Heavy handed hints give the mystery away
I very much enjoyed Mistletoe Murder and Tippy Toe Murder, so happily settled down to read this mystery, armed with a free afternoon and a cup of coffee. That is the best way to read Ms Meier's books--a cozy afternoon and a cozy book.

By the time the bomb went off, somewhere around page 5, I had figured out who had set it and why. It seemed too obvious, so I checked the end of the book, and I was right. The hints (which I will not reveal, because it might not be obvious to some readers) were glaringly heavy-handed--not really hints at all.

I stopped reading, my cozy afternoon coming to a premature end. I am not usually particularly adept at guessing who did it, so this book must have been extraordinarily obvious.

The author is, however, at two successes to one failure, so I plan to keep reading.

The start of this adventure is a real blast - a high noon bomb blast at the grade school Lucy's daughter Sara attends. Luckily all the children escape injury including one who is rescued in the nick of time by assistant principal, Carol Crane. But within a couple of chapters she is rewarded for her heroism by being murdered. So, who done it? Was it Mr. Mopps, the school janitor, the high school science teacher, Lucy's night school English professor, or the sleazy minister? As usual Lucy is convinced the wrong person has been arrested for the murder and so she sets out to solve the crime herself.

Two complications to Lucy's solving the crime as well as being able to meet her husband's demands for having dinner on the table at six sharp each day have been added in this book. First, she has become a part-time working mother (at the Pennysaver weekly newspaper) and second she has returned to college. But we all know that this won't stop her from discovering the identity of the murderer at the end of this very enjoyable book. Only this time I was at least a chapter or several pages ahead of her sleuthing abilities.

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