When Lucy's daughter gets engaged, what should be a happy occasion turns deadly, as Lucy soon has to deal with her future in-laws trying to control the occasion and the discovery of a grizzly town murder. Lucy puts all of her reporter instincts to use as she sets out to smooth things over with her family and catch a cold-blooded killer.

I was liking this book, but got bored with the Native Americans storyline. It might be time for Lucy to retire.

This was such a quick and fun read. I really enjoyed the characters and the story line for this one!
Would recommend for a quick read

Leslie Meier is a must read when it comes to classic cozy mystery and this is a very entertaining to this series.
I was glad to catch up with the characters, had fun, and appreciated the twists and the solution
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

BRIDAL SHOWER MURDER by Leslie Meier is book 31 in the mystery series featuring Lucy Stone, a local newspaper reporter in Tinker’s Cove, Maine. This time, Lucy's daughter Zoe is getting married to a baseball player and her future mother-in-law causes conflict by hijacking the wedding planning and throwing a lavish shower. Unfortunately, there were not too many likeable new characters here. Despite being older (and hopefully wiser), Lucy is still struggling with a demanding boss, home responsibilities, and the need to be a better role model for her daughter. As the party preparations go forward, Lucy learns about past history related to a local indigenous tribe and the founding of a company belonging to the family of her son-in-law to be. Secrets, misunderstandings, and racism contribute to a brutal murder – with Lucy once again on the hunt for clues and a story! Regular readers will enjoy another light and entertaining cozy featuring Lucy Stone.

I absolutely love the long-running Lucy Stone cozy mystery series, set in Maine. This is the 31st book in the series and is the best one of them all!!

Here, one of Lucy's daughters is engaged to a minor league baseball player and the wedding planning quickly gets out of control. Too big. Too elaborate.

It was interesting to see how the bridal shower activities and the murder of an apparently unrelated victim tied together. I did not see the whodunnit coming.

When people ask me for cozy mystery series recommendations, Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone series is one I always suggest. Very highly recommended!!

In this installment of the Lucy Stone mysteries, Lucy's youngest daughter, Zoe, is newly engaged. It turns out Zoe's fiance has ties to Tinkers Cove. Zoe's soon to be in laws want to plan the wedding and throw Zoe a bridal shower. When a murder occurs, Lucy puts on her sleuthing hat and starts investigating. I really enjoyed this book. Some of the later books in this series have been hit or miss but this one was really good. I liked that we saw more of Lucy's kids in this book. The mystery was well done and it kept me guessing until the end.

This is the 31st book in the Lucy Stone cozy mystery series and I've read every single one. I've enjoyed all of them to varying degrees. But this one, this one I think was the most interesting, the most well-written, most diverse of all and the one I think I have enjoyed the most! The primary focus of this book is not, as the title indicates, a bridal shower. That is really just the side story and that's exactly how it should be. The more important storylines, and there are several, really take center stage and shine! Wonderful and realistic family Dynamics, a fabulous supporting cast that really steps it up and shines in this book, and highlighting important and relevant topics. So much more than I expected, loved it!

Poor Lucy just wanted to enjoy Zoe’s happiness at having a new job and being engaged, but all her so-called friend with a wedding planner daughter wanted to do was cash in on the rich in-laws who said they’d pay for the kids’ wedding. What a crazy mess! I was surprised Zoe and Chad didn’t just elope one weekend to get rid of all the stress.

Then murder struck Tinker’s Cove again and a nice woman from the historical society was found dead, so now there was a killer on the loose to worry about. I wasn’t too surprised at whodunit and the showdown was a tense one, but never underestimate the power of a ticked off homeowner when someone threatens his place and his friend.

Lucy came up with a good compromise at the end and they had some fun surprises show for the wedding as well. I bet Lucy’s gonna sleep for a week!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

Lucy Stone is in the middle again of another who dun-nit, not the first time as a reporter for the local newspaper. Her daughter Zoe is engaged and Chad seems very nice, but his family is a different story. As Chad’s mother starts to take over the wedding plans and basically giving the bride to be not much say or giving Lucy any of the mother of the bride honors. She throws a very fancy bridal shower and the ladies of Tinkers Cove are all invited. But surprisingly Hetty, a local town historian, who was so looking forward to it is a no show. When a couple days later Lucy sees the police taping off the building that Hetty works in she knew it was Hetty. To hear she was brutally murdered was a shock!
This was one of the best mysteries from LM. Maybe because Penny, Chad mother reminded me of my mother in law. Start a little slow with the build up and of course the obvious guilty person isn’t the one. Kept me turning pages and guessing who. Thank you #NetGallery and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own. #BridalShowerMurder

Zoe is engaged and boy as her future mother-in-law, a class example of a “monster in law “. While the woman drives, Zoe and Lucy crazy, she apparently drove someone even crazier. Crazy enough to kill her and Lucy will do whatever it takes to find out who dunit.

It’s great to be back in Tinker Cove for book 31 in this series. I have read every single one of the books in this series and they never get old. If you’re looking for a new series and haven’t read one yet, you can read this one just fine as a stand-alone. Though the best part of all is that you will have 30 more books to binge on once you’re done.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Bridal Shower Murder is book #31 in the Lucy Stone Mystery series. Admittedly, this series is best read in order because you get to read about the characters' progression in a way that is easy to understand. Nevertheless, Bridal Shower Murder can easily be enjoyed on its own. In this book, Lucy, the main character, is writing an article that requires her to get information from the Historical Society. Also, Lucy's daughter, Zoe, is getting engaged to a young man whose background has something to do with Tinker's Cove area. To add to it all, the head of the Historical Society is found dead. Lucy investigates to uncover the reason behind the murder.

Bridal Shower Murder brings us once more to Tinker's Cove for a murder investigation. Lucy is a very likeable main character and amateur sleuth. Her strong ties to her community makes her investigation all the more interesting. There is a nice blend of daily life and sleuthing, which brings a good balance to the story. The characters are multi dimensional, which makes the storyline all the more interesting. It also creates a mystery that is more vivid and does not fall flat. As a long-time reader of the Lucy Stone Mystery series, Bridal Shower Murder is a strong entry. I definitely recommend both Bridal Shower Murder and the series. It is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, and it was an absolute delight to read the latest book.

Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier is one of her more complicated stories. Of course, how many murders can there be in a small Maine town before things get out of hand? Lucy Stone is a reporter for the Courier. It used to be the Pennysaver until her boss bought the newspaper in Gilead, a nearby community. It also used to be entirely print but now had an online edition that he expected to be updated the moment something of note happened. The big news in Tinker’s Cove right now was Lucy’s daughter, Zoe’s, engagement. Lucy had inadvertently spilled the beans to the town’s biggest gossip and now things were getting out of hand. Zoe was stressed because of her new job and this was one more thing she didn’t need. Her future mother-in-law had even chosen the wedding date for her. It was out of control. Lucy didn’t know how to help so she turned to her other daughter, Sara, to talk with her sister. Lucy had only recently found out that Sara was gay, a fact that apparently everyone in town had known except her.

The murder was a grisly one and the police were trying to hang it on a young Native American man, saying it was race-based. It got complicated fast and Lucy, as always, was in the thick of it. This is a fun series and this book was a terrific read. There was a lot of backstory involved, which I always find intriguing. Lucy had plenty going on outside of Zoe’s problems. The mystery was a good one and there were plenty of red herrings and misdirection to satisfy any avid reader, plus a lot of history. Lucy is a lovable and ordinary woman, living an ordinary life in an ordinary town. That’s what makes her so appealing. Meier managed to weave in some issues that are very contemporary but do it in an inoffensive way. Good book.

I was invited to read Bridal Shower Murder by Kensington Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #KensingtonPublishing #LeslieMeier #BridalShowerMurder

Bridal Shower Murder is book #31 in the Lucy Stone Mystery series by Leslie Meier.

I can’t believe this is book #31 in the series. It’s been fun seeing Lucy and her family’s growth throughout the series. In this book, Lucy‘s daughter, Zoe, is engaged and her future mother-in-law is an absolute nightmare. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, there’s a gruesome murder and Lucy has to get to the bottom of it to save her daughter’s day. I really enjoyed this book.

Lucy is excited that her youngest daughter Zoey is now engaged to Chad a rising star in minor league baseball. Things kind of get turned upside down when Lucy meets the soon to be in-laws. Chad's mother Penny seems to want to take over everything from the bridal shower to the wedding. She has even arranged the bridal shower before Zoey has even announced the upcoming wedding. Even with her involvement the shower goes well but everyone is shocked when Hetty Furness, head of Tinker Coves Historical Society, goes missing and eventually turns up dead. Lucy doesn't want anything to go wrong with the upcoming wedding so she dives into investigate. Will she figure out who the killer is and live to see her daughter get married?

Y’all. This one left me blinking at the page like, “Ma’am, are we okay??” I picked up "Bridal Shower Murder" fully expecting what this series usually serves: Lucy Stone doing her classic juggling act — part mom, part nosy local reporter, part murder-solving MVP — all while dealing with family chaos and small-town weirdos. But this time? I got way more than I signed up for.

Here’s the setup: Lucy’s youngest daughter, Zoe, just got engaged to Chad — a minor league baseball player with Southern charm dialed up to eleven and just enough shady family backstory to make Lucy’s investigative reporter radar start beeping. Enter Chad’s parents, Penny and Nate Nettleton. Penny is the kind of in-law who will “graciously help” and actually bulldoze everything. She hijacks the wedding plans, throws a surprise bridal shower before Zoe even publicly announces the engagement (rude!), and honestly, I wanted to throw a canapé at her.

Shockingly, the bridal shower doesn’t implode. But then, plot twist: Hetty Furness — the head of the Tinker’s Cove Historical Society, known for knowing everyone’s skeletons and where they’re buried — goes missing. And of course, turns up dead. Brutally murdered. And suddenly, Lucy’s not just balancing wedding chaos and murder; she’s knee-deep in long-buried secrets about the town’s treatment of Indigenous people, racial tensions politely dusted under Tinker’s Cove’s antique rug, and the kind of historical cover-ups that make you side-eye every plaque in the local museum.

And while Lucy’s out here connecting dots like a pro, back at home? She’s missing something big — and not because the clues were obvious (they weren’t), but because she never quite created the space for that truth to land safely. There’s a moment where one of her daughters questions whether Lucy would’ve been supportive, and that hurt. I wasn’t shocked by the revelation; I was sad her daughter ever had to wonder. For someone so intuitive and community-minded, it felt like a blind spot. I wanted to hug her and say, “You could have made this easier.”

The supporting cast — bless them — shows up more than they have in recent installments, but mostly to shuttle plot points around. The dialogue sometimes sparkles, sometimes clunks. And the pacing? Some chapters drag like a never-ending wedding toast, while others sprint by so fast I had to flip back and check if I’d missed a paragraph.

I do love that Leslie Meier is swinging for the fences here, tackling bigger conversations about family, community, and who gets to decide what stories we tell — even if the execution occasionally feels like trying to frost three cakes while the kitchen’s on fire. It’s messy. It’s bold. It’s well-intentioned. And it left me both intrigued and a little anxious about where Lucy’s headed next.

Three and a half stars. If you’re here for small-town murder, complicated families, and a plot that swings between cozy comfort and “Oh wow, we’re really going there,” buckle up. Lucy Stone’s world is changing — and she might be the last one to realize it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC.

Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier has Lucy Stone’s youngest daughter, Zoe getting engaged to a baseball player. While Lucy is happy for her daughter, she is less thrilled with the groom’s domineering mother. Lucy is going to need patience if she is going to make it through this wedding. Bridal Shower Murder is the thirty-first A Lucy Stone Mystery. I have read every book (and novella) in this series, but this story can be read as a standalone. The series, though, has changed since the beginning. Over the last few years, the author features a hot button topic (i.e. she gets on her soapbox) which overshadows the mystery. I like the main characters in this series (Lucy and her family, Sue, Pam, Ted, etc.). I like that the author has continued to age the characters as the series progresses. I could not stand Penny, Zoe’s mother-in-law to be (which is the point). I felt for Lucy for having to deal with this overbearing woman. I would not have been okay with this woman trying to take over every aspect of the wedding (reminded me of a steamroller). The story is easy to read, but the pacing was a little slow in places. The whodunit was simple, but it was interesting. Lucy uncovered town secrets during her sleuthing. I wish it were more difficult to identify the responsible party (I identified the guilty party before the murder took place). I did enjoy catching up with Lucy, Bill, and the rest of the Stone family. Bridal Shower Murder is bridal brouhaha with a joyful family declaration, wedding shower woes, historic society protest, an alarming murder, exposing surprising secrets, and navigating family dynamics for a cheerful resolution.

Leslie Meier is a prolific author of cozy mysteries who consistently gives her readers an entertaining read where we recognize many of the personalities the characters are famous for. This is book 30something in the Lucy Stone series. I lost count but that's on me, not the books. Lucy Stone is a reporter for the Tinker's Cove newspaper but more importantly to Lucy, she's Zoe's mom. As Zoe introduces her new fiance to everyone and meets his parents, emotions get stirred and tempers rise just a little bit. The mother in law to be is a textbook example of what an evil mother in law should be. But to Zoe and Lucy's credit, they don't kill her. But someone does get killed and Lucy will investigate to keep Zoe's special days from becoming memorable for murder. As always Meier's stories are quick reads because they are so good. If you love cozy mysteries, you probably are familiar with Leslie Meier and have been waiting for this new title. If you haven't read her books before, you now have an excellent author to follow and a series to binge.

I enjoyed this book, it has a nice balance between the emotional & mystery. Just to be clear, the murder does not occur at the bridal shower. The characters are well done, I found myself frustrated with how everyone let Penny and Janice roll over they. The person I thought was the murderer isn’t, but close. #BridalShowerMurderb#NetGalley

Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier

This was one of my favorite Lucy Stone mysteries in recent years. As usual, the mystery was great, and I didn’t know who the murderer was until the very end. But, the main reason that I enjoyed it was that we got to catch up with the whole family! I have been reading these books for so long that Lucy’s family feels like my own. Don’t hesitate to buy this book!