Showing results by author "Leslie Meier" in All Categories

Tis the season for trimming the tree, caroling, baking cookies, and curling up by the Yuletide waiting for Santa to drop down the chimney. But in this festive collection of holiday whodunits, murder is also paying a visit.

In this batch of sweet, short murder mysteries, three cooks don’t spoil the broth. New York Times best-selling author Joanne Fluke pens the title story, in which a box of Hannah Swensen’s gingerbread cookies is found near the corpse of her neighbor. Popular co-authors Laura Levine and Leslie Meier offer “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies” and “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots”, respectively.

Julia Snowden's Easter Sunday at Windsholme looks like it's been borrowed from the pages of a lifestyle magazine. But when a dead body is discovered in the garden—then vanishes soon after without any explanation—an innocent hunt for eggs becomes a dangerous hunt for answers. Julia must find out if April Fool's Day came early or if she's caught in a killer's twisted game.

When a community center opens in town, many embrace it as a space where locals of all ages can gather and create. Others view it as a waste of taxpayer dollars. The director, Darleen Busby-Platt, is no less controversial. Intense and showy, Darleen has huge plans for her new role. But Lucy Stone believes the woman isn’t exactly as warm hearted—or qualified—as she seems. That hunch deepens when Darleen and a young employee vanish...and dismembered remains appear!

As if baking holiday cookies, knitting a sweater for her husband, and making her daughter’s angel costume for the church pageant weren’t enough things for Lucy Stone’s busy Christmas schedule, she’s also working nights at the famous mail-order company Country Cousins. But when she discovers Sam Miller, its very wealthy founder, dead in his car from an apparent suicide, the sleuth in her knows something just doesn’t smell right.

Join best-selling authors Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Peggy Ehrhart for a collection of the coziest Christmas capers! Everyone dreams of a picture-perfect small-town Christmas, but when murder is in the cards, some holiday greetings are addressed to kill....

Newcomers to Tinker's Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it's up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.

Enjoy the holiday season with three festive mysteries set in coastal Maine. This anthology includes "Yule Log Murder" by Leslie Meier, "Death by Yule Log" by Lee Hollis, and "Logged On" by Barbara Ross.

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 cream doughnuts, and sewing sequins on ballet-recital tutus gives way to dread when she learns her waistline isn’t the only thing that’s recently vanished. The strange disappearance of a retired dance instructor has the tiny coastal town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, in a tizzy - which turns into terror when a notoriously cantankerous shopkeeper is slain right on Main Street.

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker's Cove, Maine, 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.

Part-time reporter Lucy Stone doesn’t know what to expect as she arrives on a private Maine island owned by eccentric billionaire Scott Newman, only that the exclusive experience should make for a very intriguing feature story. An avid environmentalist, Scott has stripped the isolated property of modern conveniences in favor of an extreme eco-friendly lifestyle. A trip to Holiday Island is like traveling back to the 19th century, and it turns out other residents aren’t exactly enthusiastic about living without cell service and electricity.

Lucy Stone has always loved covering the annual Easter egg hunt for the Pennysaver. Hosted by elderly socialite Vivian Van Vorst at Pine Point, it's a swanky event where the eggs are as likely to contain savings bonds as they are jelly beans. But when Lucy arrives, a man dressed as the Easter Bunny emerges, only to drop dead moments later. Lucy discovers the victim is VV's grandson, and soon learns that not all is as it seems at idyllic Pine Point.

When Lucy Stone arrives at a sprawling French chateau with the whole family, it should be the trip of a lifetime—especially because she’s about to watch her oldest daughter, Elizabeth, marry the handsome, successful man of her dreams. But while navigating the vast countryside estate owned by her daughter's impenetrably wealthy in-laws-to-be, the jet-lagged mother of the bride has a creeping feeling that Elizabeth’s fairytale nuptials to Jean-Luc Schoen-Rene are destined to become a nightmare.

Not many people knew Old Dan Malone. The grizzled barkeep's social circle was limited to the rough-hewn lobstermen who frequented his bar. But when Dan's body is found bobbing in the icy harbor, Lucy Stone makes getting to know more about Old Dan a priority. Rumors abound: Old Dan conned a winning lottery ticket worth five grand from a local musician, Old Dan stiffed a handyman for repair work done to the bar. The confusion is compounded by the arrival of Dylan Malone, Old Dan's brother.

A bomb goes off with the noon lunch bell, but not before all the kids are safely evacuated, and Carol Crane, the new assistant principal, is hailed as a hero. But days later, Carol is found murdered, and everyone is stunned when the most popular teacher at the school is arrested for the crime. However, not everyone is buying the open-and-shut case, including Lucy Stone, who senses there's more to things than meet the eye. It soon becomes clear that Lucy is flirting with danger, as sizzling secrets and explosive surprises provide a primer for the most diabolical of motives.

It's Valentine's Day in Tinker's Cove, and while the cupcakes Lucy's baking for her children will have pink frosting and candy hearts, her thoughts aren't centered on sugary sentiments. She's barely arrived at her first board meeting of the newly renovated library when Bitsy Howell, the new librarian, is found dead in the basement, shot only minutes before story hour was to start. The agitated board members assume that Bitsy was killed by an outsider until Detective Lt. Horowitz arrives on the scene and announces that the killer is among them.

For Lucy Stone, the best thing about Christmas in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, has always been the annual Cookie Exchange. But the usual generosity and goodwill are missing from this year’s event, which turns out to be a complete disaster. Petty rivalries and feuds that have long been simmering finally come to a boil, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many guests, including Lee Cummings - who accuses Tucker Whitney of stealing her recipe for low-fat, sugar-free cookies. But the icing on the cake is when Tucker is found strangled in her apartment the following morning.

Known for its cheerful staff and elaborate annual Easter Bonnet Contest, the Heritage House senior center regularly attracts new residents and positive press. But once the town’s retired librarian, Miss Julia Tilley, checks in to recover from an illness, Lucy sees a side of the facility that isn’t quite so perfect and pristine. And the place may soon be making headlines for different reasons following an unexplained disappearance.

After returning from her father-in-law’s funeral in Florida, Lucy can almost hear the death knell of her part-time reporter job the instant she meets new hire Rob Callahan. He’s young, ambitious, and positioning himself to become the Pennysaver’s next star reporter. Adding insult to injury, Lucy only gets assigned the local St. Patrick’s Day parade once Rob passes on the story. But before beer flows and bagpipes sound, Rob becomes suspected of destroying more than other people’s careers.

Lucy normally loves planning for the holidays, but this year, Tinker's Cove has fallen on hard times. With so many residents struggling, Christmas festivities are a luxury some can't afford. But the story's not so bleak at Downeast Mortgage, whose tightfisted owners, Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner, are raking in profits from everyone's misfortune. Half the town is in their debt, so when the miserly Marlowe is murdered, the mourners are few and the suspects are many. Scribner believes Marlowe's ghost has come to warn him of his own demise, and when he starts receiving death threats, Lucy wonders if there's more to the omen....