Leslie Meier

After one of the guests at Tinker's Cove's annual Christmas Cookie Exchange is found strangled, it's up to Lucy Stone to ensure that a cold-blooded killer gets his just desserts this holiday season. Reissue.

Christmas Cookie Murder

Sarah Sammis

If this were a newer book I would have been in the right mindset to completely solve the mystery. As is, I had it about 75% figured out before the climax.

...

while Lucy's fictional world continues to march on in step with the time it takes her author to write, Tinker's Cove exists in a thematic bubble. This Maine village has similar problems as the Goldy Bear Culinary mystery series. The town's geography, economy, and history is there to fit the themes, rather than to grow organically with the series.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...

When Jake Marlowe, a co-owner of Downeast Mortgage in Tinker's Cove, Maine, is murdered, and his partner, Ben Scriber, begins receiving death threats after claiming to be visited by Marlowe's ghost, Lucy Stone is on the case.

Christmas Carol Murder

This was one of the better installments in a stretch of the previous books. Lucy returned to actively thinking about the case and investigating, she wasn't making things unbelievable either. I think the issues brought up- housing bubble pop, social activism, local politics, all managed to be refreshingly current and seemed to be handled well.

I think characterization was better, the plot moved at a decent pace, and the theme was a nice allegory for Christmas Carol. It might be too obvious for some, but if it's a Christmas boom you want, you get it with this.

One of the great things about this book is how short it is. Took me maybe 5 hours of in and off reading to read the entire thing. Definitely would have been a good book around the holidays!

Lucy isn't as entrenched in the mystery this time around. She has good reasons, though, including problems with her teenaged children and drugs around Tinker Cove. I actually liked this, as it seems a bit more realistic, and honestly I feel like any mother would eventually decide to focus on family first around Christmas instead of a relative stranger's murder when she isn't a cop or P.I. for a job.

She is more involved as a reporter, so that helps get her answers when she needs them. It was a little tiresome with the hate on mothers who aren't fully stay at home or working as a "hobby" as some were described. But it seems like it fits the time period of publication.

Overall definitely an enjoyable, short read. It isn't the best by any means, but I liked the character development. Time isn't frozen for Lucy and she is trying to adjust to life with young adults making their own choices.

For Lucy Stone, the best thing about Christmas in Tinker's Cove has always been the annual Cookie Exchange. But the usual generosity and goodwill is missing from this year's event which turns out to be a complete disaster. Petty rivalries and feuds that have long been simmering finally come to a boil, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many guests, including Lee Cummings who accuses Tucker Whitney of stealing her recipe for low-fat, sugar-free cookies. But the icing on the cake is when Tucker is found strangled in her apartment the following morning. Who could've wanted Tucker dead badly enough to kill her? Despite all of the ingredients for danger, Lucy sets out on the trail of a murderer and soon uncovers a Christmas secret best left wrapped. "Reading a new Leslie Meier mystery is like catching up with a dear old friend." --Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author

Leelynn Brady

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 before 2020 was 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 2000. I don't know how the original story was, but I hope that this was an improvement that the author enjoyed writing.

Christmas Cookie Murder

Reviews