Back to School Murder

What a read! I have read several others in this series and this is by far the best I have read. Lucy starts working for the paper which is exciting in itself. Then a bomb explodes at the elementary school the first day of class. Add Lucy going back to school with a handsome professor and the mysterious Lance, a friend to Elizabeth and Toby, and you have a well written interesting installment in the Lucy Stone series. As usual in this series a surprise ending within a surprise ending. You will enjoy this book!

Lucy Stone is working at the local newspaper office. She hears about a bomb threat at the Elementary School on the first day of school. She is frightened; her daughter Sara is a student at that school. Lucy rushes over to the school. All the students and faculty are safely outside, except one child. The assistant principle Carol Crane is a heroine and saves that one child by getting him out of the building right before the bomb goes off. Lucy is determined to find out who planted the bomb, and why they planted it. She has a busy life, working at the newspaper office, taking care of 4 kids and a demanding husband, and taking a night class in Victorian Literature. And trying to solve the bomb mystery, and the murder mystery, on top of all that. I will not tell you who ended up getting murdered; that might slightly ruin the book. One interesting character is the "strange, mysterious" kid from California. I like the way Leslie Meier used the "back to school" theme; not only are her kids going back to school, but she also goes back to school (by taking that class in Victorian Literature.) All the clues are clever and fit neatly together. This book is very well-written and very entertaining.

As I said in an earlier review, summer afternoons are perfect for exploring the exploits of Tinker's Cove murder meddling sleuth Lucy Stone. So I decided to use my second of three books as an excuse to crash under the tree at the annual family burnt meat ritual. So while the pork steaks (a part of the pig known only to residents of Saint Louis) were slowly cooking on the grill I was quickly turning the pages of Leslie Meier's Back To School Murder. The start of this adventure is a real blast - a high noon bomb blast at the grade school Lucy's daughter Sara attends. Luckily all the children escape injury including one who is rescued in the nick of time by assistant principal, Carol Crane. But within a couple of chapters she is rewarded for her heroism by being murdered. So, who done it? Was it Mr. Mopps, the school janitor, the high school science teacher, Lucy's night school English professor, or the sleazy minister? As usual Lucy is convinced the wrong person has been arrested for the murder and so she sets out to solve the crime herself.Two complications to Lucy's solving the crime as well as being able to meet her husband's demands for having dinner on the table at six sharp each day have been added in this book. First, she has become a part-time working mother (at the Pennysaver weekly newspaper) and second she has returned to college. But we all know that this won't stop her from discovering the identity of the murderer at the end of this very enjoyable book. Only this time I was at least a chapter or several pages ahead of her sleuthing abilities.

All I have to say this is my first read of this author and I loved the book . If your looking for 90's reality and a murder mystery give this book a look I plan to read more of her work.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. This book got me hooked on the rest of the murder mysteries Leslie Meier has done. They are all great and I love them and recommend them all, especially this one.