Receive Christmas Cookie Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #6) Narrated By Leslie Meier Disseminated As Script

Nothing spectacular, just a quick fun read, Poor Tinker's Cover just when you hope things begin to quiet down before Christmas, a wave of drug trafficking sneaks through town.
In Leslie Meier'sth Lucy Stone Mystery, Christmas Cookie Murder, she's not only worried about figuring out who killed the local dentist's girlfriend despite his being married, her own children are somehow caught up in a drug situation.
Not everything appears as it's really happening behind the scenes, but among a fire, a kidnapping, and a lobster dilemma, this installment lends itself to more of a suspense cozy.
I enjoy the characters, and it's a different appeal than a traditional cozy, That said, I also really like the accuracy of a small town in Maine, even if sometimes it's a bit too preachy or nonpreachy when it should be in some instances.
Maybe it's me! LOL I am eager to start the next one, No. Just no. This book was terrible. The story was ALL over the place, There are so many characters to remember, half of them not even needed, which makes it impossible to remember who is who by the end of the book.
The lastpages were so rushed and came out of nowhere I was not a fan of any of this.
A quick, light Christmas read, I always enjoy returning to Tinker's Cove Maine, This book was so bad that it was enjoyable, I normally wouldn't write a review for a book like this but since I need to review it for a reading challenge I entered, well here is my super short review.


This was a cozy mystery novel that I picked

in December with the goal of reading it beforewas done.
Clearly I didn't get to it on time, but since it could fit one of the prompts, I figured I'd might as well listen to it.
It was okay for the most part, I may not have really related with the main set of characters they were middle aged parents of teenagers and younger children, while I am still a lil' baby myself but I still think that it was cool to see a cozy mystery from this perspective.
The ones that I usually love and enjoy have younger main characters around my real age and yet I feel old.
. . so that just appeals more to me, No hating, just saying.

There were some parts in the book that made me believe less that this was part of a series.
Mostly because our main character behaved like this was one of her first cases, It was weird to me from when I was reading it, and this would have made more sense if this was the first or second book in a series rather than the sixth.
That's just my opinion though, others may feel different, In addition, she's a reporter for the local newspaper, and yet it feels like her investigative skills were sorely lacking.
Sure, she isn't a full time reporter and sometimes she writes more fluff pieces than other more interesting stories, but it just didn't make much sense to me.


For my first time reading from Meier, I think it was an okay experience.
It also looks like this could have been rewritten or republished from the original pub date of.
I don't know how the original story was, but I hope that this was an improvement that the author enjoyed writing.
Another fine Lucy Stone mystery this one,in the series,

It's close to Christmas, and all through the house, money is tight, the kids are acting up, and apparently the town of Tinker's Cove is having a drug problem among the high school kids.
The lobster quota has stressed the townspeople, and a young woman is found dead, The most obvious suspect isn't in Lucy's mind,

I really like the way that these stories are presented in a mature way.
Yes, there's humor, but there area also everyday issues to deal with, Our Lucy is like a pit bull when she gets a notion it's hard to shake it.
This notion almost causes her to come to grief, Unlike some of the cozies out there wthisomething heroines that fall in love with the first moving male, Lucy's relationship with her husband and family is very realistic.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons I enjoy this series so much,

Well written. A plausible scenario and a wow I didn't see that coming ending, All in all an enjoyable read,.stars. I usually really enjoy these cozy mysteries, but this one just fell flat for me, I didnt care about any of the characters or their troubles, I wasnt engaged with the plot, And at the end I didnt even enjoy the murders reveal, . .

Another thing that bothered me quite a bit was the main characters overreaction to catching her eighteenyearold son smoking pot.
It was way too much, I have to admit, I started skimming over the instances where the main character went off on crazy rants about it.
. . which continued on many pages after the initial incident,


My favorite passage:
Right now she needed some tea and sympathy.



My final thoughts:
Overall, I did semienjoy this read, I never once thought about DNFing, but it just ended up being a miss,

However, I would still recommend this book to readers that enjoy quick and easy to read cozy mysteries! It was a little over the top as far as bizarre coincidences, to the point that it wasn't all that believable.
That's a lot of crazy for a few weeks, Also, the dynamics between the various characters seemed off, Husband and wife don't talk over issues about their kids despite seeming very comfortable with each other otherwise, people invited to an intimate party that don't seem to be on intimate terms with the hostess or her best friend who actually invited her, a local dentist who doesn't seem to have a clue who his wife's friends are, and an obstructive dental receptionist who clearly has no idea what her employer's priorities are.
What was the point of her being a roadblock when the dentist himself was very agreeable to being interviewed It added nothing to the story except tension where it wasn't needed.


It was a decent read, but not a great one, I'm tempted to try one more in the series to see if it's just this book that didn't strike a chord with me.
We'll see. As always, it is a pleasure to return to Tinker's Cover and catch up with Lucy Stone once again.


Christmas is fast approaching and Lucy finds herself offering to host an annual Christmas cookie exchange to keep the tradition alive.
The cookie exchange just serves to emphasize the friction between the women at the exchange, Lucy is doing her best to keep peace among the group, especially when Tucker Whitney, a new young coworker of Lucy's friend Sue at the childcare center shows up to the exchange.
Lee Cummings accuses Tucker of being a homewrecker and destroying her marriage to her husband, The grand finale of the exchange occurs when a water leak upstairs causes Lucy's ceiling to collapse on the table of cookies for the exchange, and Lucy is humiliated.


Soon Tucker is found strangled, and suspects abide, Much of the town seems to think Lee's husband, Steven Cummings is responsible for the murder, but after having met Steve, Lucy has her doubts and feels compelled to investigate the murder.


Meanwhile, Lucy catches her high school son, Toby, smoking pot and hears that the high school is teeming with drugs.
It seems unthinkable to Lucy that there is such a drug problem in Tinker's Cove,

Lucy is up to her head, trying to catch Tucker's murderer, keep Toby in line and filling out his college applications, and finish her Christmas shopping and baking.
Can Lucy find the real killer and survive the holiday in one piece Finally I can cross off the 'book set during Christmas' from my library's reading challenge I'm participating in this year! I feel like I should've read one long ago, but for some reason I hadn't.
This book fit the bill!

I really like Lucy, but as I've stated in many reviews I cannot stomach her husband.
He is atrocious most of the time! I feel like all he does is want dinner, watch TV, and expect Lucy to fix him lunch.
It's frustrating, and I really wish he'd quietly exit the series, but as I know that won't happen.
He remains a black spot on otherwise a pretty good series,

This mystery was absolutely wonderful, Folks, if you want an extremely solid mystery, this is the book for you! Lucy didn't use badgering tactics when solving the crime and it all just fell into place.
The killer took me by absolute surprise,

Overall, a solid book, I will read the next one, but I think I may space it out a bit more than I have with the last few.
Recommend. An enjoyable earlier edition in the Lucy Stone mysteries,
She seemed less in the loop in this particular mystery, she gathered tons of crime facts, which she doesn't tie together until towards the end.
This was great since I enjoy playing a role in solving mysteries, As usual, colorfully described characters with festive scenery, amp a bit of comic relief along with real life drama.
So fun and entertaining! This book was fantastic from beginning to end!!! Lucy Stone had me laughing, terrified for her and cheering for her! If you want a great read, this is it!! This was another fun installment in the Lucy Stone series.
I really like these books, they're just a lot of fun, They aren't what I would consider a true cozy, but they aren't hard hitting either, It's a perfect blend for me, I had no idea how this one was going to end and was surprised by the ending.
Definitely looking forward to reading on with this series, This is definitely my leastfavorite Lucy Stone title to date, Christmas is once again settling into Tinker's Cove, Maine, The highlight of Lucy's holiday is often the annual Christmas cookie exchange with a number of her friends, but this year proves different.
The usual host has to pass on that role since she has started a new business in the local artisan mall in town.
Lucy is more than nervous, but that doesn't stop her from rising to the occasion only to see things go horribly wrong, creating an early end to the evening.
In a way, that is not a bad thing as all the attendees seem to have spent the evening turning on each other.


One of the women brings her new assistant at the local preschool, Tucker Whitney seems to be perfect: from a wealthy family that owns a cottage along the coast as a summer retreat.
Tucker came to town after needing to take a break from college to reassess her goals.
With her new job, she has decided to set her sights on a career in early education.
Unfortunately, that proves to not be her fate, The day after the cookie exchange, she is found strangled to death in her apartment,

After an arrest is made, Lucy and some others can't help but think that the wrong man is being charged.
Lucy can't help but try and find out who the real killer is, She is a proven amateur detective! Unfortunately, life seems to get in the way when two of her four children find themselves caught up in new no tolerance policy that has largely taken over in our modern culture.


She gets a lot of insight while covering various local stories for the local newspaper, The Pennysaver.
The question is whether she is onto a real story as she tries to figure out who really killed Tucker.


My big problem with the book is that it is really dominated not by poor Tucker's death, but rather by the various intrigues taking place in town.
In fact, it seems to be totally ignored until the usual quick and highintensity ending found in the books from this series.
The characters have become interesting as the series as progressed, and it is always interesting to see what is happening with all of them, but really they are sidelines when reading a mystery.
. . at least they should be, .