The latest in Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone series has us close to Easter and has Miss Tilley playing a big role. As a fan of Miss Tilley, I was happy to see her in this story.

After getting sick, Miss Tilley is sent to Heritage House to recover before being able to return home. While she is staying there, another resident disappears, and Lucy begins to see that Heritage House may not be quite what it is supposed to be.

In the course of her visits to see Miss Tilley, Lucy begins investigating this disappearance and with the help of a few residents, she is able to determine what happened to the missing person.

While Lucy’s friends weren’t featured as much as in previous stories, this book was enjoyable and was a nice visit to Tinker’s cove. I love this series for the familiarity of the main characters and a chance to visit Maine.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books, and Leslie Meier for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

There aren't many mystery series that can get to book #28 and still be a five star read but the Lucy Stone series is one of them. I have enjoyed every one and I certainly enjoyed this one. Lucy and Ms. Tilly investigate the dark, hidden secrets at the assisted living establishment, Heritage House. Ms. Tilly had a health scare and, though now on the mend, she is rehabing at Heritage House. Lucy visits her not only as her friend but as a reporter for the local paper. The residents are doing an Easter Bonnet event and the competition is fierce. In no time Lucy goes from covering the bonnets to investigating murder. It started out as a request from a resident's daughter to find her missing mother. The police are sure the woman just went out bird watching and will show up in due time. If only the situation was that cut and dried. Instead there is corruption hiding in the shadows and Lucy is the one to uncover it.
Lucy, her family and the charming town of Tinker's Cove, Maine always welcome me and each book in the series is like a letter from family and friends. Each of the books can be read as a stand alone with enough backstory in the mystery to keep you well informed. If you are new to this excellent series be prepared to play catch up. You won't be disappointed.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoy catching up with the characters in this series and seeing what adventure Lucy Stone will get into each time. this is a good wholesome series with wonderful and well developed characters. Though I wouldn’t want to live in Tinkers Cove because I couldn’t stand the cold weather, I would enjoy visiting the town. This particular story kept your attention as you spent time with Lucy, both helping her 100-year-old friend, Miss Tilley, and trying to find a missing person. There were good clues scattered throughout and I appreciated how the puzzle was eventually solved. I continue to be amazed at the author’s ability to find new adventures for Lucy and can’t wait to spend time with the gang in Tinkers Cove again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corporation for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This latest installment, the 28th book in the Lucy Stone series set in small town mail, is delightful. I've read them all and I believe this to be one of the better ones.

Lucy uses her assignments at the newspaper to help look into a missing person at senior housing. In this one, Lucy's friend, Miss Tilley, who is recovering from a medical scare, plays an important role as well.

I love the characters in this series and reading one of the Lucy Stone books is like getting together with old friends, though this could be read as a standalone.

I loved it and would recommend it to cozy fans.

This is a great new Lucy Stone mystery. Lucy is tied into investigating the local senior living/extended care facility when a resident goes missing. As a reporter, Lucy has a lot to cover and this story is tough to investigate. Her youngest daughter is about to graduate from college and is job and apartment hunting. Lots of interesting side stories. Lucy wonders if this mystery will ever be solved. I really enjoyed this mystery.

Spring has sprung in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and reporter Lucy Stone is hard at work covering both the serious business of government affairs as well as the fluffier human interest stories that her editor Ted Stillings knows propels sales and reader interest. She’s already planning to do a front page article on the annual Easter bonnet contest over at Heritage House, a local assisted living community, even before her good friend, Miss Julia Tilley, is forced to check in there to properly recuperate from illness.

On a visit to Miss Tilley, Lucy meets several of the colorful characters who live at Heritage House, including Agnes Neal, an avid birder. When Agnes goes missing shortly thereafter, Lucy dutifully posts an alert in the online version of her paper, to the chagrin of the home’s publicity department. Ted warns her against antagonizing a wealthy advertiser, but Lucy is interested primarily in doing the right thing. But as the days pass with no sign of the missing woman, plenty of people, police included, suggest that Agnes just went off without telling the daughter, Geri Mazzone, who first reported her disappearance.

Geri, of course, has a very different opinion. Agnes had apparently been an investigative journalist before she retired, and had mentioned to her daughter that something suspicious was going on at Heritage House. Geri is convinced that this suspicious activity is what lies behind her mother’s disappearance, but no one else seems to care. An enraged, distraught Geri believes that this lack of concern is due to Agnes’ perceived value as an older woman:

QUOTE
Geri’s claim struck Lucy where it hurt most: in her conscience. She had to admit that deep down, awful as it was, she didn’t actually care, at least not much. She had problems of her own, Agnes wasn’t her problem, and she really couldn’t summon up much more than casual interest in the woman’s fate. The realization stunned her, even shocked her. She was treating Agnes like yesterday’s news, like last week’s edition of the paper which she’d already tossed in the recycling bin. But Agnes wasn’t an old story, she was a real person and she mattered.
END QUOTE

And so Lucy decides to use her impending coverage of Heritage House to help her dig around into what happened. To this end, she recruits the aid of Miss Tilley, who’s more than happy to apply her own keen mind and senses to helping her younger friend. But the more Lucy and Miss Tilley investigate, the more they discover that something is indeed rotting behind the home’s serene facade. Will they be able to escape Heritage House unscathed, or will the same fate that befell Agnes fall on them as well?

This was a really terrific look at what it means to age in America, and the murky area in which many retirement and assisted living communities are allowed to operate. Lucy certainly doesn’t expect to be investigating what could be the biggest story of her career while covering what were meant to be rote pieces revolving around an old folks’ home. Even more profoundly, she learns why so many of the inhabitants of the community don’t seem to care about Agnes’ disappearance, after asking for insight from a helpful nurse:

QUOTE
Vera gazed down the hallway for a long minute, then replied, “Ah, in a place like this you get used to losing folks. Here today and gone tomorrow. It may seem cold, it bothered me, too, at first, but then I understood it’s really self-defense. They have their activities to keep their minds busy, they have wall-to-wall carpeting and gourmet meals, but they’re not fooled. They all know the grim reaper is just around the corner, waiting for them.”
END QUOTE

This perhaps depressing focus on the inevitable end of life is counterbalanced by Leslie Meier’s wry observations on how some things never change, no matter how old you get. The mean-girls parallels between some of the Heritage House inhabitants and several of Lucy’s daughter’s social circle are just as cleverly drawn out as the reflections on how parents and children’s roles can sometimes flip with age. As always with this series, the balance between Lucy’s professional and personal lives is deftly done, showcasing the many challenges facing her as she raises a family and cultivates her career. Lucy is easy to root for, even if I do sometimes agree with her rather bratty daughter Zoe that she can be a little more old-fashioned than warranted. This only adds to her realism as a modern career woman with adult children though, and I can’t wait to read more of her engaging and relatable adventures.

Another excellent Lucy Stone mystery. I'm totally biased cause I love this series and I've read every book, but I think this one really is great and definitely works as a stand-alone. Meier always does a good job re-introducing characters and the adorable town of Tinker's Cove, Maine.
The mystery is modern and unique, dealing with elder care, international wars, and local town going's-on. And while Lucy investigates, she's also helping her youngest daughter apartment hunt, which is a fun addition (even though all of Lucy's children are pretty bratty).
I've thoroughly enjoyed this series over the years and I love seeing Lucy and her life evolve- especially her relationship with her husband, Bill, and her group of girlfriends. I look forward to the new book every year.

This book was so good! Mrs. Tilley is one of my favorite characters in this series and I loved that she was in so much of this one. The murder mystery was great. I couldn’t put this one down! I have read every single book in the Lucy Stone series and I'm never disappointed!

A well written, entertaining mystery is a true source of delight and Leslie Meier has absolutely delivered on all fronts with Easter Bonnet Murder, her latest entry in the Lucy Stone series. This is an excellent cozy mystery and one of the strongest in the series. It was fun to return to Tinker’s Cove, Maine and “catch up” with Lucy, her family and friends. One of the things I love about this series is that it doesn’t take place in a time bubble, the characters age and evolve; the Lucy in the early books was a young mother, and she is now rapidly approaching empty nest years. I appreciate that there is such a vein of realism in Lucy’s home life, her family and her own thoughts and actions.  
The central plot line revolves around the perfect, too perfect?, Heritage House, a multipurpose senior living center. Lucy frequently goes there to cover activities and to visit her friend Miss Tilley who is recuperating from pneumonia, During her visits, Lucy finds herself intrigued by the almost high school, clique-like, actions of some of the seniors. It bothers Lucy a great deal when one resident disappears and no one seems to be too concerned. She tries to dig around a bit but, until doesn’t get too far until a body appears in a stairwell. There is a secondary plot involving Lucy’s youngest daughter Zoe, and how her apartment hunting is influenced by the actions of “mean girls,” which furthers the sub narrative of the book as it touches on the exclusionary actions one finds in cliques of all ages. There are also asides that touch on Medicare and the influence of big money on journalism.
This is a fun, enjoyable read and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries, especially those who have followed Lucy Stone through the years. Leslie Meier has done an outstanding job of crafting a book that has a message, realistic characters, and an interesting mystery.
I was given a free copy of this book by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions stated are solely my own.

I received a copy of Easter Bonnet Murder through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Easter Bonnet Murder by Leslie Meier is the 28th mystery in the Lucy Stone series. In this mystery, Lucy Stone is covering the annual Easter bonnet contest at the local senior living community when one of the residents goes missing. True to her investigative self, Lucy finds herself on the case, unraveling the mystery of this missing person as she covers the events at Heritage House.

I have read some of the Lucy Stone mysteries and am working my way through the series from the beginning. I have enjoyed these mysteries and this one is no different. Catching up with Lucy and the Tinkers Cove crew is always a good time. Even though I liked this mystery, it was a little slow getting started, but it did end with a bang I didn’t see coming! If you are a fan of cozy mysteries this book and series is worth reading.

Another Lucy Stone cozy mystery! Another good read! Lucy once again finds herself entangled in a mystery. Doing a favor for a friend, which really wasn’t a favor since Ms. Tilley is also a long time friend, she goes to check on her at a posh retirement/ assisted living home, Heritage House. Afterwards she gets a call from Geri at the Courier newspaper office where she works as a reporter. Geri is frantic, her mother Agnes who is also a resident at Heritage House is missing! She was to pick her up for lunch, but no one knows where she is. Being not 24 hours the police cannot do anything, the staff at Heritage House says wait and see, Agnes was probably birdwatching and lost track of time. Geri is sure something is wrong and asked for Lucy’s help. There’s not much Lucy can do, but can’t help to check up on Agnes whereabouts.
Amazing how the author comes up with so many mysteries! A real page turner. I did both read and listened to the audiobook book, enjoying both. The narrator was very good, the characters are wonderful and I can’t wait to read the next book.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #EasterBonnettMurder #LeslieMeier

Lucy finds a more serious issue than she expected when Miss Tilley is sent to Heritage House to recover from pneumonia. Something isn't right and then Agnes, who won the previous year's Easter bonnet contest, goes missing. Unusual for a cozy, Meier has wrapped in real and ugly issues involving medical care for seniors. That's not to say that this doesn't catch the reader up on the goings on in Tinker's Cove or that there aren't very funny moments but that it's thought provoking in the best way. As always, Lucy is a treat, as is her daughter Zoe, who's hoping to move to Portland. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It helps. of course, to have read at least a few installments in this very long running series but it will also be fine as a standalone.

Another holiday, another Lucy Stone mystery! This one doesn’t have too much emphasis on Easter, it is more about the competition at the Heritage House for Easter bonnets. Of course there may be something fishy going one there, especially when a body is found of a missing resident in an emergency stair case!

I love that as rime has gone on, Lucy is getting more involved when she sees problems. I think that there are more things she could tackle, but she is dedicated to finding out what’s going on at Heritage House (and of course part of that, a large part is that Miss Tilley is there temporarily) The backstory of the mystery is very interesting.

(Spoilers beyond this point)

One thing that really bothered me was after Lucy and Agnes’ daughter search an area, Lucy things she sees a flash of a blue windbreaker, which is what Agnes had on when she went missing. This is a red herring and it goes no where. I thought maybe Agnes was ok, hiding and keeping her distance, I didn’t like that o was given a false sense that she may be ok. Other than that the book kept me interested and made for a quick read. Lucy’s family is barely in this one and tbh kind of unlikeable when they are, ha. Oh well!

I haven’t read every book in the series, but I’ve read maybe 10 or so. I think a new reader could pick this up, anything they may need to know is explained, but it is not too much exposition.

Another great Lucy Stone story. There’s so much going on in Lucy’s life that I don’t know how she has time to sleep. Each story is well researched and has so much information that you can’t help but learn something new. Amidst all the small hometown charm is always a little darkness that Lucy helps to untangle. This one was a little slow to start but once it got going, I didn’t want to put it down.

3 stars

This book was an average entry into the Lucy Stone mystery series, It takes place in Tinker's Cove, like most of them do. This means that there are a lot of familiar faces, and even places. The main setting for this addition is an assisted living facility that Ms. Tilley is in. One of the residents has gone missing, and her daughter is concerned. There is a whole side story that Lucy is dealing with involving her daughter Zoe. I unfortunately find that the further this series goes on the more similar the stories get. I have read probably every book in this series going back to the early 2000's and some are up and some are down and this one while the twist was more interesting than some, still didn't really do much for me. I will continue reading the series because I love the actual writing and I like most of the characters.

Thank you Kensington Books and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review,

The Heritage House senior center regularly attracts positive press as they cater to their senior citizen population with activities such as the Easter Bonnet contest. Lucy starts seeing a different side of the facility when her friend Miss Julia Tilley, checks in to recover from an illness. When Agnes Neal, a retired journalist, goes missing and foul play is suspected, Lucy starts investigating. She needs to find the truth behind The Heritage House's false facade.
This was a good cozy mystery with a lovely set of suspects who reminded me of characters from my favorite TV show, Murder, She Wrote. The plot was suspenseful, and I was surprised at the end. Lucy is a likeable protagonist who has a take charge attitude that I love to read about. I received this advanced reader's copy from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion.

The plot of the book was such a great page turner. The plot of the book was very well written. I truly cannot wait to read another wonderful book from this fantastic author. This was a truly great book.

Thank you NetGalley, Leslie Meier and Kensington Books for the ARC of the book Easter Bonnet Murder. This is my personal review.
This is 28th book in the Lucy Stone series.
This one has Lucy going to see her dear friend Miss Tilley in an assisted living home. The facility is an ok place to live but Lucy gets the feeling that things are not what they should be there every time she visits Miss Tilley. Lucy is going to keep watching and vigilant when she is there.
Then the unthinkable happens and one of the residents goes missing. After searches all over the area and no one has seen or heard from the Agnes.
The much to the horror of everyone the body is found in the stairwell of the building. Lucy knows she must figure out what happened to keep others safe.
This was another great book in the series, and I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I always love a good cozy mystery and this one was no different. This one to me started out a bit slow but ended with a bang. Not only does this one have a mix of suspense and mystery it is set in an old folks home that provides for laughs along with the solving of a crime. This was a great read with an outcome that may not be expected by most! For those who love a good cozy mystery this is one that is not to be missed!

This is a great series! I've been reading it since the beginning and the characters feel like friends now. The mystery was good and kept me guessing until the reveal. I'm looking forward to the next book!