Countdown to Christmas Murder

Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone Mysteries continue to delight and entertain. Lucy, a crack reporter for the Tinker’s Cove newspaper, The Courier, always gets into the thick of it when a crime occurs, and this is a big one. Bert Cosgrove, bank president and all around good guy, is found dead by apparent suicide just days before the Merrie Olde Christmas event that draws crowds (and money) to the town. With a decades-old tragedy involving a bad plum pudding, family travails, sloppy police work, a Dickens re-enactment and flip-flopping editor, Lucy has her hands full. Meier addresses current concerns, such as doxxing and online fraud, against the backdrop of a community committed to being “merry and bright” no matter the circumstances. With characters for readers to love and loathe, Countdown to Christmas Murder offers holiday cheer and chaos alongside a solid small-town mystery and has an ending as satisfying as a Bûche de Noël.—Dodie Ownes