Novella Review: Eggnog Murder by Leslie Meier (Lucy Stone #23.5)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Interesting mystery

Cons: Pacing slowed by sub-plot that didn’t interest me

The Bottom Line:

Deadly sip of nog

Story wanders for non-fans

But fans will enjoy

Deadly Eggnog in the Newspaper Office

I know that Leslie Meier’s books are famous for being themed around various holidays, at least at the beginning of the series.  Since I pretty much know the characters from the holiday novellas that have been released, I also associate the characters with holidays.  For example, the Eggnog Murder novella was the fourth time I’d dropped into Tinker’s Cove, Maine, for Christmas.

This story involves a tragedy that takes place during the annual holiday stroll when a woman drinking eggnog in the newspaper office suddenly dies.  What was in the eggnog?  Was she the intended victim?

Since this is a novella, it really only has 100 pages to give us the story.  Even so, I found that the story meandered quite a bit before we got down to the murder.  Part of that was taken up with a sub-plot involving main character Lucy Stone’s family, but since I’m not familiar with them, it didn’t interest me that much.  The mystery did wrap up well, however.  And I’m sure fans of the series will be more invested in the sub-plots.

Those looking for some seasonal treats will be happy with the included recipe.

This story was originally the headliner in an anthology of the same name that was released back in 2016.  If you’ve read the anthology, you don’t need to pick it up again here.  But if you are a fan and have missed it, you’ll be glad you took a sip of Eggnog Murder.