Customer Reviews

Wicked Witch Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoy the Lucy Stone series, and I thought this book was a fun read, but the ending left me guffawing a little. Only because I found it hard to believe that Lucy would find herself in the situation that led to the story's climax, without apparently having any clue what was going on. As in, "La la la, oops, forgot to fill my gas tank, oh hey, look where I am! Look who's here! Look what they have handy! Nothing suspicious there!" Also, there were several questions that, to me, were not answered - obviously not the big question of whodunnit, but smaller ones, like: Why were those dudes chasing her in the woods? Who painted the pentagrams? What was the deal with the bear? Lastly, was I the only person who thought Lucy was maybe being a tad TOO open-minded in dealing with the Wicca folks, especially given the fact that an unsolved murder had been committed in their town? As a Mom, I don't think I'd open my home to a virtual stranger and let her hang out with my kids while I wasn't there, especially given the fact that said stranger was a potential suspect in the murder. Just sayin'.

This is the first book in this series I have read and as far as I know, the first book by Leslie Meier I have been exposed to, although that is sort of problematic. I ready so many of these books that are classified as "cozy mysteries" that I tend to get my authors a bit mixed up - a result of my slowly slipping into my dotage.

Anyway, I picked this on up at the library after a recommendation from a good friend and fellow reviewer here on Amazon who has never lead me astray with her suggestions. I did not start with the first book in the series which is my usually practice - there are two reasons for this. First, our library, like most libraries these days, is suffering through rough economic times and as the politicians like to hit library funding first, our library simply cannot afford to buy all the books in any one given series. Secondly, I have found if I read the fifth, sixth or such book in a series and I like it, then the chances are pretty good that I will like the entire series. I have to tell you right now that I enjoyed this work very much and it contained all the elements in a cozy that I look for - more about that later.

The story takes place in a small town in Maine. Our central character, Lucy, is a reporter for the little weekly newspaper and is quite involved with her community. The main plot in this work revolves around a new member of the community, a self professed witch who has opened a small store specializing is books, herbs and such and she gives little "seminars" on witch craft and readings.

Lucy discovers the body of a man in the woods near her home that has died a rather ghastly death and begins investigating.

Now I will admit right now that the plot of this story is rather simple and the outcome is indeed, as others have pointed out, sort of predictable. Personally I could careless about this aspect of the story. I do not read these cozies for complicated murders, graphic violence, non-stop action and trying to figure out shaded and obscure clues as to "who done it." No, for me a cozy either makes you feel, well...cozy and allows you to share the lives of a family or small community or it doesn't; those that don't, I don't read. I like colorful characters and quaint settings. If I want complicated and complex murder mysteries there are thousands upon thousands available and when the mood strikes me, I seek them out.

This is a rather mellow read. I must say that even though this one is classified as a "cozy" I found the author's observations of human nature, community and family interaction and general "attitude" just as interesting as the mystery itself.

Each of us has our own reading requirements and we are lucky in this day and age to have so many great works available. If we do not like one, then we have plenty of others to choose from. This particular novel suited my purposes perfectly and I will now proceed to read others by this author and this series.

Let me address one point that seems to be a sticking point with several readers. This revolves around the fact that Lucy allowed an almost complete stranger to move into her house for a bit while the stranger faced a certainly amount of danger. While this may not be the brightest thing a person could do, there are those of us that would indeed do such a thing. As a matter of fact my wife and I have done just that several times over the years; from battered women, to slight acquaintances having hard times, to folks that simply needed a helping hand and an ear to bend, so this was not all that shocking to me personally. But he, that is just us...we are who we are and more or less have to follow our nature.

I did like this book!

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I loved this book! This is a very good, very well-written cozy mystery. I enjoyed this book so much.

This is the latest Lucy Stone Mystery. This book spans longer than most of the Lucy Stone books. It lasts from June until Halloween. In this book, there is a newcomer to town (unwelcome and unwanted by a lot of the town folks). This newcomer's name is Diana, and she is a witch. She claims to be a good witch, doesn't wish harm or hurt on anybody. She only claims to promote positiveness. Whether or not people believe her, just the idea of her being a witch makes some people uneasy.

Lucy, the open-minded person, is not quick to judge. She tolerates Diana, even befriends her and allows her to stay a few days in her house. Lucy doesn't judge her by her Wicca Religion. She judges her by her personality. Nonetheless, some people are upset with Lucy for not judging her and for tolerating her.

At the same time, Lucy has two daughters still at home - high school and junior high age. They are at that peer-pressure and impressionable age. Even though Lucy respects and tolerates Diana's religion, she does not want her daughters to become witches. She somewhat battles this with her daughters. On a good note, her two daughters are nice, respectable girls who totally respect their mother, and wouldn't do anything that their mother forbade them to do. Therefore, the battle is easier with Sara and Zoe that it would have been if Elizabeth was still at home (the monster). Lucy has raised two wonderful, nice daughters, and it's really not that hard with Sara and Zoe. (After Elizabeth, it's nice and refreshing to have two nice daughters.)

Anyway, with this small semi-battle to convince Sara and Zoe to not practice Wicca, Lucy is still the wonderful mother and grandmother (her son and his wife and their son live down the road on Prudence Path). She is still the reporter for the town's weekly newspaper, the Penny Saver. She still lives a cozy life in a cozy old house in a small cozy town. She still bakes and there is still plenty of coffee at her house.

This book is very interesting, and there are lots of fun adventures.

One of the highlights of these books, and of Lucy's life, is her weekly Thursday breakfast with three of her best friends. Lucy, Sue, Rachel, and Pam get together every Thursday at Jake's Donut Shack - just the girls - to stay in touch and to keep up with each other's lifes, and to just get a break. I love these cozy Thursday breakfasts.

I feel so cozy and comfortable and secure in Lucy's house. I feel right at home in this comfortable, warm, cozy house. Lucy is a domestic, loving mother, wife, grandmother, friend, and citizen. Tinker's Cove is a better place because Lucy is there. I love Lucy. Her person and her life is so warm and cozy and secure and comfortable. I love reading these books, and I could spend all day in her house.

Thank goodness there is no Elizabeth in this book. She has already left home. There is only one flaw in this series, and that is Elizabeth. She is the most horrible, hateful person ever. It's hard to believe that such a nice, wonderful person such as Lucy gave birth to the horrible monster Elizabeth.

This book ends at Halloween. There is a Halloween party. There are lots of treats, witch's brew punch, beastly bug cookies. There is a little boy, Nemo, who needs a ride home because his mother is not there. Lucy, the wonderful lady and citizen that she is, takes the little boy home. Will Lucy get the little boy delivered, get back to Tinker's Cove, and back to her warm, cozy house? Or will there be reason to beware because of these real witches (Wiccans) who are celebrating Halloween?

I cannot sing enough praise for this wonderful, fun book. I am glad I read it - I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun.

I have always enjoyed the Lucy Stone series, but this one really could have used some more thought and better editing. Lucy seems to have completely lost her spine in this book. She used to be fairly plucky, but in this book, she's a total doormat.

She doesn't want her girls consorting with the local witch, so what does she do? Lets the witch stay with her, and leaves her girls alone under her care! Yes, like that's going to keep them disinterested in witchcraft...Every time someone asks her to do a favor in this book,she knows she shouldn't do it, but she says yes anyway. And the "favor" that puts her in peril at the climax is simply unbelievable--anyone with half a brain would have said no immediately.

There are other problems with the series at this point as well. At one point, Lucy demands of her girls, "Aren't you feminists?" How on earth could they be? We've watched Lucy do her nearly-full-time job AND handle all of the household work, yardwork, gardening, and kowtow to her jerk of a husband as he complains about the dinners she cooks, shows no interest in her work, and treats her with an almost arrogant contempt. (He's so awful that at one point, I thought Meier was setting us up for a Bill-as-abusive-husband-ends-up-dead book). Lucy is hardly a model of feminism, and she forces her daughters into traditional homemaking roles as well, so how could they be feminists?

Editorial mistakes abound. Lucy asks the witch, Diana, if she's leaving town because she's afraid of "Ike Stonington." Hmm. There's a character named Ike Stoughton, but no Stonington. There's some confusion in places about exactly what time of year it is; in one part, Lucy has just told us it's the middle of August, and a few pages later, someone says, "Summer's just started." There are unexplained plot lines, as other reviewers have noticed, the mysterious bear being one of them.

These books used to be written and edited with much more care. This one has a lot of promise, but falls down on several levels. It's OK, but not more than OK.

This was an enjoyable easy read. Suspension of disbelief is definitely required. But what a letdown: the ending was disappointing and completely unimaginative.

This book is okay. The setting was wonderful. I'd love to live in Tinker's Cove, but the rest of the story was just okay. There were places the story dragged on and I had to force myself to keep reading. Then I got to the end and it seemed like it was too rushed. There were too many unanswered questions.

I also had a hard time keeping track of all of the characters. Too often, I'd read a name and think, "Who was that again?"

I had a hard time believing some of the events of the book. Lucy really let some newcomer to the town stay in her home? Other events that led to the climax seemed like a bit of a stretch.

I doubt I'll read any other Lucy Stone books and I doubt I'll remember this book in a week.

I have read this book a couple of times, because I really like it. I love the Lucy Stone series. This one is a new and interesting element to the Tinkers Cove setting.

I usually love the series, but this one pushed me over the edge and I had a hard time finishing it. Like "Mom of Three" I couldn't believe that Lucy would bring a total stranger into her home. Some of the incidents in the book were so implausible, it left way too many unanswered questions, and there were times when I just wanted to slap Lucy along side the head and tell her to quit being so stupid! It seemed like she had no common sense in this book and that she really didn't care about the safety of herself or her family. It almost seemed to me like the author in her attempt to be open-minded/tolerant just pushed the limits of believable. Honestly, I had a hard time digging up my old enthusiasm for the character, and I just wanted her to go away. She was particularly clueless or just plain stupid at the end of the book. I like smart characters with common sense and she was not that in this book. Hopefully her next one will be better...

But I like my holiday mysteries to be set mainly in the season I came to read about.

Lucy Stone fans will probably like it. Happy & safe Halloween, everyone!

I have loved this series from the first book, but this one was a waste of my time. I didn't believe the premise from the outset and as someone else observed, Lucy seemed a totally different character, from a strong-willed working mother of four to a dithering believer in witchcraft. I don't think I'll even bother with the next book; I will get it from the library instead of wasting my money.