Bake Sale Murder (Lucy Stone Series #13) » (~)

Leslie Meier is the acclaimed author of twelve Lucy Stone mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery.

Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone's farmhouse, life just hasn't been the same. With Mimi complaining about everything from the state of Lucy's lawn to another neighbor's lovable dog, quaint Tinker's Cove, Maine, is now entangled in cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing. And when Mimi doesn't show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery— Mimi, face down on her kitchen floor-with a knife in her back.

While the police start their investigation, Lucy gets busy writing up the murder for the local Pennysaver-and following a few leads of her own. Lucy knows the women in her neighborhood didn't like Mimi, but they certainly didn't want her dead...right?

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

"Leslie Meier writes with sparkle and warmth."—Chicago Sun Times

"Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy Stone and the domestic problems she encounters."—Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

In Meier's disjointed 13th Lucy Stone mystery (after 2005's New Year's Eve Murder), the Tinker's Cove, Maine, newspaper reporter has a whole subdivision of peculiar neighbors around her once peaceful farmhouse, and anonymous letters are arriving at her office. The unknown penman alleges that the new football coach, Buck Burkhart, is condoning unsavory behavior by the high school's senior football players toward the junior players and the cheerleaders, one of whom is Lucy's daughter, Sara. But no one is talking or listening, as the coach launches his lackluster team into a victorious season. Then Lucy finds Burkhart's neighbor, one of her volunteer bakers, knifed to death in her kitchen. And what about the homeless man? The philandering veterinarian? The victim's bad-tempered husband? The author makes only a halfhearted effort to connect all the dots, while the one big break in the murders comes, unpleasantly and literally, through Lucy's dog, Libby. (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.