Bake Sale Murder : A Novel

Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone"™s farmhouse, life just hasn"™t been the same. With Mimi complaining about everything from the state of Lucy"™s lawn to another neighbor"™s lovable dog, quaint Tinker"™s Cove, Maine, is now entangled in cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing. And when Mimi doesn"™t show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery: Mimi, face down on her kitchen floor"”with a knife in her back. While the police start their investigation, Lucy gets busy writing up the murder for the local Pennysaver"”and following a few leads of her own. Lucy knows the women in her neighborhood didn"™t like Mimi, but they certainly didn"™t want her dead . . . right? Could the murder have been committed by bossy Christine Cashman, an ex-marketing exec and current housewife who"™s running this year"™s bake sale like it"™s a board meeting? Or Bonnie Burkhart, the wife of the high school"™s football coach, who Mimi had actually threatened? And who is that mysterious homeless man skulking around the cemetery? Of course some people don"™t appreciate Lucy"™s snooping"”including Mimi"™s very belligerent son. But when a rock comes crashing through her living room window accompanied by a note telling her "you could be next, "� Lucy"™s more determined than ever to get to the bottom of things. . . even if it means breaking a few eggs along the way . . . Leslie Meier is the acclaimed author of twelve Lucy Stone mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen"™s Mystery Magazine. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and three children, where she is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery.