The Lucy Stone by Leslie Meier books in order are the epitome of cozy murder mysteries and contemporary comedy of manners. Her books take place in the quaint and picturesque town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine where murder is never far away, but thankfully Lucy Stone is able to sleuth her way to finding the guilty party.
As is the case with most cozy mysteries and small-town books, Lucy’s personal life is as much a part of the series as her investigations. Part of what makes these books cozy are the day-to-day details that Lucy must balance alongside her amateur sleuthing.
About Leslie Meier
Leslie Meier has a very quiet online presence and does not do very much press for her books. However, it is known that her life bears many similarities to Lucy Stone’s, except with far fewer murders.
Like her protagonist Lucy, Meier is a mother and has worked for weekly newspapers as a reporter along the coast of Maine while raising her children. While Tinker’s Cove is a fictional town, Meier lives in Cape Cod, Maine. Lucy also lives in an old farmhouse quite similar to Meier’s and as the series has progressed, their families have mirrored each other to a certain extent.
Her first published piece of fiction was in the 1980s while she was attending college. Meier was taking a required writing course with the hopes of becoming a high school English teacher when a professor told her that one of her papers was publication-worthy.
It was submitted and published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Department of First Stories. Meier received $100 for her first publication and has been writing ever since.
Her debut novel, Mistletoe Murder or Mail Order Murder depending on where it is published, hit bookstore shelves in 1991. More than 30 years later, there has been a new Leslie Meier book almost every year since.
Leslie Meier Books in Order
Lucy Stone Mystery Books
The Leslie Meier books in order encompass the Lucy Stone series, which are cozy mysteries following the titular character. Lucy Stone is a mother and newspaper reporter in the quaint, fictional town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine.
Since the books take place in a small town, there are many recurring characters and significant character development across 30 full-length novels. There are also several short stories and novellas following these beloved characters as well.
For that reason, it is best to read these books in order of publication if you intend on reading them all. With that reading order you won’t read any spoilers about books which were published earlier.
- Mistletoe Murder / Mail Order Murder (1991)
- Tippy-Toe Murder (1994)
- Trick or Treat Murder (1996)
- Back to School Murder (1997)
- Valentine Murder (1999)
- Christmas Cookie Murder (1999)
- Turkey Day Murder (2000)
- Wedding Day Murder (2001)
- Birthday Party Murder (2002)
- Father’s Day Murder (2003)
- Star Spangled Murder (2004)
- New Year’s Eve Murder (2005)
- Bake Sale Murder (2006)
- St. Patrick’s Day Murder (2008)
- Mother’s Day Murder (2009)
- Wicked Witch Murder (2010)
- English Tea Murder (2011)
- Chocolate Covered Murder (2012)
- Easter Bunny Murder (2013)
- Christmas Carol Murder (2013)
- French Pastry Murder (2014)
- Candy Corn Murder (2015)
- British Manor Murder (2016)
- Turkey Trot Murder (2017)
- Silver Anniversary Murder (2018)
- Invitation Only Murder (2019)
- Irish Parade Murder (2021)
- Easter Bonnet Murder (2022)
- Mother of the Bride Murder (2023)
- Patchwork Quilt Murder (Expected: April 23, 2024)
Anthologies
Finally, Leslie Meier has also contributed to several anthologies and collections. The stories included in the books below all fall within the Lucy Stone series. Meier frequently collaborates with other cozy mystery authors.
- Candy Cane Murder (2007)
- Gingerbread Cookie Murder (2010)
- A Winter Wonderland (2012)
- Haunted House Murder (2019)
- Christmas Sweets (2019)
- Christmas Card Murder (2020)
- Halloween Party Murder (2021)
- Haunted House Murder (2022)
- Irish Coffee Murder (2023)
- Candy Canes of Christmas Past (2023)
- Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots (2023)
- The Christmas Thief (2023)
- Easter Basket Murder (2024)
A Summary of Leslie Meier Books in Order
Again, while each Lucy Stone book contains its own investigation, there are recurring characters and significant character development throughout the course of the series. For that reason, it is best to read these books in order of publication.
Below you will find the summaries for the first ten of these Leslie Meier books in order. Spoilers have been kept to a minimum in the descriptions below, so that they can serve as a refresher for established fans or enticement for readers just finding Meier.
1. Mistletoe Murder
Lucy Stone’s schedule for Christmas is packed with baking cookies, knitting gifts, and making her daughter’s pageant costume. But on top of that, she’s also working nights at the mail-order company Country Cousins. Then she finds the company’s wealthy founder, Sam Miller, dead in his car from an apparent suicide, but something just doesn’t feel right.
She begins investigating and finds a stash of secrets as long as Santa’s Christmas Eve route. Lucy is convinced that someone murdered Sam Miller. But who and why?
2. Tippy Toe Murder
With three kids underfoot and a fourth on the way, Lucy Stone is hardly enjoying summer with its oppressive heat. But her pregnancy isn’t enough to distract her when she learns that someone has gone missing.
Tinker’s Cove is in a tizzy with the disappearance of a retired dance instructor and it quickly becomes outright terror when a grumpy shopkeeper is killed on Main Street. Lucy’s due date is quickly approaching and she is surrounded by suspects and red herrings. Only time will tell if its her water or the case that breaks first.
3. Trick or Treat Murder
Everyone is busy planning parties and ghostly galas in the lead up to Halloween. Lucy is baking themed-cupcakes, recycling tutus, ushering her son through pre-teen rebellion, and breastfeeding her newborn. But amidst the fun, something scary is going on.
An arsonist is loose and the latest fire ends up with the owner of the oldest house in Tinker’s Cove dead. Now, arson has become murder.
Trick-or-treat turns deadly as digging in all the wrong places puts Lucy too close to a shocking discovery that could send all her best-laid plans up in smoke.
4. Back to School Murder
Lucy Stone is incredibly grateful that it’s time for her kids to go back to school, but the relief doesn’t last long with trouble brewing at the local elementary school. A bomb goes off with the noon lunch bell, but with all the kids safely evacuated, the new assistant principal Carol Crane is hailed as a hero.
Then, a few days later, Carol is murdered and the most popular teacher is arrested for the crime. However, Lucy doesn’t believe the case is quite so simple, and she’s not alone. In her investigation, she’ll uncover some sizzling secrets and explosive surprises.
5. Valentine Murder
Instead of love, it seems that murder is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. Lucy has just arrived at her first board meeting for the renovated library when the librarian, Bitsy Howell, is found dead in the basement, shot only minutes before story hour was supposed to start.
Everyone assumes someone snuck in to kill her, but when Detective Lieutenant Horowitz arrives, he declares that the killer is among them. Lucy already knew that Bitsy’s big city ways rubbed some people the wrong way in Tinker’s Cove. But she thinks that the motive for her murder is something deeper.
6. Christmas Cookie Murder
The best thing about Christmas for Lucy Stone has always been the annual cookie exchange. But the usual generosity and goodwill is missing from this year’s event, and it is becoming a disaster. Rivalries and feuds that have been simmering for a long time have finally come to a boil.
Lee Cummings accuses Tucker Whitney of stealing her recipe for low-fat, sugar-free cookies. The next day Tucker is dead in her apartment. Who could’ve wanted Tucker dead badly enough to kill her?
7. Turkey Day Murder
There is a laundry list of Thanksgiving traditions and festivities in Tinker’s Cove, but this year someone has added murder to the menu. Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan has been found dead with an ancient war club next to his head and the suspect list isn’t exactly small.
Nolan had a habit of disagreeing with almost everybody he met. Lucy is already busy between planning her holiday dinner and keeping her kids out of trouble, so why not add in a little investigation? But if she’s not careful, she’ll find herself served up as the next course.
8. Wedding Day Murder
It seems impossible that Lucy Stone could fit in another responsibility with her four kids, dog, husband, and full-time job, but that is just what she does. There is a big wedding coming up and Lucy has promised her friend that she’ll help arrange the lavish event in a newly built gazebo.
But the groom, internet millionaire Ron Davitz, is getting on the nerves of the locals, especially after their boats were displaced to make room for his yacht. So when his dead body turns up floating in the harbor, Lucy doesn’t think it was an accident.
9. Birthday Party Murder
Former librarian Julia Ward Howe Tilley is about to turn 90 and Tinker’s Cove is looking forward to celebrating her birthday bash. Lucy Stone is Miss Tilley’s best friend and has excitedly planned the party, while simultaneously facing her own insecurities about aging.
Then Lucy realizes that her daughter’s fourteenth birthday party, a co-ed sleepover, may turn her hair white overnight. She doesn’t know what she was thinking, but it’s likely she was distracted by the shocking death of Sherman Cobb, the town’s oldest attorney, by apparent suicide.
But his law partner thinks it was murder, which is how Lucy ends up sifting through Sherman’s papers and finding an intriguing link between the dead man and Miss Tilley. No one can get close to Miss Tilley, however, because her niece and great-nephew insist that she’s failing. Lucy needs answers quickly, or else she and Miss Tilley may not live long enough to blow out the candles.
10. Father’s Day Murder
Lucy has an opportunity to attend a newspaper conference in Boston through her reporting job and she’s looking forward to the break from her domestic duties. But it’s not long after leaving Tinker’s Cove that Lucy begins to feel lonely. In between the workshops and panels, Lucy begins to feel terrible that she won’t be home for Father’s Day to celebrate her husband.
Her guilt trip doesn’t last long, however, when the head of a nearly bankrupt newspaper dynasty — Luther Reed — suddenly drops dead and Lucy must don her sleuthing hat. She doesn’t believe that he died from an asthma attack when the man had so many enemies. But Lucy doesn’t know if her name will end up on the byline or in an obit.
Final thoughts
The Lucy Stone by Leslie Meier books in order are fantastic reads for anyone who enjoys a cozy murder mystery. On her website, Meier says that her books have been described by a friend as comedies of manners and Meier greatly enjoys expressing her views on contemporary American life. Both descriptions of her Lucy Stone series can be true.
She depicts a quaint New England town with a close-knit community and an endearing protagonist who juggles the various demands of being a working mother while solving murders. Meier draws heavily on her own experience as a mother and reporter for weekly newspapers in Cape Cod, which lends a credibility and realism to her books.