Valentine Murder

Author: Leslie Meier
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Pages: 350
Series: 5th book in the Lucy Stone series
Series Order:

1. "Mistletoe Murder" (1991)
2. "Tippy-Toe Murder" (1994)
3. "Trick or Treat Murder" (1996)
4. "Back to School Murder" (1997)

(Note: there are currently 17 books in the series. For more information check out this site)

First Line: "On the day she died, Bitsy Howell didn't want to get out of bed."

Synopsis: Lucy Stone, and the rest of the inhabitants of Tinker's Cove, Maine, are getting ready for Valentine's Day. In between baking pink cupcakes for her kids' school parties Lucy is also getting ready for her first meeting as a director on the local library board.

When Lucy finds the librarian shot to death the board assumes that she was killed by an outsider but the police think otherwise. Detective Horowitz has set his sights on Lucy as the key witness. Now Lucy has to clear her name and figure out who would have wanted the librarian dead.

My Thoughts: This was not a great mystery. First of all, I wasn't sure why it was called Valentine Murder. Yes, it was Valentine's Day around the time the story began but it didn't play any role really in the overall story.

It was humourous reading about how 'new' the internet was back then and reading how the 'fancy' decor was described (which would now be classified as 'ew') back in the early 90's. The main character was likeable but forgettable. I don't think I'll be picking up another Lucy Stone book for awhile.

My Rating: 2/5 stars