{"id":27623,"date":"2021-09-08T07:48:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T11:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=27623"},"modified":"2022-10-16T15:26:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T15:26:04","slug":"review-halloween-party-murder-by-leslie-meier-et-al","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/08\/review-halloween-party-murder-by-leslie-meier-et-al\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \ud83d\udd0d Halloween Party Murder by Leslie Meier et al&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-27623\" data-postid=\"27623\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-27623 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"341\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al.jpg?resize=341%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-29283\" title=\"halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al\" alt=\"halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al.jpg?w=341&amp;ssl=1 341w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al.jpg?resize=205%2C300&amp;ssl=1 205w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier-et-al.jpg?resize=400%2C586&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"a-text-bold\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">HALLOWEEN PARTY MURDER by LESLIE MEIER<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Tinker\u2019s Cove newest residents Ty and Heather Moon turn their Victorian home into a haunted house to raise funds for charity. But when Heather overdoses on tainted drugs and Ty finds himself accused of murder, journalist Lucy Stone uncovers some sinister secrets in the Moons\u2019 past linked to a conspiracy in her hometown . . .<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/><span class=\"a-text-bold\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">DEATH OF A HALLOWEEN PARTY MONSTER by LEE HOLLIS<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Everyone attending\u00a0<span class=\"a-text-italic\">Island Times<\/span>\u00a0Food and Cocktail columnist Hayley Powell\u2019s Halloween bash is dressed as their favorite movie monster. But when partygoers stumble upon Boris Candy\u2019s bludgeoned costumed corpse, it falls to Hayley to discover who among her guests wanted to stop the man from clowning around permanently . . .<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/><span class=\"a-text-bold\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">SCARED OFF by BARBARA ROSS<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard\u2014dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must unmask the killer behind such a murderous trick . . .<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25879 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-top-pick-banner-1-2.png?resize=296%2C72&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Aug 31, 2021<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Kensington<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Kensington Cozies<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $6.99<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>This book is actually a collection of three novellas: <strong>\u00a0Halloween Party Murder<\/strong> by <strong><em>Leslie Meier<\/em><\/strong>, <strong>Death of a Halloween Party Monster <\/strong>by <strong><em>Lee Hollis<\/em><\/strong> and <strong>Scared Off<\/strong> by <strong><em>Barbara Ross<\/em><\/strong>. The three stories go well together. All three are set in a small town in Maine and involve a Halloween party. All can be considered cozy stories with the crimes solved by a female, amateur sleuth. I enjoyed all three stories and overall, this is an excellent collection of short mysteries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>I\u2019m most familiar with <em><strong>Leslie Meier\u2019s<\/strong> Lucy Stone<\/em> series and really liked <strong>Halloween Party Murder<\/strong>. Lucy is a part-time reporter for a local newspaper and her husband is in construction. Their neighbors own a large old house they want to have renovated, but offer their home for a charity Halloween party before the upgrades are made since it looks like a haunted house. There is a lot of fake blood and gore for the party in several rooms as part of the haunted house displays to add to the party atmosphere. Then Lucy comes across a real-life scene that is anything but fun and learns you can\u2019t really judge situations by appearances. There are a lot of serious subject packed into the novella, including drug dealing, drug addiction, abuse of women, and local politics, but at the heart it is a murder mystery with enough clues to help the reader solve the case right along with Lucy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>I have read a few novellas by <em><strong>Lee Hollis<\/strong><\/em>, but am not that familiar with the characters in <strong>Death of a Halloween Party Monster.<\/strong> Hayley Powell is hosting a Halloween party at the restaurant she recently opened. It\u2019s a costume party with guests dressing like fictional movie monsters. As the party is wrapping up, one of Hailey\u2019s best friends discovers a dead body. The solution was satisfying but not very surprising. Hayley also writes humorous columns about her life and includes recipes. The articles for her column tend to be somewhat rambling and don\u2019t add much to the main plot. However, they are entertaining and the recipes sound good enough that I want to try a couple of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>My favorite story of the three is<strong> Scared Off. <\/strong>Julia Snowden gets a call on Halloween night from her niece Page. Page goes to what she thought would be a quiet sleepover with a couple friends, but it turns into a rowdy party. The girls claim to have seen the ghost of an upstairs tenant, shortly before the woman\u2019s body is found. Unlike in some cozies, Julia works well with the officers who are officially assigned to the case. This story is very engaging with an intricate and interesting plot, especially considering this is a novella and not a full-length book. I couldn\u2019t wait to find out what would happen next and I was kept guessing as to the identity of the murderer. After reading this story, I am definitely interested in reading more by <em><strong>Barbara Ross<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3s4RmUc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3CFCP6j\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier\/1138397768?ean=9781496733849\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/halloween-party-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Leslie_Meier_Halloween_Party_Murder?id=Td0MEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HALLOWEEN PARTY MURDER by LESLIE MEIERTinker\u2019s Cove newest residents Ty and Heather Moon turn their Victorian home into a haunted house to raise funds for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,110,48],"tags":[153,223,367,404,405,485],"class_list":["post-27623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christine","category-kensington-publishing-companies","category-reviews","tag-4-5-stars","tag-cozy-mystery","tag-mystery","tag-recommend","tag-recommended-reads","tag-top-picks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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But when Heather overdoses on tainted drugs and Ty finds himself accused of murder, journalist Lucy Stone uncovers some sinister secrets in the Moons\u2019 past linked to a conspiracy in her hometown . . .<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>DEATH OF A HALLOWEEN PARTY MONSTER by LEE HOLLIS<br \/>Everyone attending\u00a0Island Times\u00a0Food and Cocktail columnist Hayley Powell\u2019s Halloween bash is dressed as their favorite movie monster. But when partygoers stumble upon Boris Candy\u2019s bludgeoned costumed corpse, it falls to Hayley to discover who among her guests wanted to stop the man from clowning around permanently . . .<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>SCARED OFF by BARBARA ROSS<br \/>Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard\u2014dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must unmask the killer behind such a murderous trick . . .<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-top-pick-banner-1-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p> <hr \/> <p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Aug 31, 2021<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Kensington<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Kensington Cozies<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $6.99<\/p> <hr \/> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>This book is actually a collection of three novellas: <strong>\u00a0Halloween Party Murder<\/strong> by <strong><em>Leslie Meier<\/em><\/strong>, <strong>Death of a Halloween Party Monster <\/strong>by <strong><em>Lee Hollis<\/em><\/strong> and <strong>Scared Off<\/strong> by <strong><em>Barbara Ross<\/em><\/strong>. The three stories go well together. All three are set in a small town in Maine and involve a Halloween party. All can be considered cozy stories with the crimes solved by a female, amateur sleuth. I enjoyed all three stories and overall, this is an excellent collection of short mysteries.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>I\u2019m most familiar with <em><strong>Leslie Meier\u2019s<\/strong> Lucy Stone<\/em> series and really liked <strong>Halloween Party Murder<\/strong>. Lucy is a part-time reporter for a local newspaper and her husband is in construction. Their neighbors own a large old house they want to have renovated, but offer their home for a charity Halloween party before the upgrades are made since it looks like a haunted house. There is a lot of fake blood and gore for the party in several rooms as part of the haunted house displays to add to the party atmosphere. Then Lucy comes across a real-life scene that is anything but fun and learns you can\u2019t really judge situations by appearances. There are a lot of serious subject packed into the novella, including drug dealing, drug addiction, abuse of women, and local politics, but at the heart it is a murder mystery with enough clues to help the reader solve the case right along with Lucy.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>I have read a few novellas by <em><strong>Lee Hollis<\/strong><\/em>, but am not that familiar with the characters in <strong>Death of a Halloween Party Monster.<\/strong> Hayley Powell is hosting a Halloween party at the restaurant she recently opened. It\u2019s a costume party with guests dressing like fictional movie monsters. As the party is wrapping up, one of Hailey\u2019s best friends discovers a dead body. The solution was satisfying but not very surprising. Hayley also writes humorous columns about her life and includes recipes. The articles for her column tend to be somewhat rambling and don\u2019t add much to the main plot. However, they are entertaining and the recipes sound good enough that I want to try a couple of them.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><br \/>My favorite story of the three is<strong> Scared Off. <\/strong>Julia Snowden gets a call on Halloween night from her niece Page. Page goes to what she thought would be a quiet sleepover with a couple friends, but it turns into a rowdy party. The girls claim to have seen the ghost of an upstairs tenant, shortly before the woman\u2019s body is found. Unlike in some cozies, Julia works well with the officers who are officially assigned to the case. This story is very engaging with an intricate and interesting plot, especially considering this is a novella and not a full-length book. I couldn\u2019t wait to find out what would happen next and I was kept guessing as to the identity of the murderer. After reading this story, I am definitely interested in reading more by <em><strong>Barbara Ross<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3s4RmUc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3CFCP6j\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/halloween-party-murder-leslie-meier\/1138397768?ean=9781496733849\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/halloween-party-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Leslie_Meier_Halloween_Party_Murder?id=Td0MEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27623"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29287,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27623\/revisions\/29287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}