By the time the murder is discovered, there has been so much character development and scene setting that readers probably won't care who the victim is or who did it. When the murderer was identified, I wished he had done in Lucy Stone first. The author did elicit a faint smile when Stone serves a turkey that had fallen on the kitchen floor. This book is as awful as the Thanksgiving meal the heroine serves her boring guests.

Writer/mother/detective Lucy Stone is busy working on interesting news stories, when one falls right into her lap. The death of Metinnicut Indian activist, Curt Nolan. Murdered with a war club. At least that's what was found in his head. Soon Lucy is investigating what seems like thousands of suspects, whom all had something against Curt, a person who seemed to make enemies wherever he went. While it seems easy enough to add a little investigating to her list of chores, it's not as easy as Lucy thinks. Especially since she could be the next to die.

I enjoyed the Lucy Stone Christmas mysteries. But this one just didn't do it for me. I feel that the novel was slow-moving, and at times, downright boring. I hope that my next Lucy Stone mystery is better than this one.

Leslie Meier is an inspirational author. Turkey Day Murder is, in one word, delightful. The plot of this story in Tinker Cove, Maine proves to be innovating. It's a page-turner at its best. What I want to know, and hopefully one of Leslie Meier's readers can help me, is when Leslie Meier's next mystery arrives in bookstores. I haven't heard anything since Turkey Day Murder. I'm worried. Leslie Meier is simply the best mystery writer of all. I hope she hasn't stopped writing...

I'm reviewing this mystery with formidable words because I cannot believe in a profession not noted for high survival rates, that a publishing industry would consider a work of this kind. There are lots of struggling writers, myself included, whom have better writing skills than writers who, unfortunatley, are in print today. I have never read any of Leslie Meier's mysteries until Father's Day Murder, which I have to say is an extremely dreadful read. I could not finish it, as I was bored. I was disgusted, rolling my eyes half-way through the book, when I stopped reading and closed it. The characters are unmoved and one-dimensional. There are many pages where the author focuses on how the protagonist feels about her family, for example, which doesn't advance the plot of the story. In Chapter Eleven, for example, when Lucy Stone is in her hotel room, the author writes for two pages about Stone's heartburn problem and reminiscing about her family's squabble back home, primarily Kudo's (the family dog) trouble with a neighbor. Who cares?! Moreover, what made me laugh out loud in Chapter Twelve was the fact that Stone went to a coffee shop the next day and ordered a cup of coffee! The author writes that too much coffee was the problem to Stone's heartburn. What is Stone doing in a coffee shop? Nevertheless, the author's description of things, like the blueberry muffin, for example, in Chapter Twelve, is irrelevent to the story. Who cares if the blueberry muffin is artifical? How does this advance the plot and keep readers interested? Actually, Chapter Twelve is where I stopped reading, as I couldn't stomach anymore. I write this review because I care, like all readers do, in the quality of writing. We expect when we pick up a book that it will pique our interest. Unfortunately, Father's Day Murder was nothing if not dull.

Tinker's Cove is a small Maine hamlet that has a very well established and well written newspaper the Pennysaver that has just been named "Community Newspaper of the Year" in Category five by the Trask Trust for Journalism in the Public Interest". The trust issues grants to the publisher Ted Stilling and investigate reporter Lucy Stone to attend the Northeast Newspaper Association conference in Boston.

Even though Lucy feels guilty about deserting her husband, four children and her dog, she decides to go to the conference where she meets various members of the Read family. They own the Pioneer Press group, which has newspapers all over the northeast. The head of the conglomerate, Luther Read was going to sell out to a bigger company but changed his mind much to the consternation of some family members. When he is killed, his son Junior is arrested for murder but Lucy, who knows him from Tinker's Cove, is positive he's innocent and sets out to prove it, a task that could get her killed if she's not careful.

The latest installment in the Lucy Stone mysteries is fast paced, exciting and very colorful. Readers are taken on a scenic tour of Boston and given special insight into how the heroine's mind works when she is on the trail of a story. FATHER'S DAY MURDER is the funniest novel in the series as Lucy frets herself into a tizzy worrying about her family who she believes can't function without her. Leslie Meier's latest cozy is the perfect mystery to read when one wants to be entertained.

Harriet Klausner