Back to School Murder (Lucy Stone Series #4)

by Leslie Meier

Overview

"I like Lucy Stone a lot, and so will readers."
—Carolyn Hart


Tinker's Cove's Own Amateur Sleuth Lucy Stone
Discovers That School Days Can Be Murder.

It's back to school time in the peaceful Maine town of Tinker's Cove, and for mother-of-four Lucy Stone it isn't a moment too soon. But trouble at the local elementary school soon has the sometime crime-solver juggling family, job, and night classes with another mystery to solve. And it starts with a bang.

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. Hot on the trail of a clever killer, the dedicated mom and seasoned sleuth must harness the courage and cool aplomb to uncover a crime that just might give her an education in the fine art of murder.

"Captivating, well-written, and just plain fun." —Tulsa World

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780758288356
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	07/03/2012
Series:	Lucy Stone Series , #4
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	122,506
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Leslie Meier is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty Lucy Stone mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. She is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery. Readers can visit her website at www.LeslieMeier.com

Editorial Reviews

Lucy Stone of Tinker's Cover, Maine, is temping in the office of the small town's newspaper in this lively follow-up to Trick or Treat Murder (1996). The police report of a bomb scare sends the mother of four right to the elementary school where she observes the new assistant principal, Carol Crane, evacuate a disabled student moments before the blast. Police and FBI agents investigate the explosion but arrive at no solution to the crime before Crane is found murdered in her apartment. After the high school's chemistry teacher is arrested, Lucy, who is also taking a literature course at a nearby college, helps the newspaper's lone reporter investigate and learns that the dead woman, in league with a fundamentalist school board member, was forcing the suspension of the chemistry teacher, whom she accused of being the bomber. Unable to believe the charges, Lucy determines to find both the bomber and the murderer. But it isn't until she has some frank talks with her handsome English instructor, who has been making passes at her, that the engaging Lucy is able to nail the culprit and restore harmony to her family and community. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The Maine village of Tinker's Cove is again awash in murder and mayhem (Trick or Treat Murder, 1996, etc.), but not to worry—Lucy Stone, wife to contractor Bill, mother of four; part-timer at the local paper; evening student at the local college; and above all, amateur sleuth—is on the case. Carol Crane, new assistant principal at the elementary school, has rescued a disabled child from inside the school just minutes before an explosive device goes off—an anonymous warning call to the police had evacuated everyone else. Lucy, helping Pennysaver editor Ted Stillings write the story, is intrigued by Carol's past, in which heroic rescues seem to have figured prominently, and by her connections to Lucy's seductive English professor Quentin Rea and to the town's fundamentalist preacher DeWalt Smythe and school politics. Carol's background assumes more urgency when she's discovered smothered to death in her apartment and well-liked high-school coach Josh Cunningham is charged with the murder. While police chief Crowley rests on his laurels, Lucy, unconvinced, scurries from home to job, to class, to daughter's day-care, to supermarket, finally, between chores, engineering a near deadly confrontation with the real killer.

A tad more substantial than the author's previous outings, but still bogged down in domestic detail, vacuous dialogue, and our heroine's mopey musings. Harmless ho-hum.

Kirkus Reviews