liked person as his avarice drives people away while his conning of folks out of their money makes him a pariah. When he vanishes for three days, no one except his bar regulars blink. His body is found floating in the nearby icy harbor; his head sliced off.

His younger brother Dylan comes to town to direct the production of Finnegan's Rainbow for the church. He is shocked by what happened to his sibling, but since they were not even remotely close he moves on. However Dylan does not make himself popular with the locals when he calls his wife actress Moira Malone to perform in the play and she angers the townsfolk further when she brings her daughter along for the excursion. When Moira's child is kidnapped, reporter Lucy Stone's knowledge of Dan Malone's activities gives her an idea where the girl is being held; she follows up on her hunch knowing she places herself in danger.

Leslie Meier writes some of the best regional cozies around. She captures the ambience of a small Maine harbor town. Her characters from the lobstermen to the fisherman to the rest of the locals provide a strong look at the work ethic especially in winter. Lucy displays those qualities as a nurturing mother, loyal friend, and hard nosed working journalist. The outrageous Moira the drama queen provides comic relief with her hyperbole hysteria and arrogant airs as she adds privileged pampered preening into the working world of New England.

Harriet Klausner

Old Dan was a popular bartender at his Irish bar where he conned and connived people into lending him things to keep the derelict play going. He'd sought financial help from his actor brother, Dylan, of the Dublin scene. But when he turned up dead on Saint Patrick's Day there in Maine, the unexpected appearance by Dylan who'd come there to direct the play, "Finian's Rainbow", for the local Catholic church's annual celebration. As the story develops, we learn that they are relatives to two diverse brothers who felt cheated by their father. Dylan attempted to turn Old Dan's bar into an upscale restaurant/pub like those on Gay Street. Lucy Stone investigated the background of the Malone brothers for her article in the Pennysaver newspaper. We all know how the Irish are noted for their penny-pitching and temper when mad.

Leslie Meier's 13th has a surprise ending. This one taking place when it did as all of them are portrayed around a holiday like Valentine's Day, Halloween, Father's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day -- plua birthday, wedding and back-to-school. With the shamrock's allure and the Irish music abounding in the play, good luck galore for everyone in the misty moonlight. Even Lucy learns that she will soon be a grandmother, like the villagers of Brigadoon learned to live again. I'm sure Lettie Lane was Irish and would have loved Old Dan. She did love life. Discovering who killed Dan and tried the same on Dylan is intriging and Lucy's involvement was dangerous but exciting.

St. Patrick's Day is coming up. Tinker's Cove will have Irish celebrations. The Bilge (an Irish Pub in Tinker's Cove) is a major part of this book. A family from Ireland even comes to Tinker's Cove (but I can't say why, because that would ruin the book).

Of course, someone is murdered because this is a murder mystery. The mystery is centered around an Irish/St.Patrick's Day/Green setting. The setting is good.

But the atmosphere isn't. I didn't find this book cozy. In fact, I found it boring in most places. The annoying family (I won't say who) was just that: annoying. And boring. The meetings and the boring things Lucy did with the paper (police logs, etc.) were tediously dull (translated: boring). I didn't find the coziness in this book that is in most of the books in this series.

But it wasn't a totally bad book; that's why I gave it 3 stars.

Meanwhile, throughout the mystery-solving, Lucy is about to become a grandmother for the first time ever. (Like I recently did.) She is worried about the new baby-and-mother-to-be while solving the mystery.

Even though most of the book was boring, it had a pretty interesting ending and the pieces fit together pretty good (but even the ending didn't deserve 5 stars.)

"Bake Sale Murder" was much better, and a lot more cozier.

Regarding the series as a whole:

I love this series, and have given most of the books 5 stars. I love Lucy Stone, and I feel I have so much in common with her that it's scary. (Sometimes I feel as if she is me!)

If I had of read this series back before I became domestic - in my younger days before I married and had kids - I probably would not enjoy the books as much. I think this series probably appeals more to people who are domestic or are interested in it. For a young person who is interested in a "young" life (such as a college student, or someone who goes out a lot), this series probably wouldn't appeal to them. But the first book I read of this series is "Trick or Treat Murder" and it reminded me of Halloween 1996 (I also had a boy and three girls, about the same ages as Lucy's), and it was a special treat for me.

If I had of never married or had kids, and became a librarian instead, I still wouldn't be able to relate to Miss Tilley, because her personality is totally opposite than mine. In previous books, when she is a little younger, her personality shows a lot more, and to be honest, I don't really care for her.

The worst thing about this series is Elizabeth. Lucy has a horrible daughter who really messes up the series.

I have fallen in love with the Lucy Stone mysteries since I was given one several months ago. I have read all but 4 of the books. I thought it started out with a great amount of intrigue and had me hooked immediately. The constant attention to detail on the part of Ms. Meier is what really makes this series click, and this one was no exception. I loved the many pieces of Irish culture and legend that she incorporated into the story. The pretentious Dylan and tempermental Moria quickly engage the reader in a "love-to-hate" relationship with them, which only accelerates with Moria's behavior at the rehersals for the Irish production. I was disapointed in the ending because it seemed quite unrealistic that there were so many unanswered questions regarding Dylan and Moria's intentions such as how they had managed to coerce Old Dan before his death, to completely remodel and change the Bilge, and why Dylan flew in before his family but drove up to the Pennysaver with them announcing that they had all just arrived in town and had not secured a place to stay yet. And they spent the entire book offending all of the townspeople they came into contact with, so I had hoped to see Rachel singing the lead part in the production and Moria sulking in the background, instead of the whole town rallying around her and Dylan at the end! I actually felt real panic when Zoe was missing and Moria was the prime suspect. I really wanted her to pay in some way for her disregard for all the other characters!

This book started out strong but once again the ending disappoints. I don't want to give anything away but I thought the ending was ridiculous. Moira and her hubby (forgot his name already) were not likeable and all of a sudden everyone likes them? The reader won't! And come on, the petrified brain? I mean, really! I also thought when Lucy comfronts the killer was too similar to the ending of Trick or Treat Murder. As a cozy mystery I still enjoy this series but Ms. Meier come on, I know you can do better!!!PLEASE.

I loved the book but I read the Candy Cane Murder which was had a story story with Lucy Stone before reading this book since that this the order they came out...........but story line wise read this book first and then the Candy Cane Murder it takes place Christmas after this St. Patrick Day but regardless it was as fun to read as all her books.

I have read all of the Lucy Stone Mysteries and can't wait for the next one to be published. Once I picked one up, I had to read the entire series.

Lucy Stone is a great character who works for the town newspaper. She also likes to help the police (not too happy) solve murders. This is a duzzy and for a cozy a little gory. I had to skip over a few paragraghs that were too much information for me. Old Dan Malone is found dead in the water, his long lost brother, wife and neice show up out of the blue from Ireland - and the plot thickens. Leslie Meier really kept me guessing. There was a lot of Irish folklore, mostly stuff you wouldn't want your kids to hear about and certainly not believe as anything but myth. So, I guess, although I enjoyed the story and solving the crime, parts of it not to my taste. But the setting was quaint and it was good for an afternoon by the fire. Lucy Stone is a good sleuth.