Scan barcode
A review by katiewrites
Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier
3.0
I flew through this book. The characters pulled me in and held me there, giving me a tour of their lives and getting me excited and nostalgic for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Honestly, the concept of a Thanksgiving mystery is unique, but the way Meier wrote it, it feels obvious. It makes me wonder why more people don’t tackle this theme of family stress and the painful aspects of American history in more mysteries.
Mild Spoilers begin here, though I don’t give away who did it.
The reason I give it three stars is because there wasn’t as much mystery as I was hoping for. The murder doesn’t even occur until over halfway through the book, and it didn’t feel like Lucy really SOLVED the mystery by the end. I did appreciate the time she took to look at how the victim’s death affected the community and those close to him, something that has always kinda bothered me about other murder mysteries. Lucy felt bad for his death, even teared up over it even though she didn’t know him that well. Still, I’d think of this more as a thriller than a mystery, but I know others would disagree with me and I’m okay with that. I will admit, one of the red herrings had me convinced.
The biggest things that pulled me out of the story while I read it were the occasional typos I saw (I was reading an older edition, so maybe those have been fixed in other releases), and how much of a jerk Bill was sometimes. He wasn’t very sympathetic to Lucy at all, and he served more as an obstacle than support for her. Makes me kinda wish Lucy would leave him for some dashing detective, but maybe reading other books in the series where he’s in it more would convince me otherwise.
Overall, it is a cozy book that attempts to be as inclusive and empathetic to Native American cultures as possible, and is relatable for the holiday stress. The mystery is intriguing, the characters are lively and lovable, and the world felt alive and familiar. I’d like to visit it again in other books; I’m just hoping there is a bit more mystery in the other installments.
Mild Spoilers begin here, though I don’t give away who did it.
The reason I give it three stars is because there wasn’t as much mystery as I was hoping for. The murder doesn’t even occur until over halfway through the book, and it didn’t feel like Lucy really SOLVED the mystery by the end. I did appreciate the time she took to look at how the victim’s death affected the community and those close to him, something that has always kinda bothered me about other murder mysteries. Lucy felt bad for his death, even teared up over it even though she didn’t know him that well. Still, I’d think of this more as a thriller than a mystery, but I know others would disagree with me and I’m okay with that. I will admit, one of the red herrings had me convinced.
The biggest things that pulled me out of the story while I read it were the occasional typos I saw (I was reading an older edition, so maybe those have been fixed in other releases), and how much of a jerk Bill was sometimes. He wasn’t very sympathetic to Lucy at all, and he served more as an obstacle than support for her. Makes me kinda wish Lucy would leave him for some dashing detective, but maybe reading other books in the series where he’s in it more would convince me otherwise.
Overall, it is a cozy book that attempts to be as inclusive and empathetic to Native American cultures as possible, and is relatable for the holiday stress. The mystery is intriguing, the characters are lively and lovable, and the world felt alive and familiar. I’d like to visit it again in other books; I’m just hoping there is a bit more mystery in the other installments.