Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier

Bake Sale Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 13)Bake Sale Murder by Leslie Meier

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lucy is the mom of 5, works on the small town newspaper, and is highly involved the school activities. After one the regular meeting of the group of 4 (moms who have been raising their kids and helping others for years) decide there is a need for a bake sale to help kids in need with school supplies, Lucy is sent off to round up the moms who used to bake. Problem: they are all into other things or have moved, are empty nesters, etc. Next meeting, it is decided it is time to involve the new moms that have moved into Lucy's neighborhood.

The meet and greet and bake sale planning is held at Lucy's house and all goes well. Next meeting is a taste and decide on the best products and who's going to make what and all the other details involve.

Comes the day of the bake sale and all the women schedule to work the first half of the day show up. Except for Mimi who works for the city and is a royal pain in the butt who reports everyone's slightest offences except her son's roaring motorcycle.

Lucy is sent off to find out what is going on as Mimi is also not answering her phone. What Lucy finds is burning cookies and smoke and Mimi slumped over the counter. As she goes to pull Mimi out the of the smoke filled house, she discovers Mimi's problem is not due to smoke inhalation but a carving knife embedded in her back.

Ah but that is not the only mystery in town. Someone is sending unsigned note to the paper about hazing of the JV football team and the cheerleaders (one of whom is Lucy's daughter). And then there is the tramp who shows up for Mimi's funeral only to show up dead himself.

While this is one of a series of books, don't worry, everything is nicely wrapped up (not who I thought 'did it'). There is an starter for the next book. BUT most importantly, there are some good recipes at the end that were referred to in the novel. You could jump to the end and start a batch and read while they are cooking unless you are one of those people who block things out while reading.

This is another that I would call a "cozy" mystery. So fix yourself a cuppa, curl up in your favorite chair, and enjoy yourself.

(This is an e'book I got for my Mac Kindle.)