Lucy Stone #38
Leslie Meier’s 38th addition to her Lucy Stone Mystery series is Mother of the Bride Murder. Lucy’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is going to have an extravagant wedding in France and the entire family is invited. Lucy is excited at the prospect of not only her eldest daughter getting married, but also of having an excuse to get her entire family together. There are several obstacles facing different members of the family, from financial constraints to just worrying about not fitting in with another culture.
Through determination, luck, and the all-powerful weapon of mom-guilt Lucy manages to get all her children and her husband to commit to attending the wedding. They are surprised to learn that Elizabeth’s husband to be, Jean Luc, is a member of the French noble family Schoen-Rene. This includes not just a title, but also a very fancy château. The Stone family is dazzled and a little intimidated by the sheer extravagance of their accommodations and the fairytale life that Elizabeth seems about to marry into.
But everything is far from perfect when a body turns up in the moat of the château. Owner and father of the groom, Hugo, is horrified at the discovery and asks Lucy to be present with him as they talk with local police, as it was her family that discovered the body. However, mother of the groom, Marie-Laure, seems intent on just dismissing the body of the poor woman as nothing but an unfortunate suicide. Even the police seem reluctant to even consider murder when Lucy suggests it. After that, Lucy cannot help but start to poke around the chateau grounds to try and uncover what could have led to the death of the young woman.
Lucy’s son, Toby, while reluctant and a little resentful of her inability to let things go, helps her to uncover some evidence. Trying to figure out who the victim is, and how she got there, leads them to looking into the Schoen-Rene family and how they run their hotel. Elizabeth’s future family has far more problems and secrets then they let on, and poor Elizabeth is kept nearly completely in the dark. In order to solve the mysteries, Lucy has to uncover more than her future in-laws are comfortable with sharing.
Mother of the Bride Murder is filled with surprises and secrets, and yet also focuses on Lucy trying to live her life and make the most of the impromptu family reunion. Readers will enjoy seeing Lucy’s family dynamics at play and seeing how she scratches away the polish of the seemingly idyllic Schoen-Rene family. Secrets never stay secret for long, especially with someone like Lucy about. To protect her daughter and family, she isn’t afraid to air anyone’s proverbial dirty laundry before the authorities. When told not to investigate things, she digs, when told the local authorities might not be exactly clean, she finds another authority figure to report to instead. Her determination and perseverance bring Mother of the Bride Murder to an exciting conclusion. Anyone who enjoys a cozy that focuses on family dynamics and interactions will enjoy this addition to Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone Mystery series. – Carla Schantz
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Carla Schantz is a Courthouse Clerk Supervisor and has a bachelor’s degree in English as well as a master’s in legal studies. Books have been a passion of hers since she was young, and she is a firm believer in the purse book so that she is never without a book at any time.