Mother's Day Murder ( A Lucy Stone Mystery, #15)

By Leslie Meier
Published in 2009, 256 pages

Description:
Spring in Tinker's Cove, Maine, finds local reporter Lucy Stone wishing she were digging in her garden instead of languishing in her office at the Pennysaver newspaper. But flowerbeds will have to wait when Mother's Day rings in a feud between two neighborhood moms-and the fallout is fatal...
Two of her four kids may be out of the nest, but Lucy knows only too well that mothering is a lifetime commitment. At least she gets to kick back and enjoy a fancy Mother's Day brunch with her brood-that is, before the festivities are interrupted by a nasty scene courtesy of Barbara Hume and Tina Nowak. Opposites in every way, the only thing these mean moms have in common is the need to best each other at every turn, using their teenage daughters as pawns in elaborate games of one-upsmanship...
The hostilities only escalate when Bar and Tina team up to host an after-prom party for local teens. Lucy-persuaded to participate so she can keep an eye on her own daughter, Sara-has a front row seat for the fireworks. But even after witnessing the women's claw sharpening rituals, she never expects to see actual blood spilled-until Tina is shot dead on the public tennis court, right in front of Lucy.
Having witnessed Tina's death, Lucy naturally expects to cover it for the Pennysaver, but when her boss snatches the story, she's relegated to backing him up instead of taking the lead. It's an exercise in frustration, especially since Lucy can shake neither the image of Tina's last moments nor the suspicion that the evidence against prime suspect Bar isn't as cut and dried as it seems...

I read this book in a few days and liked it. I generally like to read a series in order but I chose to go out of order to read a Mother's Day book. I like that Leslie Meier has a book for almost every holiday.

I like Lucy Stone as the main character. The thing I like most about her is that I can relate to her as a mother. She worries about her kids, she tries to balance home and work, she doesn't know what to make for dinner and of course there is always a murder for her to solve in her free time.