Wicked Witch Murder by Leslie Meier

Lucy Stone has got a lot on her plate. What with the annual Halloween party, her job as a reporter, and her four children, she's already got a lot going on. And then Diana Ravenscroft shows up in Tinker's Cove, Maine and things start to get a bit spooky. Diana, a self-proclaimed witch, is met with more than just skepticism in the town. And after Lucy finds a dead body in the woods, more and more people, including a prominent businessman, turn against her. Is Diana's witchcraft the reason for the alarming weather patterns and mysterious murder, or is there more evil at work here?

Wicked Witch Murder is number 16 in the Lucy Stone mysteries by Leslie Meier. I haven't read any of the other Lucy Stone books, but I have to say that I really liked this one. While I'm not usually one for mysteries, I tend to read a handful of them around October and through Halloween. This was a very nice cozy mystery with a contemporary protagonist who really could have been a neighbor you'd want to have coffee with. Meier set a good pace for the novel; it wasn't edge-of-your-seat thriller, but it was very comfortable and did keep me interested. This climax seemed rather short-lived; I think I was expecting it to be a bit more drawn-out. That was really my only complaint, though. Lucy Stone is a character I would keep up with through the series, she'd easily become as familiar as an old friend. This book is perfect for a rainy fall afternoon.

3.5 out of 5 stars.