I received this advance reader copy via Netgalley and Kensington Books, in return for an honest review. This is the 29th book in this series and can be easily read as a stand-alone. I really like that the author has taken protagonist, Lucy Stone, her husband and their three children through 25 years of life together in this series. This time, Lucy’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is marrying a Frenchman whom she met while working in Paris. The wedding is at the family’s chateau/luxury hotel & restaurant, so the Stone family is invited to travel abroad for their first full family reunion in a few years. But there’s always at least one mystery that needs resolution when Lucy’s around. This time, it includes the body of a young woman found on the property and why is Elizabeth marrying this man? So many questions and so much jetlag!

I am a Leslie Meier fan from way back and haven't read her books in quite some time. When this one came up on NetGalley I was very excited. I enjoyed going to France with Lucy and her family - I was surprised to see the kids are all grown up! The plot was fun and the characters interesting as ever. I'm happy and thankful I got to read this book as I am going to revisit the series from the beginning. I have at least ten Leslie Meier paperback and hard cover books on my bookshelf and it's great to now be able to read them on Kindle! I will definitely recommend this book and the series.

Mother of the Bride Murder is part of the long-running Lucy Stone mystery series. It can be read as a stand-alone book as there is enough background provided to help a new reader understand the characters and setting.

Lucy's latest adventure takes place in France as her daughter Elizabeth is getting married in a chateau owned by her fiance's family. After a lucky break, Lucy and her husband are able to buy airfare for the rest of their family so that everyone can be together for the wedding. Once they arrive at the in-law's chateau, Lucy has some misgivings about the upcoming wedding. As the day gets closer, a body is found on the chateau grounds and Lucy begins to investigate. Some interesting characters are introduced, along with some intrigue and danger to Lucy's family.

I had read previous books in this series when the family members were younger. I think it is great that Leslie Meier has continued this series by having her characters age appropriately. It was fun to come back and find out what had happened to various family members "over the years". This book focuses more on the family dynamics rather than who was murdered and why. I was okay with this, but prefer to learn more about the victim and the "who dunnit". An interesting read, more so for fans of this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Land's End meets Paris Couture...... Oh Lucy - I've loved you for so long but it's getting a smidge repeated. At this point, I'd be afraid to become your friend. Since almost every non essential character in Tinker's Cove has been offed, its time to move locations and bring Lucy's skill sets to the international scene.... time to go home Lucy...

Leslie Meier does another wonderful cozy mystery in her Lucy Stone series. You don't have to read the others to keep up.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this cozy novel.

Lucy and her family are all headed to France for Elizabeth's wedding. Her fiance's family is a very wealthy couple with a fabulous mansion which is also their business, taking in guests for meetings and conferences. But when Lucy sees a scruffy house with skimpily dressed women lounging on lawn chairs in the neighbourhood, she wonders if there something sinister going on. On the morning of the wedding, a shocking accident stops the proceedings and Elizabeth's old boyfriend, Chris, is helping with the investigation. Lucy tries to keep out of it, but she is always there on the periphery. An enjoyable read in this series.

I've sporadically read books in this series, and this wasn't one of my favorites. However, I did like the setting. Overall, I found the storyline less developed than prior books, and there were some characters I just didn't connect with or like, such as Toby. Unnecessary plot points also created lags in the pace, making it hard to stay engaged. There was an unexpected twist I enjoyed.

I've been a fan of this series from the beginning, but this book is an exception. The family goes to France for the oldest sister's wedding, but appears to be determined to sabotage the wedding from the start. They call their hosts "Frenchies," snipe at the groom and his family, provoke quarrels within the family and whine about being bored at a luxurious chalet.

They don't come off well, to say the least.

The story is filled with twists and turns and dramatic moments, as well as offensive stereotypes.

Entertaining entry in the series with a great location, a chateau in France. Not as strong as some other titles in the series but enjoyable to those familiar with the characters.

Another good entry in a long running cozy mystery series. The Stone family heads to France for oldest daughter Elizabeth's wedding and murder follows them.

Mother of the bride is the latest in the Lucy Stone mystery series. The story
centers around Lucy her husband Bill and the family traveling to France for
their daughter's Elizabeth's wedding. While Lucy and her family prepare for
the wedding a murder occurs and Lucy searches for answers. I really tired to
like this book having been a fan since I read the first in the series, sadly I think
the series has run it course.
The plot was weak and half the book was over before anything of interest
occurs. I also did not like some of the characters ( Toby).
Thank you to the publisher and NetGallery for ARC

Lucy Stone, A fan favorite of many, is back solving a mystery this time in Paris while attending her oldest daughter's marriage. I have loved this series from day one but found that at times I struggled with this one. Characters are still well developed and good. Just seemed to be missing the zing of previous ones. But still an enjoyable cozy. Thanks #netgalley and #Kensington for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

The Stone family is back together for Elizabeth's wedding in Paris. It has been quite awhile since Lucy and Bill have had all of their kids together and I really enjoyed them being together again. Elizabeth is as stubborn as ever and butts head with Lucy during wedding preparations. Lucy, as always, is suspicious and ends up finding out the secrets of the family and the chateau.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Mother of the Bride Murder is the latest Lucy Stone Mystery set to release in 2023. Many thanks to NetGalley for sending me an early copy. I began reading the series earlier this year and finished ~40+ (includes a bunch of in-between holiday novellas) already. Focused on a news reporter in a small Maine town, these books delight readers with light mysteries and the changing lives of the Stone family. Since the first book, Lucy's 4 children have aged about ~25 years, and it's been fun to watch the growth of all the characters. In this installment, her oldest daughter is getting married in France, and the news is a shock to Lucy. Elizabeth found herself a hunky, rich husband but when the wedding week arrives, a dead body in the moat surrounding their sprawling estate darkens the namesake of her potential in-laws. This book was quite different than the rest. Lucy doesn't really try to solve the murder, which doesn't happen until 50% in. Plus, we don't even know who the girl is, nor do we get to meet potential suspects. We're told who it is around 75% and the rest is how to catch him/her. For those reasons, I wasn't totally immersed in the book, but because of the character progression and easy breeze writing style, I enjoyed the story. Settling on 4 stars to recognize the book for what it is.

I was really disappointed in this book. I have liked all the other books in the series, and I liked most of the book. I appreciated that Lucy's relationships with her children haven't turned magically perfect now that they are adults. However, the ending was a huge disappointment. It was if the author had gotten tired of writing and just ended the book as quickly as possible. Even the last page seemed like it was cut off.

Also, I don't know if anyone has brought it up yet. But there are several places where Toby and Patrick's names seem to be switched. If that's not what happened, there are some very inexplicable personality changes.

I have loved seeing the stone family go through all these seasons of life. Lucy did such a good job finding clues. She made me laugh so much.

Mother of the Bride Murder is the latest installment in the Lucy Stone series by Leslie Meier. I haven't read all of the books in this series, so take my review with a grain of salt. I've learned to really like Lucy Stone and her family and so I was really excited to dive into this latest release. (Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for a review copy!)

Lucy and her family are off to Paris to celebrate the quick engagement and marriage of her oldest daughter Elizabeth. Although it takes some convincing to get the whole family out there, it fills Lucy's heart with happiness to have everyone reunited in order to celebrate Elizabeth's very special day. But having everyone together after such a long time apart isn't exactly easy. Not to mention the fact that Lucy notices some interesting things about her daughter's future in laws.

I wasn't sure how to feel about this book at first. The plot was definitely interesting but it also felt like there were some plot points that weren't really necessary. I could have done without the whole first 1/4 of the book, which is where Lucy has to convince some of her family members to actually go to the wedding. Even though he claims he has the money, her son Toby is resistant to bring his wife and son to Paris. Lucy's husband Bill is also cautious, because he thinks that they won't have the money to travel after paying taxes for this business.

I thought that was kind of ridiculous to be honest. It felt like their reasons for not wanting to go to the wedding were really weak and if I were Lucy, I would have told them so. Lol. Which she kind of did, but it was just really frustrating as a reader to have to sit through that. It wasn't the most interesting of discussions.

But whatever. They all end up in France together and it's fun! They get to stay at a nice hotel until they eventually wind up at the Chateau that Jean-Luc's family owns. It all seems like an idyllic vacation, until a body turns up on the property.

That's when Lucy jumps into sleuthing mode, and I loved how she was taking in all the information and coming up with reasonable suspicions and Toby is just like "Mom, come on. We're in a foreign country. Just relax!"

But obviously, given the nature of this series, it's near impossible for Lucy to just sit back and relax when there's a mystery afoot.

I liked reading about Lucy's family and their family dynamic, but the rest of the characters in the story fell flat for me. We didn't get to know much about Jean-Luc and his family and so in the end, things just felt a little rushed. It was also very obvious from the beginning of the story how things were going to turn out. When I'm reading a cozy mystery I prefer for things to be less obvious.

I liked the story and it did have a twist that left me surprised, but I felt like it wasn't one of the strongest books in the series. Maybe that's because of the location and the fact that they didn't have much time to get to know the other characters since they were on vacation. I'm not sure.

If you're a fan of the series, you'll probably want to check this one out to find out what happens next in the world of Lucy Stone. But while it's easy to catch up to what is going on, I woudn't recommend it if you're new to the series. It's a little confusing and will probably leave you frustrated.

The storyline is excellent and the characters , while few , are interesting and well described.
Thank you to Leslie Meier, NetGalley and Kensington for the arc of this book

Lucy and the whole family head to France for Elizabeth's fairy tale welling to a charming rich man with an chateau. Lucy worries that everything is not as ideal as it seems though.

Episode # 29 featuring Lucy Stone & her family is a chance to see her four adult children all together to attend Elizabeth's wedding in France.
A chance to see the 'old guard' of French society in the modern world was very interesting too.

No spoilers, Lucy comes to save the day while her 'can do' American response to 'fixing things' puts her grandson in the crosshairs of danger. This cozy moved very quickly and I was so captivated that I read it in one day.

Thank you Leslie Meier for another adventure with Lucy.