August 12, 2013
The Great Recession casts its shadow over Meier’s engaging 20th Lucy Stone mystery (after Easter Bunny Murder). The day after Thanksgiving, skinflint Jacob Marlowe, who, as a partner in Downeast Mortgage, is responsible for dozens of recent foreclosures, receives a package in the mail marked “Do Not Open Till Christmas.” When Jacob tries to open it, the package explodes, killing him and destroying the Victorian mansion where he lived alone in Tinker’s Cove, Maine. Lucy Stone, a reporter for the town newspaper, has been interviewing locals in financial trouble, and is soon rehearsing for her role as Mrs. Cratchit in a community theater production of A Christmas Carol, so she hasn’t much time for sleuthing. But when a second suspicious package appears outside the Downeast Mortgage office, Lucy knows she must do what she can to stop a desperate killer. Thanks to Lucy, Jacob’s Scrooge-like partner has a change of heart at the satisfying conclusion. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.