Haunted House Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #25.7) By Leslie Meier
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Tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirit alive in coastal Maine. But this year the haunted house theme is getting carried a little too far . . .
HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER by LESLIE MEIER
Newcomers to Tinker’s Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it’s up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.
DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE by LEE HOLLIS
For the past two years, the house next door to Hayley Powell has sat abandoned after the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The Salinger family has recently taken possession of the property, but the realtor behind the deal has vanished—after a very public and angry argument with Damien Salinger. If Bar Harbor’s newest neighbors are murderers, Hayley will haunt them until they confess.
HALLOWED OUT by BARBARA ROSS
With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman’s Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. But when a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster’s murder ends with a literal bang and a dead actor from New Jersey, Julia Snowden must identify a killer before she ends up sleeping with the fishes.
There’s nothing like home sweet home in this trio of Halloween tales . . . Haunted House Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #25.7)
So begins the 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓮 of 🅷🅰🅻🅻🅾🆆🅴🅴🅽 cozy mystery releases. 🎃👻 I seriously 🅛🅞🅥🅔 holiday themed cozy mysteries, so to say I was 𝕖𝕩𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕕 to dive into this one would be an υη∂εяsтαтεмεηт! 🙌
ℍ𝔸𝕌ℕ𝕋𝔼𝔻 ℍ𝕆𝕌𝕊𝔼 𝕄𝕌ℝ𝔻𝔼ℝ by 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓮 𝓜𝓮𝓲𝓮𝓻 👻
🌟🌟 - I think I only read one other 🅜🅨🅢🅣🅔🅡🅨 by this author and I had the sᴀᴍᴇ ɪssᴜᴇ with that one as I did with this one. 👎 🅻🆄🅲🆈 😈 She is a seriously Ʉ₦Ⱡł₭₳฿ⱠɆ character. 😠 Nosey. Judgmental. B!tchy. In fact, this 𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖔𝖜𝖓 is the reason I will never live in a small town again. 🔪 The other issue I had with this one is that it had NOTHING to do with a haunted house OR a murder!!! 👀 Considering the 🅣🅘🅣🅛🅔 🅞🅕 🅣🅗🅘🅢 🅢🅣🅞🅡🅨, it left me scratching my head...😳
𝔻𝔼𝔸𝕋ℍ 𝔹𝕐 ℍ𝔸𝕌ℕ𝕋𝔼𝔻 ℍ𝕆𝕌𝕊𝔼 by 𝓛𝓮𝓮 𝓗𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓼 👻
🌟🌟🌟 - I 🅔🅝🅙🅞🅨🅔🅓 this story more than the previous. 🙌 Although, again, we got a rather Ʉ₦Ⱡł₭₳฿ⱠɆ main female character. 😠 🅷🅰🆈🅻🅴🆈 was a complete harpy and b҉u҉z҉z҉k҉i҉l҉l҉ (IMO). 🔪 However, I LOVED 🅳🅰🅽🅽🆈. 😂 He didn't walk around with a 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓾𝓹 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪$$ like 🅷🅰🆈🅻🅴🆈. 🌂 The story itself was also єиנσуαвℓє. 👍 It reminded me a little of that 1̲9̲8̲0̲s̲ move ŤĤĔ βÚŔβŚ. 👀 Also, as a bonus we get ⓣⓗⓡⓔⓔ yummy sounding recipes. 🍴
ℍ𝔸𝕃𝕃𝕆𝕎𝔼𝔻 𝕆𝕌𝕋 by 𝓑𝓪𝓻𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓪 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓼 🎃
🌟🌟🌟🌟 - This was my 🅵🅰🆅🅾🆁🅸🆃🅴 story out of the three. 🙌 A haunted ₲ⱧØ₴₮ tour setting. 👻 A good 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖉𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖎𝖙 mystery. 😲 A 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮 cast of characters. 👤👤👤 Plus a bonus recipe for 🅟🅤🅜🅟🅚🅘🅝 🅑🅡🅔🅐🅓 (yum). 🎃 What more can you ask for? 👍👍
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Mystery Thrillers A fun collection of three Halloween stories perfect to get you in a spooky mood! In “Haunted House Murder” Lucy Stone is trying to figure out what’s going on when a spooky house in town is bought by a strange reclusive couple. Also, her grandson comes to stay for a few months. 5 bats in the Halloween Spooktacular department and this one had “Death by Haunted House” had some delicious recipes, yum for that cheesy casserole! And all three stories featured wonderful Halloween tales of Down East Maine. A delightful short story collection perfect for getting in a fall mood!Mystery Thrillers The book is a collection of three novellas, written by three different authors. I've read one book each by two of them, and eventually, I will read their entire series. Today's review will be solely focused on Hallowed Out by Barbara Ross, an in-between book in her Maine Clambake series. I have read most of the other books she's written, and I needed to get fully caught up before the latest release, so I borrowed this from the library. Eventually I will get a copy and read the others when I hit that point in their series.
Julia's hijacked to help with putting on a tour of haunted houses. She agrees to it, only to protect her mother from having to participate. But when the fake scene turns real, and the lead actor is actually shot, she needs to figure out which audience member shot him. As we learn about his past, the autumn scenery draws readers in to the beauty of Maine. This is a great way to experience the author's style without committing more than an hour. Very fast-paced for a cozy too.
It was a fun one. It has just enough meat with a bit of fluff, and in the end, it's the kind of tale that leaves you happy. Definitely read them in order because different character relationships are covered. It's the end of clambake season, so you might get confused if you were just reading about a different time in the last book! LOL
Will add more to this review after I catch up with the other 2 series and can summarize my thoughts on these novellas too. Mystery Thrillers This collection of three novellas focuses on Halloween. The book opens with the title story featuring Leslie Meier’s protagonist Lucy Stone. A couple has moved into the old abandoned house in town, but they are rebuffing efforts from Lucy and others to welcome them to town. Then strange things start happening and rumors start flying. What is happening? Up next is “Death by Haunted House” by Lee Hollis which takes up back to 2009 and shows us what life was like for Hayley Powell while she was married. When the house next door, which is rumored to be haunted, gets a new family, Hayley’s husband Danny is certain that they are up to something. The discovery of a dead body in the nearby woods just confirms his theory – at least to himself. Is he right? Finally comes “Hallowed Out” from Barbara Ross. The local Haunted House tour is gearing up for Halloween, trying to bring some more people to town in the fall. However, when a reenactment of a crime leaves an actor dead, Julia Snowden must figure out what happened.
As you might expect in a collection of stories by various authors, some are stronger than others. Personally, I found the opening story to be the weakest – I think it might have worked as a short story, but even as a novella is was too long. The middle story was better, with some fun scenes and a good twist to the mystery. I adore Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake mysteries, so it was the reason I picked up the book. It also means I found the third story to be the best, with some good twists and a very fun sub-plot. While each story has plenty of fall atmosphere, these stories aren’t that spooky – they are by cozy mystery authors after all. Still, fans of these authors will enjoy picking up the book.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers. Mystery Thrillers I love the Christmas theme cozy mystery novellas that come out every holiday season. This year, I spied this one -- Halloween theme! Oh yeah -- gotta read it! :) It was not a difficult decision. Pretty much instantaneous.
Haunted House Murder gathers 3 cozy short mysteries: Haunted House Murder featuring Lucy Stone; Death by Haunted House, featuring characters from the Food & Cocktails series; and, Hallowed Out, an addition to the Main Clambake Mystery series. While I have read some of the Lucy Stone books, the Food & Cocktail and Maine Clambake series were both new to me. After reading these novellas, I'm going to check out both of those series. I liked the characters, the plot/writing style, and the mysteries were entertaining. My favorite of the was Hallowed Out. At first I thought a seafood themed cozy might be a bit weird....but the characters are quirky and fun and I enjoyed the story. :)
All in all, a fun Halloween theme cozy story collection. A quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed! I will be checking out more from all 3 authors!
**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** Mystery Thrillers
It was irritating that the men in the first two were such useless idiots. Why are these women with them? Mystery Thrillers I so enjoyed this book! I like cozy mysteries. I like holiday and seasonally-themed books. I like novellas. Haunted House Murder is all three wrapped into one wonderful anthology! The pacing is spot-on and the writing by all three authors is superb.
Haunted House Murder starts out strong with a delightful Lucy Stone mystery by remarkable author Leslie Meier. Someone has moved into the old dilapidated Victorian by the elementary school. The new homeowners' behaviors are mysterious and downright frightening at times. Leave it to Lucy to unravel the haunting mystery.
Death by Haunted House by talented author Lee Hollis carries on the Halloween theme. An old house has sat abandoned for years after the previous owner met a mysterious death. A new family has moved in and the real estate agent that helped broker the deal has vanished inexplicably. Hayley Powell takes it upon herself to solve the mysteries surrounding this seemingly malevolent home.
Hallowed Out is an enjoyable Halloween novella by entertaining author Barbara Ross. There has been rumblings for years that Busman's Harbor is haunted. What better way to capitalize on these rumors than a haunted house tour and ghastly re-eneactments in October? It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt....or murdered, I should say. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages. Mystery Thrillers 2.5 stars. It's difficult to rate a book that is actually 3 novellas, when I have different opinions on each.
The first 2 stories had a lot of similarities. Both were about a family moving into a house that the local people regarded as haunted. And in both, the new people were extremely unfriendly. The main characters are not very likeable, either. Lucy, in Haunted House Murder, was pushy, especially when she tried to welcome the new people. She continued to pester them, even when it was clear that they didn't want her around. Lucy's family was horrible; her children were rude, and her husband selfish and unhelpful. This was the only story of the three that had the word murder in the title, and the only one that didn't have a murder.
Hayley, in story 2, was also pushy, but nothing compared to her husband, Danny. I had trouble accepting him as an adult; to me, he talked and acted like he should have been Hayley's teenaged brother, or even her son.
Hallowed Out, the 3rd story, was good, a regular mystery with a murder and lots of suspects. Julia, the main character, does get too involved in trying to solve things, but she is smart enough to notify the police when she learns something. I may look for more books in this series.
It's the last story that gave the extra half star to my rating. Mystery Thrillers This was a fun Halloween book to read. I enjoyed all 3 stories and one of these days I will start the Hayley Powell series. Mystery Thrillers Halloween is coming, but everyone in Tinker’s Cove is talking about the old, abandoned house in town. While it looks run down from the outside, someone has bought it and moved in during the middle of the night. However, they aren’t very friendly, rebuffing Lucy’s and other’s attempts to welcome them to town. Then the rumors start flying and strange events start happening. What is really going on in this house?
I know that the Lucy Stone series is extremely popular, but I struggle to get through the stories I have read. Part of it is Lucy’s family. I haven’t spent enough time with them to look past their faults and love them, I guess. And, let’s face it, that is often what we have to do with people in real life. In this case, I found the story to be better suited to a short story than even a novella. It’s not bad, but it felt drawn out and a little forced.
NOTE: This story is a novella, roughly 100 pages, and was originally part of the novella collection Haunted House Murder. If you have that book, there is no need to buy this ebook. If you haven’t read the story, now is the time consider this Halloween trip to Maine.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers. Mystery Thrillers