Every year I look forward to returning to Tinker's Cove to celebrate a holiday with Lucy Stone and her family. Not only is the town getting ready to celebrate St Patrick's Day with the annual parade, Lucy finds herself in a rivalry with the young upstart reporter Ted has hired after purchasing the newspaper from a nearby town. Once this new reporter is arrested and charged with murder Lucy starts looking for the truth, which leads to butting heads with a sheriff and investigating a bad cop. As if this isn't enough, Lucy and Bill have to figure out if the woman who claims to be his father's daughter from an affair is after an inheritance or just wants to be a part of the Stone family.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

An entertaining and well written cozy mystery. Very good plot and character dynamics. Mystery fans will not be disappointed. I highly recommend this book. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Leslie has been one of my fav writers for a very long time, with her series, but I have to admit she almost lost me on this book, as a fan. I understand authors want to make books modern and fresh, but in this book, the first 4 chapters seemed to be trying to force modern politics down the readers' throat. NOT something a fan is looking forward to. had she not hooked me with the promise of Irish dancing being dealt with through the book, I would have stopped reading it. I'll give her kudos for addressing the world of Irish dance teachers with an accurate pen. Now having RAN an Irish parade for a couple of years, I'll take issue with some items addressed there as well, but those can be more easily overlooked. BUT having said that, this entire novel is very heavy-handed on the anti-law enforcement angle and if I hadn't been reviewing this book, I would have stopped reading it and not recommend it at all. What should have been a light hearted romp, left me with a sour taste and the odds of not continuing with this series. If your tastes run far left, you'll enjoy it I'm sure...

I love this series! I am so invested in the characters and can't wait to see what they are up to next. I feel like they are friends of mine in real life, because I have read about many life experiences and achievements with them.

One of the best cozy mystery writers. Her books are the best. Easy read. Love her character Lucy Stone. Leslie Meier is one of my favorite author. Thank you for another great book!

1 star

I did not finish this book because it was just so slow.
I do not believe I will read this author again.

My first experience with either the author or the series at Book 27. Just when the personnel of a small town local weekly assume the owner is going to throw in the towel, they are astounded to learn the owner has partnered with the adjacent town’s paper and they will now cover twice the territory. And, icing on the cake, the owner has brought in a whiz-bang kid to really “get the story.”

This cozy mystery centers on family. Lucy Stone is married with four children. Two events occur about the same time—her father-in-law has passed away and Grandma Edna will come to live with them. About the same time, they get a letter proclaiming shared DNA by a woman they know nothing about.

St. Patrick’s Day is coming and Tinkers Cove is gearing up for their big annual parade followed by a newly instituted festival in adjacent Gilead. AND, Lucy is assigned to getting the school budget and parade master stories. In the meantime, she is fielding family matters.

It’s not until about 50% into the book that a suspicious accident occurs, and not unusually, the new kid on the paper is blamed for the murder.

I don’t know whether it was because I was coming into the series late and finding more of a family drama than a cozy, but I had a problem becoming engaged in the narrative and couldn’t connect with the characters. The storyline just dragged for me. I didn’t really care what the school board was going to vote for. The conclusion only mildly increased attention—at that point, just happy for the conclusion. More focus on the murder investigation, contact with more appropriate individuals, interviews, something…would have added some tension.

It's time to visit Tinker's Cover and it's St. Patrick's Day. After Ted buys another nearby paper, Lucy is afraid that she lose her reporting job.

The story regarding a close-by town's parade is one that touches on many of the issues that are being discussed now. There are really two mysteries in this one. Who killed the corrections officer? And who is the woman that claims to be part of the family?

This is a well-written book that is easy to read and kept me reading until late at night.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
I have just read the Christmas novella by Leslie Meier released in October this year, and it really put me in the mood to pick up another of her works. I really enjoy her writing.
This was quite a different and unusual plot line with it being focused around an Irish Parade- I do quite a few reading challenges around March time and those have prompts like read a book with Irish in the title, or read a book with green on the cover. So this book would be perfect for that kind of reading challenge.
I also appreciated that this author was trying to be more inclusive and have more representation by including topics such as gay rights. Would highly recommend this book- don’t think you need to read all the 20 something other books in the series before you get to this one- but I do recommend the series. This lady sure can write a good cozy.

This 27th installment in the long-running Lucy Stone cozy mystery series set in Tinker's Cove, Maine, is another solid, enjoyable cozy. This one involves a new reporter and a change in focus for the newspaper Lucy works for, a lot of St Patrick's Day goings on, and a visit from Lucy's mother in law who lives in Florida.

One feature from this series I've come to admire is how the author ties current events into the story line, in this instance, Blue Lives Matter.

All in all, this is another very good, interesting, solid mystery from a cozy master.

IRISH PARADE MURDER is a good, solid mystery. I really appreciated that the small quaint Maine setting felt realistic instead of idealistic. The plot was well thought-out and the sub-plot came to a surprising conclusion - not at all what I was expecting!

The best part was that the author, Leslie Meier, did not shy away from social topics and handled them with a fair, even hand that wasn't at all preachy or political.

As always, visiting Tinker’s Cove is a welcome respite from a busy day. Although there are too many murders for my liking, I would love to take a trip down Main Street and meet all the characters I have come to know.. This time around, the town is busy preparing for the St. Patrick’s Day festival when a reporter is arrested for murder and Lucy investigates. The newest entry in a very popular series does not disappoint!

Great book! This tackled tough subjects well and interestingly for a cozy mystery. The writing was concise and captivating. The characters are like old friends that I love to come back to. I found myself pushing my reading pace to finish this because it was so good. I was drawn into the the writer’s world and caught up in the plot. Everything was resolved nicely and I cannot wait for the next book!

I always enjoy Leslie Meier's cozy mysteries, but I have to say that this is my favorite to date. I enjoyed the contemporary storyline that was very with the times of today's environment.

Having a cousin that was an Irish dancer I find my self drawn to those set in and around Ireland, including St. Patrick's day, visiting Tinker's Cove once again was a bonus.

Leslie Meier is a fan favorite of so many readers because her stories tell a great cozy mystery yet have a very entertaining cast of characters to keep the story moving and never dull. Irish Parade ends with a death or two, our intrepid reporter, Lucy Stone must investigate with ery surprising results!

I enjoyed this book. This series is always good. I liked the characters and enjoyed meeting Bill's mother. The book flows nicely and the bad guy isn't a surprise. #IrishParadeMurder #NetGalley

3.5 stars

This was a fun read and a nice addition to Meier's Lucy Stone mystery series. And if you haven't read them all, that's not a problem. this can be enjoyed as a standalone. However, reading them in order will all ow the reader to see the characters' growth and development as time goes by. There are enough clues and twists to keep the reader engaged. There is some predictability, but it's an enjoyable tale overall.

Irish Parade Murder by Leslie Meier is the first book that I have read by this author. I myself always look for books by authors that I haven't read. This way it broadens my pallet when it comes to selecting my next book.
This little mystery has Lucy a reporter for her local newspaper reporting on the local doings of her hometown of Tinker's Cove. When her boss buys another newspaper in the town of Gilead things get interesting. A new hot shot reporter is brought in and Lucy gets anxious that her job will be gone. Until Rob decides that an old story should be brought to light with involves a corrupt sheriff and his band of merry men.

Lucy finds herself in danger along with her counter part Rob finds himself in jail. Snooping around the sheriff and the death of a correction officer starts a chain of events that brings danger to Lucy and a possible problem with the St. Patty's Day parade and festival. Then you throw in a mystery woman who claims to be Lucy"s husband Bill's long lost sister.

Ms. Meier wrote a very heart warming story with lively characters and a very interesting mystery. Really two mysteries. The death of the corrections officer and who is the mystery women who is called Kate.

This isn't the first book by Ms. Meier but the first one for me.. I look forward to more from Ms. Meier and suggest if you are a mystery lover you will love this one.

Leslie Meir never disappoints her books are always engaging and captivating. Although Lucy Stone has been solving mysteries in Tinker’s Cove for a long while the stories are always new and fresh and Lucy seems to have evolved along the way.
The story opens with the demise of Bill’s father in Florida. The whole family shows up for the funeral including a woman who didn’t know Bill Senior. As the story unfolds, she is a woman claiming to have DNA proof that Bill Sr. is her father and actively inculcates herself with Bill’s mother. Even coming with her to Tinker’s Cove to visit Bill and Lucy and the children. Is she his daughter? An interloper? A Con woman?
After the funeral, Lucy returns to her newspaper office to find that Ted Stillings the editor of The Pennysaver the paper for which Lucy works has been having clandestine meetings with various people as reported by the blinged-out receptionist Phyllis. They fear for their jobs thinking that Ted has sold the paper.
Ultimately, they find out differently but Ted is bringing in Rob Callaghan a hotshot reporter from out of town. Will Lucy be phased out and denied the big stories?
But when Rob is charged with the murder of a member of the police Lucy investigates. Was he killed by the new reporter or did he make waves somewhere in the police organization?
Meanwhile, there are competing St. Patrick’s Parade one in Gilead is very restrictive as to entrants the other is planned for Tinker’s Cove and plans to be more inclusive. Will the two parades go off smoothly or will the forces trying to destroy one of them succeed?
Lucy has made powerful enemies along the way and must tread very carefully or frightening fate awaits her.
As the story progresses the questions are answered in the smooth effortless way that is a Leslie Meier hallmark. She deftly takes you from place to place in her stories and gives the reader a smooth flowing, well crafted, and ultimately satisfying reading experience.