Gobble, Gobble Murder
Lucy Stone
By Leslie Meier
ISBN: 9781496726254
Website: lesliemeierbooks.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
Turkey Day Murder (book #7)
Tinker’s Cove has a long history of Thanksgiving festivities, from visits with TomTom Turkey to the annual Warriors high school football game and Lucy Stone’s impressive pumpkin pie. But this year, someone has added murder to the menu, and Lucy intends to discover who left Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan deader than the proverbial Thanksgiving turkey…
Turkey Trot Murder (book #24)
Besides the annual Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving Day, Lucy expects the approaching holiday to be a relatively uneventful one–until she finds beautiful Alison Franklin dead and frozen in Blueberry Pond. As a state of unrest descends on Tinker’s Cove, Lucy is in a race to beat the killer to the finish line–or she can forget about stuffing and cranberry sauce… (Goodreads)
Review:
Gobble, Gobble Murder is a compilation of two of Leslie Meier’s Thanksgiving themed cozy mysteries that have been released previously: Turkey Day Murder (book #7) and Turkey Trot Murder (book #24). I have always had Ms. Meier on my to-be-read pile of cozy mystery writers to read, but these two books made it to the front of my pile first. A nice introduction to her writing style of story telling.
First up – Turkey Day Murder. What can I say? It was crafted well enough and the mystery was sufficient but for some reason, I was not able to “love” this story. It seemed to fall flat for me. The main storyline was a divide amongst the town members who want a casino and those that do not. Also, it seemed that Lucy Stone should have been more prepared for her child going off to school. She seemed a bit whiny, if I must say. And to me – that is not attractive in an amateur sleuth.
My thoughts are that the story felt like it was progressing very slowly at the beginning (snails pace actually). It seemed that in the beginning all we got was Lucy worrying about the Thanksgiving meal she was going to serve now that there were extra guests (and that her son’s friends were rather thoughtless as guests in her house) and stressing over being an empty-nester.
I do think, if I was a part-time reporter and had to sit through the town’s Board of Selectmen meetings (usually long and boring) – I might be a bit grumpy and whiny as well. Lucy sets out to discover who killed killed Mettincut Indian activist, Curt Nolan.
There were enough twists and turns (i.e. red herrings) to keep this reader guessing, for the most part, as to whodunit. And of course – that is a must for me to enjoy a cozy mystery. Well – that and an interesting amateur sleuth.
Second – Turkey Trot Murder. I did find this story capturing my interest a bit more.
One day as Lucy is training for the Turkey Trot run – she notices a body of a girl, who appears to have fallen through the ice and frozen to death during Lucy’s run. As Lucy learns more about the victim – she is not convinced it is an accident. And of course, this leads to Lucy trying to solve the murder. What really amped up the angst in this book is that the father of the deceased girl (Alison Franklin) goes on a bit of a rampage and starts blaming the towns opiate problem for his daughter’s death. He then proceeds to blame immigrants (especially the Mexican immigrants) for the problem. Then he is shot to death in his car. Now Lucy must try and find out who killed both Alison and her dad.
If that isn’t action packed enough, I don’t know what is. I found my interest held and I really could not wait to find out “whodunit”.
I thought the cover art was clever, but then from what I have seen, most of Ms. Meier’s covers are fun and engaging.
If you are in the mood for Thanksgiving cozy mystery reads, then Gobble, Gobble Murder will provide you two complete Lucy Stone Mysteries in one volume to read (both have been previously published). You will be kept on your toes (turkey toes that is) guessing whodunit. And of course – you will probably be craving a delicious turkey dinner as well 🙂
