Chocolate Covered Murder

By Leslie Meier

A gripping Lucy Stone mystery, perfect for fans of cosy crime from New York Times bestselling author, Leslie Meier.

Lucy Stone, mother of three, works as a reporter on her local paper in the small town of Tinker's Cove, Maine. She's asked to write an article about a new local business, Chanticleer's Chocolates. But, as is so often the case with Lucy, it turns out not to be your usual run-of-the mill assignment . . .

A local fisherman drowns suspiciously and then Chanticleer's sultry store manager turns up dead and covered in chocolate. Is this the work of a bitter ex-wife? Or is a rival fudge shop, recently stripped of its status as the "Best Candy on the Coast", behind her demise? With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Lucy gets on the case.

Sweeter than sugar, this wonderfully fun and cozy mystery from New York Times bestseller Leslie Meier is a delight from start to finish.

“I like Lucy Stone a lot, and so will readers.” —Carolyn Hart

“Leslie Meier writes with sparkle and warmth.” —Chicago Sun Times

“The Lucy Stone mysteries will appeal to fans of domestic mysteries.” —Booklist

“Mothers everywhere will identify with Lucy Stone and the domestic problems she encounters.” —Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Aug 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781509851881

Leslie Meier

Leslie Meier is the acclaimed author of the Lucy Stone Mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. She lives in Harwich, Massachusetts, where she is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery.

Reviews for Chocolate Covered Murder

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another chocolate shop has opened in town, and Lucy Stone is writing a story about it. To say its chocolates are expensive is putting it mildly - one piece is $5. Except for the new shop, things are running pretty typically in Lucy’s life. She is on a diet, her younger daughters are looking to earn a little extra money before Valentine’s Day, the weather is awfully cold, and, oh yes, a local fisherman gets tangled up in his lines and drowns under the ice. Not so typical, after all. Lucy is trying to keep up with her work as a reporter, getting the kids where they need to be, taking care of meals and the house, dealing with bills, and still finding time to be with her husband. But things really get busy when she practically stumbles over another body. This is a typical Lucy Stone cozy, filled with the characters regular readers have come to enjoy. The mystery won’t keep you up nights reading until the end, but it’s still entertaining.

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've read a few books and short stories from Leslie Meier's cozy series. Set in small town Maine, there is still a lot of crime to be found!Lucy works for the local paper, the Pennysaver. She is assigned to do a puff piece on a new business in town, Chanticleer's Chocolates, a high-end chocolate shop. It is owned by dishy looking Trey Meacham and managed by Tamzin Graves, who is nice eye candy for the male customers...and she knows it and uses it.When Tamzin is found dead in the shop, posed in a provocative position, questions arise about it possibly being a jealous or suspicious wife or....who is the murderer?A fun and light read with Lucy, the main character, bent on solving "who-done-it."

[pmaurer_11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Fairly typical cozy. Set in Maine, with the main character being a newspaper reporter, Lucy Stone. Good one to listen to while working out. Not hard to follow, but too many books from this author would be really boring.

[jbarr5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chocolate Covered Murder by Leslie Meier Typical New England seaside town where in a small town everybody knows everybody.She is a newspaper reporter and there's a lot going around in town during the winter.Death on the ice while ice fishing, chamber of commerce meetings how to promote the town so others will visit and celebrate Valentines Day, award to 1st and 2nd best New Englandchocolate shops-both are in town and in competition with one another, returning military man, tourists looking for a house to buy, and drug related crimes, Valentine ball to attract tourists in winter, dessert contest,Lucy continues to gain info about things going on in town to help solve the murder while doing her regular job. Some things just don't fit.Economy during this time is bad but people find thingsbeside money to pay for things to get done. Even though a lot of things are going on it is easy to keep track of everybody and what they do for a living and how they are related to.There are a lot of mysteries as murders become solved: the title makes sense.Really like this town, people and how they help one another. You just don't see that in today'ssociety is some towns. Whoever says nothing ever happens in the winter needs to read this book.I rate it a 5 out of 5.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lucy Stone is a newspaper reporter in the small town of Tinkers Cove, Maine. There's big news in town. Fern's Famous Chocolate has finally lost its long run as the best chocolate shop on the Maine Coast. A new business in town, Chanticleer Chocolates has defeated them. A body turns up in the town's frozen lake, it could or could not be foul play, but the police decide not to investigate. When a second body is discovered, covered in chocolate, a suspect is arrested, but Lucy is convinced they've accused the wrong person.Although intended as a Valentine's Day mystery, it can probably be enjoyed by fans of the series any time of the year. There's a lot more going on than meets the eye. Both the main story line and a subplot show evidence of a weak economy. We can see that the war in Afghanistan has touched the lives of those in Tinkers Cove. There's a growing problem in the area with drugs. We also see the lives of everyday people too. While I enjoyed this installment, I felt that it ended rather abruptly. It's probably a foreshadowing of things to come in future installments, but somehow, it just kind of left the reader hanging.

[lindapanzo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the newest installment in the long-running cozy mystery series featuring small-town (Maine) newspaper reporter, Lucy Stone. I've read every one of these since Meier started the series in the early 1990s. Though I'd gotten a bit bored with the series, this book and the previous one (where Lucy and friends went to London) were both excellent.This is a Valentine's Day mystery. Lots of focus on wintertime activities and chocolate (one of the victims was connected to one of the town's chocolate shops). Despite its cozy tone, however, there's also talk about the tough economy, drugs, and other current social ills.If you like cozies, you might love this one, too.