Birthday Party Murder
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4.4 • 36 Ratings
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A ninetieth-birthday celebration may be ruined by a nefarious killer, in a mystery filled with “believable and lovable characters” (Publishers Weekly).
The town of Tinker’s Cove is looking forward to the celebration marking former librarian Julia Ward Howe Tilley’s ninetieth birthday. Lucy Stone, Miss Tilley's closest friend, dreamed up the party idea—around the same time she decided she’s not getting old without a fight. Noticing crow's feet and a potential jelly belly, she’s resolved to exercise more and purchase some heavy-duty wrinkle cream, asap!
That sounds like a plan—until Lucy realizes her daughter's fourteenth birthday bash, a coed sleepover, may turn her hair white overnight. What was she thinking? Likely she was distracted by the shocking death of Sherman Cobb, the town’s oldest attorney, an apparent suicide. His law partner, however, thinks Sherman was murdered.
Poking about in Sherman's papers, Lucy turns up an intriguing tie between the dead man and Miss Tilley—but soon, no one can get to see the librarian as her bossy niece and biker great-nephew insist that she’s “failing.” Now, as a killer's ruthless plan rushes toward a conclusion, Lucy needs answers, or she and Miss Tilley won’t live long enough to make a wish and blow out the candles—in a suspenseful puzzler from the New York Times-bestselling author.
“Reading a new Leslie Meier mystery is like catching up with a dear old friend.”—Kate Carlisle, New York Times-bestselling author of the Bibliophile Mysteries
“Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy and the domestic problems she encounters.”—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Believable and lovable characters, notably nonagenarian-to-be Julia Ward Howe Tilley (who wears "twinkling" sneakers), add freshness to a familiar story line in Meier's ninth mystery (after 2001's Wedding Day Murder) featuring Lucy Stone, wife, mom, part-time reporter and amateur sleuth. After a cold and cloudy March in quaint Tinker Cove, Maine, the sun is finally shining as Lucy joins her four friends for their weekly breakfast at Jake's Donut Shack. To fight the doldrums and to honor Miss Tilley, the former librarian, they decide to organize a townwide 90th birthday party for her. The anticipation of the party plus Lucy's resolve to lose weight, do something about her wrinkles and dye her hair to cover the newly discovered gray lift her spirits until she hears that respected lawyer Sherman Cobb has been found dead in his office. The police declare death by suicide, but Cobb's partner suspects murder and asks Lucy to investigate. Meanwhile, Miss Tilley is suddenly faced with a niece she never knew existed, who arrives with her biker son only to move in and take over, much to the dismay of the older woman's friends. As Lucy's inquiries lead to the disclosure of long-hidden Tilley family secrets, she must also deal with a teenage daughter and her co-ed sleepover, her son's troubles at college and her husband's accident. Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy and the domestic problems she encounters, while established fans will find this one well up to standard.
