Candy Corn Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery)
By: Leslie Meier
Rating: 3 of 5
This is the first book I have read by Leslie Meier though it is the latest in a long standing series. The series features Lucy Stone who is a reporter for a local weekly newspaper, a wife, mother, and grandmother.
The town is getting ready for a Halloween Pumpkin festive that is being expanded from what has happened in years past. With many added features, including a giant pumpkin weigh-in, a pumpkin catapult, and other fall happenings, there seems to be a secret and concerted effort to bring the festival to a halt.
Most of the book actually seems to deal with the pumpkin festival and with the author’s take on a variety of social issues. There is really very little mystery (the murder doesn’t occur until almost halfway through the book.)
Running along side the present day story, there is another story of a woman trying to escape from abuse more than 30 years before. By the end of the book, the author has tied the two stories together. Unfortunately, neither the current mystery nor the one in the past is solvable given the set of clues that the author has provided.
I’m not sure if this is a one-off for Ms. Meier or if all of her books have the solution sort of sprung on the reader at the end. It is my preferred mystery style but one that I can read and enjoy. If the book had concentrated more on the mystery, that would have been the case here but really, it seemed more about the social issues (everything from abortion to politically correct child rearing issues to abuse against women) than it did the mystery. Those issues should have their place in literature but I’m not sure that trying to deal with them in a cozy mystery would be my first choice.
In the end, I found it an acceptable read but not necessarily one that inspires me to read the back-list of the series or to seek it out in the future. With so little time and so much to read, I generally prefer a book that concentrates on the murder mystery at hand.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
This is the first book I have read by Leslie Meier though it is the latest in a long standing series. The series features Lucy Stone who is a reporter for a local weekly newspaper, a wife, mother, and grandmother.