Easter Bunny Murder by Leslie Meier

In Easter Bunny Murder, Lucy Stone, reporter for the Pennysaver, is attending the annual Easter egg hunt at Pine Point, the private estate of Vivian Van Vorst (VV). She's attending with her daughter-in-law Molly and her grandson Patrick. When the three of them show up, along with many others, something is obviously wrong. The gates are locked and there are no festivities in sight. Suddenly, a staggering Easter Bunny shows up, then collapses before he reaches the gate. When resuscitation efforts begin, Lucy realizes that it's Van Vorst Duff, VV's grandson, inside the rabbit suit. Lucy immediately jumps into her reporter role to figure how what's going on. Her discoveries about what's going on at the estate include inheritances, death, neglect, and nasty relatives. All much more serious than a missed Easter egg hunt.

I enjoyed this book. It was an easy, fun read. I especially liked that, even though there are a number of other Lucy Stone books, it didn't feel like it was part of a series. It really can be read as a standalone book. A newcomer to the series can easily jump right in with this book and not feel lost. Although I have a number of Meier's books, I've only read one other.

One of my favourite parts of the book was the trial. It was interesting and gave a little edge to the coziness in the story.

Lucy Stone is a great character. I loved the descriptions of her job of reporter for a very small publication. She was always rushing around trying to get everything done; writing, reporting and investigating on top of being a mother and wife. It came across as believable.

I liked Lucy, but my favourite character was Fran, the private investigator from New York. I loved her no nonsense, straight-to-the-point, approach. Her role in the story was cut short, though. I would have loved to see her much more involved. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll leave it at that.

Favourite quotes:

Business ethics... It's not actually about right and wrong, it's about what you can get away with, without breaking any laws. (page 144)

I've also read Meier's Tippy Toe Murder (my review). I read it some time ago and I don't remember much about it, but from my very brief review, it appears that I liked it. I also have several other books by Meier on my to-be-read shelf, but haven't read them yet. That's what happens when you can buy books faster than you can read them.

Recommended. I hope to read more books by Meier.

For more information about this book, please visit the Kensington Books website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Leslie Meier's website.

Thanks to those nice people from Kensington Books for this review copy.

Easter Bunny Murder by Leslie Meier, Kensington Books, ©2013. ISBN 9780758229359(Advance uncorrected proof), 263p, includes recipes.