This was a different sort of mystery--Lucy goes to NYC and helps to solve it. Different and fun. However, it seemed like all of a sudden Ms. Meier realized she only had so many pages left and had to wrap it up. A little disjointed maybe? All in all I liked it. ( )

Tinker’s Cove is having a silver anniversary celebration put on by the owners of a local wedding dress shop and chauffeur company—who happen to be the worst bickering married couple in town. While typing up a story for this, Lucy Stone receives the news that an old friend from New York has committed suicide and decides to go back to New York to visit friends there and touch base with people her friend Beth once knew. This had an interesting mystery to solve involving religious cults and more.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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Lucy Stone has lost an old friend to suicide, and she is having trouble coming to terms with it. She feels the police have made a mistake ruling the death a suicide, so she decides to spend a week in New York, chasing down four ex-husbands and deciding which one is the most likely to have pushed Beth off her balcony to her death. Though that storyline is a bit farfetched, it is quite believable compared to all the other aspects of the story that author Leslie Meier managed to insert. This cozy mystery is pretty bizarre by any standards, but especially for a Lucy Stone book. Especially disappointing is Lucy’s homelife with her husband and her kids. Bill seems rather uncaring and jealous at the same time, and the kids almost don’t exist. So many unusual things are crammed into one novel it almost seems like the author had a check list, marking them off as she wrote. This is a good series; this installment, not so much. ( )

Silver Anniversary Murder by Leslie Meier is the twenty-fifth A Lucy Stone Mystery. Lucy Stone lives in Tinker’s Cove, Maine with her husband, Bill along with two of her daughters and their dog, Libby. The town is surprised when Sylvia Bickford announces that she and her husband, Warren will renew their vows for their twenty-fifth anniversary. The nickname for the couple is the “Bickersons”. It has been turned into a town wide events called Silver Anniversary Weekend. Lucy thinks back on her wedding and her maid-of-honor, Beth Gerard. She decides to give her a call and is surprised when Dante, Beth’s son answers the phone. Lucy is shocked when Dante tells her that Beth is dead. Beth plummeted to her death from her penthouse apartment in New York City and the police have ruled it a suicide. Lucy does not believe her adventurous and full of life friend would commit suicide. Lucy rents an Airnb and heads to New York to get answers. She begins her investigation by questioning Beth’s four ex-husbands to see who had a motive. Someone is not happy with Lucy’s questions and takes desperate measures to silence her. Will Lucy make it home to Tinker’s Cove?

I have read every single book in A Lucy Stone Mystery series. I discovered the series one day in my local library and quickly devoured the series. I look forward to reading each new Lucy Stone book when they are published. It has been a pleasure to see Lucy and her family change as the years go by. Her children are now grown, but Sarah and Zoe are still living at home while they attend college. Silver Anniversary Murder is easy to read with a steady pacing, but it missed the mark for me. I can understand getting Lucy out of Tinker’s Cove (before it becomes known as murder central), but the author should have made it a girls’ weekend in the city (Lucy and her three close friends). I did enjoy learning more about Lucy’s younger years as she explored New York. Lucy did not seem like herself in Silver Anniversary Murder. Then there was a jealous Bill, the odd situation with the cult, an anxious Lucy, and the Bickersons. The mystery was light, and it was rushed at the end. The whodunit needed more work. The way it was handled at the end made it seem like the author had reached the maximum number of pages for the book and she had to wrap it quickly. I did not understand the addition of the cult to the story (nor what happened with Lucy (I am trying not to give away any of the plot). I liked that Lucy was watching one of my favorite shows Call the Midwife (I wish there were more shows like this one). My rating for Silver Anniversary Murder is 3 out of 5 stars. Silver Anniversary Murder is a book for fans of the series only. I suggest newcomers begin with Mistletoe Murder. While I was not enamored with Silver Anniversary Murder, it will not stop me from picking up the next A Lucy Stone Mystery. ( )