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_bookdreamer's review
3.0
https://justadreamer24.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/candy-corn-murder-review/
I received an ecopy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book, it was so festive.
The first thing I kept thinking of during the first chapter was “pumpkin spice season is upon us!”. The book starts in early September (which is what it currently is … well almost), so I really liked that. They described how it feels like it’s the end of the summer, that pumpkins were starting to grow, the mania of Halloween festivals, finding costumes, decorating. All that fun stuff that make the start of Fall so exciting!
I love all the characters in this series (I often read Meier’s festive books).
The mystery was well thought out and great as well, which is essential to a good cozy mystery. My only thing that for me was a little hard, was that the mystery didn’t start until about halfway through the book.
I think that if it was someone’s first time reading the series, they would have a hard time because they won’t know about all the characters, etc.
Other than that if you want a super Halloween/Fall festive fun mystery, this is for you!
I received an ecopy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book, it was so festive.
The first thing I kept thinking of during the first chapter was “pumpkin spice season is upon us!”. The book starts in early September (which is what it currently is … well almost), so I really liked that. They described how it feels like it’s the end of the summer, that pumpkins were starting to grow, the mania of Halloween festivals, finding costumes, decorating. All that fun stuff that make the start of Fall so exciting!
I love all the characters in this series (I often read Meier’s festive books).
The mystery was well thought out and great as well, which is essential to a good cozy mystery. My only thing that for me was a little hard, was that the mystery didn’t start until about halfway through the book.
I think that if it was someone’s first time reading the series, they would have a hard time because they won’t know about all the characters, etc.
Other than that if you want a super Halloween/Fall festive fun mystery, this is for you!
auntiejenn's review
slow-paced
2.0
Slow. The murder didn't even happen until more than halfway through. Weird timeline jumps and inserted political opinions that didn't have anything to do with the story. My first and probably last by this author. Thats a bummer since the series has so many books in it
cgbrewer's review
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
bbehring12's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
booksuperpower's review
3.0
Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier is a 2015 Kensington Publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Fall is right around the corner and there's a little nip in the air for the residents of Tinker's Cove. That means it's time to gear up for Halloween the Giant Pumpkin Fest!
Lucy's heart doesn't appear to be in it though, as her husband is obsessed with his pumpkin and is spending a great deal of time with Ev, a man Lucy is not overly fond of. To top that off, Lucy and Bill are caring for their grandson for a while and Lucy is having a hard time adjusting to the strict rules of the daycare center.
Apparently Lucy is not the only one disinterested in this year's pumpkin festivities, as it seems someone is out to sabotage the activities. But who? And why?
This is the 22nd installment in the Lucy Stone series, which took me by surprise. Twenty- two! Well, I admit I have read a few here and there, but not all of them. These are fun stories with interesting small town characters who will surprise you sometimes.
I found myself feeling very invested in Lucy's struggles with Bill, her grandson, and the daycare center, but, I didn't have much of a choice because the murder mystery didn't develop until midway through the book.
Not long ago I answered an author survey about mystery novels. The question was: Should the murder happen at the beginning of the book, or do you want to get to know the characters first?
I think I gave some generic, and an oh so helpful response, of “It depends”. I still think that, but I can be a little decisive here and say that after twenty- two books, we know the main characters well enough that the murder probably needs to happen before the half way point in the story.
I have really gotten into cozy mysteries over the past couple of years and read them more and more often these days. So, I do know the main attraction isn't necessarily the murder mystery, which can often seem like a side story. What keeps people coming back for more is the recurring characters and their on going dramas and comedies in life. So, I do get the formula and understand this is the secret to the longevity if these series, but in this case I was seriously beginning to wonder if the pumpkins were going to be the only victims of a crime.
Once we got the ball rolling though, things really picked up with several story lines taking shape and I found myself having to hustle to keep up with it all.
Small towns can really be amazing sometimes, hiding behind a facade of gentle, cozy, living without the harsh realities of city life intruding upon them, but, they can also, harbor dark and sinister secrets, so, you can count on a few of those coming to light before all is said and done, proving big cities are not the only place danger can lurk.
This an enjoyable enough read and certainly put me in the mood for fall weather and activities and thinking of Halloween costumes and treats! Overall this one gets 3 stars.
Fall is right around the corner and there's a little nip in the air for the residents of Tinker's Cove. That means it's time to gear up for Halloween the Giant Pumpkin Fest!
Lucy's heart doesn't appear to be in it though, as her husband is obsessed with his pumpkin and is spending a great deal of time with Ev, a man Lucy is not overly fond of. To top that off, Lucy and Bill are caring for their grandson for a while and Lucy is having a hard time adjusting to the strict rules of the daycare center.
Apparently Lucy is not the only one disinterested in this year's pumpkin festivities, as it seems someone is out to sabotage the activities. But who? And why?
This is the 22nd installment in the Lucy Stone series, which took me by surprise. Twenty- two! Well, I admit I have read a few here and there, but not all of them. These are fun stories with interesting small town characters who will surprise you sometimes.
I found myself feeling very invested in Lucy's struggles with Bill, her grandson, and the daycare center, but, I didn't have much of a choice because the murder mystery didn't develop until midway through the book.
Not long ago I answered an author survey about mystery novels. The question was: Should the murder happen at the beginning of the book, or do you want to get to know the characters first?
I think I gave some generic, and an oh so helpful response, of “It depends”. I still think that, but I can be a little decisive here and say that after twenty- two books, we know the main characters well enough that the murder probably needs to happen before the half way point in the story.
I have really gotten into cozy mysteries over the past couple of years and read them more and more often these days. So, I do know the main attraction isn't necessarily the murder mystery, which can often seem like a side story. What keeps people coming back for more is the recurring characters and their on going dramas and comedies in life. So, I do get the formula and understand this is the secret to the longevity if these series, but in this case I was seriously beginning to wonder if the pumpkins were going to be the only victims of a crime.
Once we got the ball rolling though, things really picked up with several story lines taking shape and I found myself having to hustle to keep up with it all.
Small towns can really be amazing sometimes, hiding behind a facade of gentle, cozy, living without the harsh realities of city life intruding upon them, but, they can also, harbor dark and sinister secrets, so, you can count on a few of those coming to light before all is said and done, proving big cities are not the only place danger can lurk.
This an enjoyable enough read and certainly put me in the mood for fall weather and activities and thinking of Halloween costumes and treats! Overall this one gets 3 stars.
lindalibrarian's review
This was my first Lucy Stone book. I really liked the character, she was believeable person and heroine. Even though I read this out of order I felt I didn't miss the story or characters. I will be going back to the beginning of the series.
jennshelfishlife's review
3.0
An entertaining mystery, but quite easy to solve early in the book. I love the small town characters, some eccentric, & the Maine setting.
candidceillie's review
3.0
Halloween is coming to Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town’s annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for The Pennysaver. There’s the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children’s Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in…even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge! But not everything goes quite as planned…
Lucy’s getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found…until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started.
Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide—he was the last one to see Evan—so Lucy knows she’s got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime’s trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town’s once-quaint general store that’s now become a big Internet player. Though the store’s founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren’t going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery…
With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she’ll have to step into an old ghost story…
Candy Corn Murder is the 22nd novel in the Lucy Stone Mystery series by Leslie Meier, but it really didn’t feel like a novel that deep into a series. I have never read any of the other Lucy Stone novels, but this book spent almost the first half of the story telling us how life in their small town was lived, which I feel like should have been covered in the other novels, so there wasn’t so much of an info dump in this one.
I had several problems with this novel that led me to almost quit reading several times. My first problem was that the “old ghost story” mentioned in the summary was totally given away in the first chapter, and as soon as you meet the murderer, it’s really obvious. This made the second mystery significantly less of a mystery. My second main problem was that almost every single one of the secondary characters was two-dimensional - Lucy’s daughter was a feminist with bad taste in men, “Ev” was a smelly mooch, Corny was very into attractive men, and all of her neighbors had their own small part to play. The teacher was shrewish and new-age-y, Lucy’s boss at The Pennysaver was only dedicated to a good story, not to anyone’s feelings, etc. This bugged me to no end, because I could always tell what was going to happen when she spoke to any of her coworkers or friends about anything.
The only thing that really kept me reading through this novel (other than my Goodreads reading challenge that I am woefully behind on) was the theme of helping people get away from situations of domestic abuse. Other than that, I really did not care for this novel, which is why I’ve rated it 2 stars.
Lucy’s getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found…until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started.
Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide—he was the last one to see Evan—so Lucy knows she’s got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime’s trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town’s once-quaint general store that’s now become a big Internet player. Though the store’s founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren’t going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery…
With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she’ll have to step into an old ghost story…
Candy Corn Murder is the 22nd novel in the Lucy Stone Mystery series by Leslie Meier, but it really didn’t feel like a novel that deep into a series. I have never read any of the other Lucy Stone novels, but this book spent almost the first half of the story telling us how life in their small town was lived, which I feel like should have been covered in the other novels, so there wasn’t so much of an info dump in this one.
I had several problems with this novel that led me to almost quit reading several times. My first problem was that the “old ghost story” mentioned in the summary was totally given away in the first chapter, and as soon as you meet the murderer, it’s really obvious. This made the second mystery significantly less of a mystery. My second main problem was that almost every single one of the secondary characters was two-dimensional - Lucy’s daughter was a feminist with bad taste in men, “Ev” was a smelly mooch, Corny was very into attractive men, and all of her neighbors had their own small part to play. The teacher was shrewish and new-age-y, Lucy’s boss at The Pennysaver was only dedicated to a good story, not to anyone’s feelings, etc. This bugged me to no end, because I could always tell what was going to happen when she spoke to any of her coworkers or friends about anything.
The only thing that really kept me reading through this novel (other than my Goodreads reading challenge that I am woefully behind on) was the theme of helping people get away from situations of domestic abuse. Other than that, I really did not care for this novel, which is why I’ve rated it 2 stars.
prpltrtl946's review
5.0
Lucy Stone book 22
Another excellent slice of life of my favorite lady reporter in small town Maine! Murder, a hometown festival, a 4 year old Grandson with day care issues and some really nasty cops when the good guy is on vacation all add up to trouble for Lucy!
Another excellent slice of life of my favorite lady reporter in small town Maine! Murder, a hometown festival, a 4 year old Grandson with day care issues and some really nasty cops when the good guy is on vacation all add up to trouble for Lucy!