Mistletoe Murder

A Lucy Stone Mystery, Book 1

By: Leslie Meier

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

As if baking holiday cookies, knitting a sweater for her husband, and making her daughter’s angel costume for the church pageant weren’t enough things for Lucy Stone’s busy Christmas schedule, she’s also working nights at the famous mail-order company Country Cousins. But when she discovers Sam Miller, its very wealthy founder, dead in his car from an apparent suicide, the sleuth in her knows something just doesn’t smell right.

Taking time out from her hectic holiday life to find out what really happened, her investigation leads to a backlog of secrets as long as Santa’s Christmas Eve route. Lucy is convinced that someone murdered Sam Miller. But who and why? With each harrowing twist she uncovers in this bizarre case, another shocking revelation is exposed. Now, as Christmas draws near and Lucy gets dangerously closer to the truth, she’s about to receive a present from Santa she didn’t ask for - a killer who won’t be satisfied until everyone on his shopping list is dead, including Lucy herself....

©2012 Leslie Meier (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

5 stars

Mistletoe Murder is an entertaining cozy mystery with engaging characters and an entertaining plot. I look forward to the next one.

slower than I expected

The reader was fine, but the story was a little blah for my taste. I prefer more excitement, emotion, drama, etc.

So-So Story

I guess I should have taken into account when this was written. I felt like I was listening to Rose from The Golden Girls tell a story about St. Oloff. It was overly simple and a bit boring and dated (hence the copywrite date). I kept falling asleep. It may be great for others...just not my style.

Mistletoe Murder

This book was entertaining and I'm intrigued to listened to more books in the series.

Good but a little cringy

The story was good but there were some cringy moments. I didn’t like how the protagonist seemed to let her husband lead her life and I wasn’t sure if some things were meant to be funny or serious on that end. I see that this book is pretty old, so there’s some things you just don’t say anymore that are again pretty cringeworthy in the book.

Blatant sexism, cultural appropriation and insensitive language, oh my!

Absolutely terrible. If you like vomit-inducing, worn out old sexist stereotypes, mockery of Native culture and calling people “retarded” - in 2020 somehow we’re still using this language??- than this book is for you! I stopped listening so many times after something offensive and then kept giving it a try only to have something even more offensive pop right back up. Just awful. Also the worst narrator I’ve ever heard, sounds like a robot reading a script.

Reflects a time, place and culture at Christmas

I've been on a Christmas mystery binge and enjoyed this one, which accurately reflects a time, place and segment of society, whether you like it or not...it's real. The main character is endearing, and life is practical as it can be, especially at Christmas. Probably 3.5 but gave it a 4. I just missed what happened to her new boss, though.

It’s okay

Don’t care for spouse he is too self involved. All he cares about is marital relations all day and night

Really? That's the plot?

I'm not very picky about my murder mysteries but this one was not very good. The plot was just weird. Trying not to do spoilers but the narrator knew important facts and someone shot at her but it never occurred to her to tell the police? She just blurted out to people that she thought they were the killer, while with them in an enclosed space? The killer planned to do so someone in by unhooking a piece of medical equipment that had nothing to do with their survival? The big solving clue was an interpretation of a piece of art made by a person now dead? The book was just a series of events that were so odd that it was not possible to suspend disbelief. The only enjoyment came from wondering what completely disconnected thing the author would throw in next.

Yikes

Not even it’s 1989 creation and 1991 original publication can explain WHY ON ESRTH this was ever picked up by a publisher, let Akon how this author went on to become a career storyteller. Seriously, this book should be taught in schools as an example of what happens when not a single story component is flushed out exempt how to make and slice a turkey sandwich. Add in hating fat, skinny, pretty ugly, rich, poor, indigenous, old, young, educated, uneducated, and sexually active people all at the same time somehow (seriously, wtf was this author going through when she wrote this!?) and I guess you’ve got this book. It seriously sounds like it was written by someone in middle school and for a while I second guessed myself and felt bad for hating on what was clearly a child savant’s first attempt at a novel, but nope! Oh and apparently it’s totally normal to think that your 10-year-old son just off-handed Ly strangled hit cat and that’s not the only random descriptive animal death with no plot ties so….reader be ware!