Turkey Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 7) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Leslie Meier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

Once again, Leslie Meier gives mystery fans a reason to give thanks for the eccentric charms of Tinker's Cove and the intriguing exploits of its resident amateur sleuth, Lucy Stone.

Turkey Day Murder

Tinker's Cove has a long history of Thanksgiving festivities, from visits with TomTom Turkey to the annual Warriors high school football game and Lucy Stone's impressive pumpkin pie. But this year, someone has added murder to the menu, and Lucy intends to discover who left Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan deader than the proverbial Thanksgiving turkey--with an ancient war club next to his head.

The list of suspects isn't exactly a brief one. Nolan had a habit of disagreeing with just about everybody he met. Between fixing dinner for twelve and keeping her four kids from tearing each other limb from limb, Lucy has a pretty full plate already. So what's a little investigation? But if she's not careful, she just may find herself served up as a last-minute course, stone-cold dead with all the trimmings. . .

"I like Lucy Stone a lot, and so will readers." --Carolyn Hart

"Meier writes with sparkle and warmth." --Chicago Sun Times

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite all her volunteer work and family responsibilities, not to mention her part-time reporting job for her local paper, valiant Lucy Stone manages to maintain her poise in her seventh busy outing (after Christmas Cookie Murder). For Lucy, escorting a preschool field trip to a turkey farm, baking pies for charity or entertaining her husband's difficult clients and son's college roommate for Thanksgiving dinner is all part of her routine in rural Tinker's Cove, Maine. For Native American Carl Nolan, life is full of conflict, whether with his boss, the board of selectmen or the local museum's anthropologist. As Thanksgiving approaches, Lucy covers a town meeting at which the main agenda item is whether the selectmen will support the Metinnicut Indian tribe's petition for recognition by the federal government. Approval would enable the tribe to build a casino on land belonging to Nolan's employer. The ink on that story is barely dry when Nolan's body, his head smashed with a priceless tribal artifact, turns up at the high school Thanksgiving football game. When Lucy accepts the challenge to solve the crime, she finds no lack of suspects. Meier clearly establishes her characters' motives early on, and portrays smalltown life both realistically and sympathetically. Sadly, the story loses some of its impact in a constant stream of minutiae that should leave Lucy, along with readers, gasping for breath and longing for a few minutes of peace and quiet. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Although much of her time is spent on family, fund-raising, and helping her best friend with day-care kids, Lucy Stone (Valentine Murder)Athe sleuthing reporter of Tinker's Corner, MEApromises an elderly friend that she will find out who murdered a confrontational local Native American. Recent selectmen board meetings regarding the Metinnicut Indians have been getting out of hand. Most of the townsfolk believe that the Natives want federal recognition only so that they can open a casino, but the dead man thought otherwise. Lightweight, approachable prose; cozy, small-town ambiance; and a down-to-earth sleuth make this a good choice for most collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786247274
• ISBN-13: 978-0786247271
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,522,493 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

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's Talk Turkey, February 24, 2008

By 

J. E. Stephens "Jeanne" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turkey Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

I gave it 3 1/2 stars. I did like the way she described her son coming home from college for Thanksgiving. Moms can relate who have experienced it. I didn't like the F-bomb a character dropped at the end. Usually this author has none of that. Lucy told her high school daughter not to swear when she said, "sucks."

It wasn't as mysterious or suspenseful as her other books. But it was a good read. I just bought her most recent book in hardcover. Hopefully no more bad language.

If you must read all the books in this series, save this one for last.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A warm cosy mystery, September 28, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turkey Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 7) (Hardcover)

Long before the first European even dreamed of crossing the Atlantic, the Metinnicut tribe considered what is now the United States their home. By the 1800s, the tribe became extinct killed by the Anglos through either disease or war. Two hundred years later the only artifact left that is genuinely Metinnicut in origin is an Indian club in the local museum. Once a year, the club leaves its locale to be used in a high school game.

Many of the residents of Tinker's Cove have some Metinnicut blood flowing through their veins and demand the Feds grants them tribal status. The reasons divide the Metinnicut descendants between those who desire recognition and those who see job opportunities with a casino. However, someone takes offense to the casino opponents killing an individual. Reporter Lucy Stone of the weekly Pennysaver has studied the issue from various perspectives and begins to investigate the homicide hoping to ferret out the perpetrator as she has done on other murder cases.

Lucy Meir is an expert at writing culinary-amateur sleuth novels that employ average people as protagonists and even as villains. The audience visualizes life in a small New England village during the holiday season. The mystery in TURKEY DAY MURDER is easy to follow, flows forward rather quickly, and ends with a genuine feel that makes the work a gourmand's delight.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanksgiving, murder and Indians, November 21, 2003

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turkey Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lucy Stone and her family live in Tinker's Cove, Maine. Her son Toby is coming home for the first time from college for Thanksgiving. They are awaiting his arrival, she probably more than the others. It had been hard on her having Toby gone.

She is kept busy with her work as a journalist for the Pennysaver, the weekly newspaper. She attends the meetings of the Tinker's Cove Board of Selectmen. Many of the meetings are long and tedious. That was before the ancestors of the Metinnicut Indians are trying to get the Metinnicut recognized as an official Indian tribe. At one of the meetings, discussion gets quite heated when discussing their proposed casino.

Curt Nolan was a very outspoken advocate of the Metinnicut tribe and the casino. He ruffled many people with his abrupt ways. Then he is found dead behind the refreshments stand at the local high school football game on Thanksgiving.

Not only did Toby come home for Thanksgiving, but he brought friends. Friends that were not anticipated by Lucy. She didn't get to have long talks with Toby as she had hoped. She barely got to see him, let alone talk to him. Lucy is having a tough time dealing with this.

Then Miss Tilley gets Lucy to agree to look into Curt's death. She doesn't want to do it because her husband, Bill, had explicity told her not to. But, Miss Tilley can be quite persuasive.

Lucy also agrees to take Kadjo, Curt Nolan's dog, since he no longer has a home. She is afraid that Bill will be upset, but he accepts the new dog into the family without any problem.

I like this series a lot. Lucy and her family are your every day average family. She just ends up involved in investigating murders. And she always ends up putting herself and sometimes her family or friends in danger. This book is especially good what with the added stress of Thanksgiving and Toby's return to spice up her life.

I always enjoy mysteries set in New England, especially Maine. The descriptions of the area are very enjoyable and make me feel like I've been there.

I highly recommend this book and the whole series.