Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Review #24: Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Title: Turkey Day Murder

Author: Leslie Meier
Publisher: Kensington Books
Format: Paperback Library Loan
Genre: Mystery of the Cozy kind!

Challenge: Fall/Winter Mystery Reading Challenge from Mysteries and My Musings.

Rating: 3/5

My Review and Description:

Oh, to dive into another silly little adventure with Lucy Stone and the crazy New England town of Tinker's Cove. These are turning out to be fun and easy to read. This will be my third book in the series that I have read so far. I can't quite seem to give them more than a 3 rating due to it's simplicity and cheesiness (sp?). A 5 rating really smacks me in the face. A 4 rating stays with me. A 3 rating is decent and no problem to get through but doesn't leave a lasting flavor. That is kind of how I feel about these when I'm done.

This time around Lucy Stone finds herself now an official reporter at The Pennysaver, the local paper. Her oldest son is off at college and the three girls are now all in school. As long as she can manage getting dinner on the table at 6:00 every night, having a career doesn't bother her husband too much (so funny!). It starts off at a town meeting with Lucy there to report the notes for the paper. The heated topic this evening; whether or not to put down a local Native American's dog who killed some chickens on a neighboring farm. Dangerous? or just curious?

Well, that debate opens up a whole bunch of chaos regarding the town's tribe of Metinninut Indians and whether or not they can get regulations to build their casino on local farm land. The dog owner, a known Metinninut Indian activist, is caught in the middle and winds up dead.
Lucy, obviously being not only a reporter but a natural busy body, finds herself smack in the middle of the investigation. If only she could simply concentrate on Thanksgiving dinner and spend a moment alone with her newly independent college student of a son who wants nothing to do with her. Oh no...not going to happen.

Lucy is funny and relatable to me. I'm not nearly as conservative as she is in a lot of ways but her humor matches mine. In one case, she is in the kitchen and is desperately trying to get the turkey out of the roasting pan and it's sticking. Well, she puts a little too much push to it and it ends up on the kitchen floor. Of course, her youngest daughter walks in at that time and tells her that "You can't serve that now. It was on the floor!". Lucy mutters back to her "Don't say a word to anyone, or I'll kill you." One more protest from her daughter and she says,"Remember, one word and you die!". It's moments like this that I realize that Lucy is a little rougher around the edges and that's relatable. (not that I would use the words "kill you" but ....just saying, it was kind of funny to me!)

I'm reading these for a challenge and I'm glad I am. The next two of hers on my list are about Christmas. Mistletoe Murder and Christmas Cookie Murder. Stay tuned for those reviews in December.

Happy Reading!

* red headed book child


7 comments:

Lisa said...

I have never ever heard of this series! Must look into them! They sound like a good thing to read between a couple of heavy numbers, if you get my meaning.

StephTheBookworm said...

I haven't heard of this series either, but it looks pretty good. I'll definitely be checking them out for a fun read! Nice review.

Michelle (Red Headed Book Child) said...

Lisa, that is the perfect purpose for these books, in between some heavier books. I couldn't read just them all the time. I'd get bored!


Steph, they are fun and super easy!

Alyssa Kirk said...

I've never heard of these. They look like a blast!

Krista said...

Oh, I've never heard of these either but they do look like fun :) Wonderful review :)

Sheila Deeth said...

I've not heard of this series, but it sounds like fun light reading for while the guys watch soccer on TV.

Jessica said...

These books sound like so much fun to read. I'm glad you're enjoying them.