I always enjoy reading the set of three short Halloween stories every year by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross from three of my favorite series. The theme was a murder taking place at three different Halloween parties in three unique ways. My favorite two were the Hayley Powell and Clambake stories. The Lucy Stone series at times really doesn’t interest me as much as the older books did due to the political nature of some of the stories or side issues. I read cozy mysteries to esape that kind of stuff, lol.
My Goodreads review:
Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The stars are mainly for the second two stories in this collection. I usually like Lucy Stone stories, at least I did before they started having nothing but a bunch of politics and stuff like that. The Halloween portion of the story was great with the haunted house and fundraiser for Lucy’s favorite Hat and Mitten Fund. But it all lost my interest when the political stuff leaked into it and I honestly didn’t even care by then who the killer was or why.
Now I absolutely loved the Hayley Powell Halloween. Halloween with this bunch is always a hoot! And be sure to read those in-between the chapters columns of Hayley’s because they tell about some hilarious past Halloween events with (always) Mona at her funniest. Ha, she was dressed like a shark at the present day party, kinda fitting, no? 😉 Gotta love that crazy Mona and her growing-up kids!
I loved the quick trip to Busman’s Harbor and Julia having a mystery that involved her niece and the girl’s friends. It was an interesting case, and I liked how the state detectives figured they might as well just let Julia in on it from the get-go since she always helped anyway. I never would’ve guessed the outcome in either the Hayley or the Clambake murders, and they sure made for some fun Halloween reading!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own. The book releases this coming Tuesday, August 31, 2021.
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 