Mystery lovers are invited to return to Tinker's Cove, Maine, for the latest sleuthing adventures of small-town homemaker and amateur detective extraordinaire Lucy Stone.
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Publishers Weekly Review
Believable and lovable characters, notably nonagenarian-to-be Julia Ward Howe Tilley (who wears "twinkling" sneakers), add freshness to a familiar story line in Meier's ninth mystery (after 2001's Wedding Day Murder) featuring Lucy Stone, wife, mom, part-time reporter and amateur sleuth. After a cold and cloudy March in quaint Tinker Cove, Maine, the sun is finally shining as Lucy joins her four friends for their weekly breakfast at Jake's Donut Shack. To fight the doldrums and to honor Miss Tilley, the former librarian, they decide to organize a townwide 90th birthday party for her. The anticipation of the party plus Lucy's resolve to lose weight, do something about her wrinkles and dye her hair to cover the newly discovered gray lift her spirits until she hears that respected lawyer Sherman Cobb has been found dead in his office. The police declare death by suicide, but Cobb's partner suspects murder and asks Lucy to investigate. Meanwhile, Miss Tilley is suddenly faced with a niece she never knew existed, who arrives with her biker son only to move in and take over, much to the dismay of the older woman's friends. As Lucy's inquiries lead to the disclosure of long-hidden Tilley family secrets, she must also deal with a teenage daughter and her co-ed sleepover, her son's troubles at college and her husband's accident. Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy and the domestic problems she encounters, while established fans will find this one well up to standard. (Aug. 6) Forecast: Casual browsers should be attracted by the bright, bold jacket art depicting a death's-head decorated birthday cake and a pair of grim reaper salt-and-pepper shakers. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Book Review
Gray hairs, wrinkles, pants that won't zip: yes, the years are finally catching up with part-time reporter and full-time mom Lucy Stone (Wedding Day Murder, 2001, etc.). Of course, her personal battle against aging-including $60 worth of Countess Irene cosmetics-doesn't stop her plans to celebrate the 90th birthday of Tinker's Cove oldest citizen, retired librarian Julia Ward Howe Tilley. Lucy and her breakfast buddies, Sue Finch, Pam Stillings, and Rachel Goodman, decide that May 20 will be Miss Tilley Day, complete with cookies and finger sandwiches supplied by caterer Corney Clark and music by the high-school band. Lucy even promises Sue to interview Miss Tilley in hopes that Sue's daughter Sidra will convince her boss, TV star Norah Hemmings, to feature the festivities on her show. But the interview gets back-burnered by the alleged suicide of Sherman Cobb, senior partner at the law firm of Rachel's husband Bob, and again by the arrival of Shirley, daughter of Miss Tilley's sister Harriet, who was banished by their father years ago for marrying a Democrat. Both distractions raise Lucy's suspicions-who could possibly kill himself with a pork chop from Dunne's Butcher Shop defrosting on the counter for dinner?-but only by defying Lieutenant Horowitz's orders to butt out does Lucy expose a killer determined to crash the party. Lucy's ninth offers less chat and more plot than usual, but still gratingly insists that residents of Tinker's Cove-even those who cheat on their wives-are morally superior to everyone else on the planet.
TextPublication details: New York : Kensington Books, c2002.Description: 265 p. ; 22 cmISBN: