'Tis the Season Murder (Lucy Stone #12 & 20) by Leslie Meier

'Tis the Season Murder

(Lucy Stone #12 & 20)

by Leslie Meier

Paperback, 272 pages

Published October 1st 2019 by Gallery Books

Goodreads synopsis:

Christmas has come to Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and sleuthing skills are at the top of Lucy’s Stone’s wish list in these two beloved mysteries—now collected in one festive volume for the very first time! . . .

NEW YEAR’S EVE MURDER (Lucy Stone #12)

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker’s Cove has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter are ready to ring in the new year in style. Elizabeth has won mother/daughter winter makeovers in Manhattan from Jolie magazine! But the all-expenses-paid trip is bound to have some hidden costs—and one of them is murder. Soon it will be up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square . . .  

CHRISTMAS CAROL MURDER (Lucy Stone #20)

Lucy Stone is excited about acting in the town’s production of A Christmas Carol. But a real-life Scrooge has everyone feeling frosty. While Tinker’s Cove has fallen on hard times, Downeast Mortgage owners Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner are raking in profits from misfortune. So when Marlowe is murdered, the suspects are many. But Scribner claims Marlowe’s ghost has come to warn him of his own impending demise—and he’s soon receiving death threats. Now Lucy will have to solve the case faster than she can say “Bah! Humbug!”. . .

***

5 Stars

What a great book for the holiday season! Both of these stories are bang on amazing!! I think they are among my most favorite in the entire series. I like the addition of the kids Zoe and Elizabeth in both of the books. It made it seem more real somehow.

I loved the trip to New York and the whole anthrax connection. I believe this particular book was written around 9-11 so I understand why it was brought into the story. Real life jumps into fictional life. I hated that Lucy’s daughter got sick and they were strapped for money due to the tuition increase. I like how Lucy held to her morals and came out a winner in the end in both the mystery and her life situation.

The story centered around Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol was truthfully kind of depressing. It all centered on people’s houses going into foreclosure and how the company behind that made people mad enough to kill. I really had no idea the culprit of this. I feel like the author’s real life might have seeped into this since it is told with so much honesty and depth.

Just two great books that are set during the holidays. I am happy to have them bound up in one volume. They were two I had not read yet so it was a great treat for me to dig into this.

Just a great cozy mystery twosome. If you love cozy mysteries, definitely check this one out!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.