New Year's Eve Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 12)

leslie meier was my first author to read and get me started on wanting more fun mysteries. i recommend this book highly.

Winning a three-day makeover and all-expenses paid at a luxury hotel would definitely be cozy! I enjoyed the "makeover". I loved and enjoyed the "trip" to New York City. I've never been to New York, except for a plane stopover, but that doesn't really count. I've always wanted to go there for a visit/vacation. I've always thought of NYC as a cozy city, but I could be wrong. But I guess it's just a matter of personal perspective as to whether or not NYC is cozy. But nonetheless, I enjoyed the "trip", with all the site-seeing and adventures, such as the ferry rides, etc. In this 12th Lucy Stone mystery, Elizabeth wins a mother/daughter makeover in New York City, along with five other mother/daughters. The grand winner will win $10,000. The 6 mother/daughters come to NYC from various parts of the United States. The 3-day makeover was fun, and then Lucy stayed a few days longer in NYC, and her adventures were fun, too. This is a murder mystery, so therefore, there is a murder. Lucy is determined to find the killer. Lucy and her family live in Maine. Lucy has a husband and 4 kids, but this book mostly featured only Lucy and her daughter Elizabeth while they were in NYC. The rest of the family stayed in Maine, so if this is your first Lucy Stone book, you will not get to know the other family members in this book. (I recommend reading the books in order, anyway.) This was a really enjoyable book. I have been enjoying the series for the most part. Lucy is a wonderful person, a wonderful wife and mother, etc. How she ever sired a child like Elizabeth is beyond my comprehension. Elizabeth is the most hateful, mean, heartless, despicable, detestable, compassionless character I have ever known. Elizabeth is really the only complaint I have about this series. Her hatefulness goes beyond teenage rebellion. I don't think she deserves a job or the opportunity to go to college. If it weren't for her, this series would be one of my favorite series. This is a "domestic" series, and I love the family, but I am disappointed because there are no "sister" relationships between Elizabeth and her two younger sisters, but I'm not surprised - someone as mean as Elizabeth would not have a relationship with her sisters. I continue to read the series, though, because I love Lucy and I like everything else about the series. Even though this book was fun, there were some things that I did not like, or were incorrect. But they did not take away a star, because the fun was enough to overpower it. Here they are: 1 - I don't think the stereotypes were done very well. 2 - The author was incorrect on page 26, when she had the Texas lady say "you guys". Texans do not say "you guys". I have never said "you guys" and would feel silly doing so. "Yall" is the plural of "you" in Texas. 3 - I did not like the way Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the religious people from North Carolina, because of their religion, on page 42. Elizabeth needs to find religio

Small-town journalist, and amateur sleuth, Lucy Stone, can't believe it when, on Christmas Eve, she receives a letter from her daughter Elizabeth's college requesting that she provide them with $16,000 by the beginning of the year, so she can resume her studies. She has already splurged on holiday gifts for her four children, and beloved husband, and can't even contemplate how she will come up with another $16,000 on such short notice. However, when Elizabeth surprises Lucy with the news that they have been chosen to participate in a Mother/Daughter Makeover Contest in New York City, sponsored by the Cosmopolitan-esque JOLIE magazine, Lucy is excited to have the opportunity to put the bit of financial distress behind her - even if it's just for a short time. Now, as Elizabeth and Lucy begin their three-day stay in the Big Apple, Lucy begins having concerns about her last-minute departure, as well as the fashion-obsessed people surrounding her. Suddenly, Elizabeth has stopped eating, the result of watching a waif-like fashion show up-close-and-personal; and Lucy begins picking up signs that the JOLIE employees slinking around in their glitzy garb are hiding something downright ugly. When Nadine Nelson, JOLIE's self-absorbed fashion-editor falls ill, and then kicks the bucket, Lucy knows that something underhanded is taking place. She has seen the amount of backstabbing going on around her, and feels that Nadine's death was anything but accidental. However, when Elizabeth begins exhibiting the same symptoms as Nadine, and is rushed to the hospital, Lucy realizes that it's up to her to begin snooping around, in an attempt to uncover the truth about Nadine's death; otherwise, Elizabeth may not survive long enough to see the ball drop in Times Square. With so few mystery novels embracing New Year's Eve, I was more than ecstatic to find that Leslie Meier's Miss Marple-esque character, Lucy Stone, was embarking on a mystery that would take her to the heart of New York City, just as the ball was about to drop. Unlike previous Lucy Stone mysteries, Meier has taken small-town Lucy out of her comfort zone, and dropped her smack dab in the middle of the boisterous, booming city known as New York - home of high fashion, sample sales, and screeching subways. Lucy, however, unexpectedly manages to hold her own. She quickly picks up city lingo, and learns how to maneuver through New York City in no-time. While Lucy is a believable, easy-to-relate to, down-home character, I did find it hard to sympathize with her daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth comes off as a spoiled, ungrateful, gossipy individual through the entire first-half of the book. She acts as if the world owes her a living, and expects everyone to feel sorry for her. Her personality seems to change slightly towards the second-half of the book, however, that may have something to do with the fact that she is not as prevalent of a character after the first 150 pages. I will admit, however, that even with

Elizabeth and her mother Lucy have won a makeover in a contest by Jolie magazine. They, along with five other mother-daughter duos, go to New York for a weekend. The contestants will all be judged, and the winning duo will win $10,000. Lucy has just received a letter stating that due to their income increasing, they owe $10,000 towards Elizabeth's tuition that would have previously been covered by her scholarship. That would be a problem except that this year their income has dropped significantly. Lucy wants more than ever to win that $10,000 prize. During the makeovers, the fashion editor is killed and Elizabeth is hospitalized. It turns out Anthrax is the reason for both. Lucy sets off to find who could have sent it and why. She uncovers a lot of misdeeds, including quite a few hot-button issues. I really like this series. Lucy is a fun character. This time she is outside her comfort zone, and because of that I think we see a different side of her. I didn't mind that. I thought it was written to fit the context of the story and situation, as well as the fact they were in New York city. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the next in this fabulous series! Please check out www.mysteryloverscorner.com

On the day before Christmas Eve, the Stones of Tinker's Cove, Maine, receive a letter from the college that their daughter Elizabeth attends stating that since their income went up last year, they owe $10,000 that previously would have been covered by a scholarship. The problem is that this year the Stone's income has dramatically dropped due to the economy; they don't have a clue how they are going to raise the money. Elizabeth entered a contest sponsored by Jolie magazine that won her and her mother along with five other mother-daughter duos complete makeovers. Elizabeth tells her that all the contestants will be judged and the winner will win $10,000 which makes Lucy want to win more than ever. While they are receiving their makeover, the fashion editor is murdered and Elizabeth is hospitalized when she becomes ill. The causes of the death and the illness are anthrax. Lucy is determined to find out who sent it to the office so that they can figure out how the editor and her daughter came in contact with it. That decision almost gets her killed by a terrorist organization though not the kind one usually reads about in the papers. Fans who appreciate the Jessica Fletcher books and Miss Marple stories will love this fine cozy amateur sleuth mystery. Leslie Meier modernizes the heroine, who is a likeable, believable and understandable character. The jealousies, uncertainties and in fighting between the workers at the magazine give the audience plenty of suspects who wanted the fashion editor dead. Leslie Meir has written a charming holiday mystery that readers will love for its' humor and originality. Harriet Klausner