Lucy Stone Books

In the midst of holiday mayhem, housewife, mother, and occasional sleuth Lucy Stone must hone her keen skills of detection to prove that the apparent suicide of the wealthy founder of Country Cousins actually had been murdered. Reissue.

With three kids underfoot, a fourth on the way, and an oppressive heat wave bearing down, homemaker Lucy Stone is hardly enjoying an idyllic summer. But her preoccupation with swelling ankles, Bavarian creme doughnut cravings, and sewing endless sequins on ballet recital tutus gives way to dread when Lucy learns that her waistline isn't the only thing that's recently vanished from Tinker's Cove. . . The strange disappearance of a retired dance instructor has the tiny coastal town in a tizzy that turns to terror when a notoriously cantankerous shopkeeper is slain right on Main Street. Now Lucy's up to her bulging belly in local suspects and red herrings. Eluded by a cold-blooded killer, with her due-date looming and the thermometer soaring, Lucy figures something has to break soon. With any luck, it won't be her water. . . "A solid mystery."-- San Francisco Chronicle "A surprising and intelligently constructed plot."-- Cape Cod Times "Lucy Stone is an endearing sleuth." --Dorothy Cannell

Haunted-house parties and ghostly galas...grinning pumpkins, mayhem and murder. It's going to be one heck of a Halloween for Lucy Stone and Tinker's Cove...It's October in Maine, and everyone in Tinker's Cove is preparing for the annual Halloween festival. While Lucy Stone is whipping up orange-frosted cupcakes, recycling tutus for her daughters' Halloween costumes, helping her son with his pre-teen rebellion, and breast-feeding her brand-new baby, an arsonist is loose in Tinker's Cove. When the latest fire claims the life of the owner of the town's oldest house, arson turns into murder...While the townsfolk work to transform a dilapidated mansion into a haunted house for the All-Ghouls festival, the hunt for the culprit heats up. Trick-or-treat turns deadly as a little digging in all the wrong places puts Lucy too close to a shocking discovery that could send all her best-laid plans up in smoke...

Lucy Stone is in the doghouse - with her next-door neighbour, Mrs. Prudence Pratt. It seems that Kudo, the Stones' misbehaving mutt, has developed a taste for Mrs. Pratt's blue-ribbon winning chickens, as well an escape artist's talent for sneaking out. With the Fourth of July coming up, Lucy doesn't want to set off any more fireworks with the crabby Prudence. Another sign that the crazy days of summer are in full swing arrives when a group of naturists - a.k.a. nudists - descends on Tinker's Cove, skinny-dipping at the pond that borders Mrs. Pratt's property, giving her something else to complain about. Worse still, the local lobstermen are upset about poachers - and suspicion falls on Mrs. Pratt's husband and son. Then the July Fourth fireworks are cancelled to protect a patch of extremely rare purple-spotted lichen, and Mrs Pratt is the victim of a hit and run. Tinker's Cove is full of suspects, but none with so personal a motive as the Stones. Their feud with Mrs. Pratt has put the

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker's Cove has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter Elizabeth 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. . . After finally arriving at the offices of Jolie, meeting their fellow makeover candidates, and being treated to a fashion show, Elizabeth is enamored of the extreme outfits and stick-thin models--while Lucy's having some misgivings. The pampering is nice and the glitz and glamour of haute couture is bizarrely fascinating, but bitterness and aggression lurk behind Jolie's hipper-than-thou façade. And things turn downright ugly when self-absorbed fashion editor Nadine Nelson falls mysteriously ill and then dies. . . Lucy saw first-hand some of the backstabbing going on at Jolie. And the red-hot rumor mill soon reveals that the cliquish connection among the magazine's cabal of high-style executives has stirred up plenty of bad blood over the years. But this Manhattan murder mystery hits too close to home when Elizabeth gets rushed to the hospital with symptoms that are disturbingly similar to Nadine's. Now, it's up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square. . .

When Lucy Stone stumbles upon the dead body of Mimi, the annoying and whiny wife of local developer Frank Stanton, she launches her own investigation into the murder, a quest for the truth that makes the killer nervous and results in threatening notes.

In the town of Tinker's Cove, Maine, the luck of the Irish runs out for barkeep Old Dan Malone when his body is found floating in the town's icy harbor, forcing Lucy Stone, the Pennysaver newspaper's intrepid reporter, to solve this murder before the St. Patrick's Day celebrations begin.

Local reporter Lucy Stone finds her swanky Mother's Day brunch with her brood marred by two mean moms--Barbara and Tina--who use their teenage daughters in elaborate games of one-upmanship that go too far when Tina is shot to death.

After getting an unnerving psychic reading from Diana Ravenscroft, the newest resident of Tinker's Cove, Lucy Stone stumbles upon the dead body of Malcolm Malebranche, a seemingly harmless magician who worked children's birthday parties--and who is linked to Diana.

Murder follows Lucy Stone across the Atlantic to England when she, while on a girls getaway to London, investigates the murder of their tour guide, Professor George Temple, who died mid-flight after suffering a supposed asthma attack.

In a delicious new installment of Meier's much-loved cozy mystery series, Lucy Stone--part-time reporter, mother of four, and amateur sleuth--discovers that love is not the only thing in the air this Valentine's Day. Murder is, too.

As Lucy Stone prepares for Easter, the annual Easter egg hunt hosted by elderly socialite Vivian Van Vorst takes a murderous turn when a man dressed as the Easter Bunny drops dead.

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.

"Reading a new Leslie Meier mystery is like catching up with a dear old friend." --Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author Lucy Stone is saying "Au revoir!" to Tinker's Cove, Maine, and "Bonjour!" to Paris to take in the sights, learn how to bake authentic French pastries, and experience some joie de vivre. But her dreams of la vie en rose are put on hold when the City of Lights turns deadly. . . Tinker's Cove is abuzz with excitement when Norah, the queen of daytime TV, comes to town and selects Lucy and her pals to be featured in her "Women Who Make a Difference" episode. In recognition for their charitable work, the ladies and their husbands are awarded a dream vacation in Paris, complete with classes at Le Cooking School with renowned pastry chef Larry Bruneau. But their bon voyage is cut short when Lucy discovers the chef in a pool of blood on the second day of class. . . Lucy always dreamed of visiting Paris, but with Chef Larry on death's doorstep and Lucy and her friends detained for questioning, she's worried she'll be trading in her luxury accommodations for a sojourn in the bastille. If she's going to enjoy her vacation, she'll have to unpack her sleuthing skills and clear her name. Lucy's search for the truth takes her from the towers of Notre Dame to the gardens of Versailles and a dozen charming bistros in between. But will she be able to track down a killer more elusive than the perfect macaron? Praise for Leslie Meier and her Lucy Stone Mysteries "I like Lucy Stone a lot, and so will readers." --Carolyn Hart "Leslie Meier writes with sparkle and warmth." -- Chicago Sun Times "The Lucy Stone mysteries will appeal to fans of domestic mysteries." -- Booklist "Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy Stone and the domestic problems she encounters." -- Publishers Weekly

Halloween is coming to Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town’s annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for the Pennysaver . There’s the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children’s Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in…even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge! But not everything goes quite as planned… Lucy’s getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found…until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started. Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide—he was the last one to see Evan—so Lucy knows she’s got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime’s trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town’s once-quaint general store that’s now become a big Internet player. Though the store’s founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren’t going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery… With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she’ll have to step into an old ghost story…

“Reading a new Leslie Meier mystery is like catching up with a dear old friend.” —Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author It’s a nippy spring in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and Lucy Stone can’t wait to join her friend Sue in England for a “Heads Up!” hat exhibition. But at Moreton Manor, privileged life isn’t always tea and crumpets . . . Although the earl of the house and his sister are surprisingly accommodating to their jetlagged guests, Lucy feels uneasy after a fallen portrait sparks talk of a deadly family omen. The bad vibes come in quickly—snobby Aunt Millicent and her handmaiden Harrison unexpectedly drop by for the exhibition, and meals with the family are consistently tense. But real trouble begins when a body, bludgeoned by the chapel’s gold-plated reliquary, is found in a hidden, sealed off room. Stranger still, the corpse is identified as Harrison’s son, Cyril. While Cyril wasn’t exactly a gentleman, and it’s unclear what business he had on the property, one thing’s for sure—the criminal is privy to Moreton Manor secrets. And Lucy has a hunch that the killer has been in her company all along, just waiting for a chance to make blueblood run red . . . “Counts, countesses, and corpses highlight Lucy Stone’s trip across the pond . . . A peek into British country life provides a nice break.” — Kirkus Reviews