In this 29th book in the 'Lucy Stone' series, the journalist/amateur sleuth travels to France for her daughter's wedding. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
Lucy Stone, who lives in Tinker's Cove, Maine, is a wife, mother, and reporter for the local Courier newspaper.
Lucy and her husband Bill are empty nesters, with four grown children, from oldest to youngest: Toby, Elizabeth, Sara, and Zoe.
Toby is an environmentalist who lives in Alaska with his wife Molly and preteen son Patrick;
Elizabeth works as a concierge in a luxury hotel in Paris;
Sara is employed at the Museum of Science in Boston;
and Zoe works for the Sea Dogs baseball team in Portland, Maine.
Lucy gets a surprise call from her daughter Elizabeth, who announces she's engaged to a French businessman named Jean-Luc Schoen-Rene.
According to Elizabeth, Jean-Luc is handsome, wealthy, and charming, and he works for the family business, an opulent château/hotel that hosts special events like conferences and weddings.
Elizabeth and Jean-Luc's nuptials will take place in a few months time, and all the Stones are invited to attend.....and to stay at the château for free. Plane tickets to France are pricey, though, and things look discouraging until Lucy gets lucky, and the entire family is able to go to France for the wedding.
The guest accommodations at the chateau are luxurious, the food is good, and the Schoen-Rene family is welcoming. Still, Lucy has some concerns about Elizabeth's upcoming marriage.
🗼 Lucy fears Elizabeth may be more starry-eyed about the lifestyles of the rich and famous than about the groom.
🗼 Elizabeth quit her job at the Paris hotel to work at the chateau, and her 'boss' will be her mother-in-law; Lucy thinks mixing up marriage with employment is not a good idea.
🗼 The 'apartment' in the chateau meant for Elizabeth and Jean-Luc is a dark, drab, old-fashioned two-room domicile - NOTHING LIKE the beautiful guest rooms.
Still, Elizabeth insists she loves Jean-Luc, she's happy, and she's gung-ho to go ahead with the marriage.
A good bit of the story is about the wedding preparations; the ribbing and needling among the Stone siblings; Lucy and Bill entertaining their grandson Patrick; environmentalist Toby lecturing everyone about global warming; family members sightseeing in France; and more.
Though this is a mystery, the murder victim doesn't show up until well into the book. The deceased is an unidentified young woman fished out of the moat surrounding the chateau.
It so happens that a brothel is located close to the resort, and there are suspicions the deceased is a prostitute - perhaps an Eastern European girl - that 'visited' guests in the hotel.
The discovery of the dead body is followed by a shooting, and the Stone family must stay in France for the duration of the police inquiries.
By now, Lucy's detective instincts are in high gear, but she's in a foreign country and can't do much investigating. Still, Lucy's probing helps reveal the truth about what's going on.
I like the Lucy Stone cozy mysteries, but this novel is more about vacationing in France with your family than about solving crimes. A bit disappointing.
Though this is a mystery, the murder victim doesn't show up until well into the book. The deceased is an unidentified young woman fished out of the moat surrounding the chateau.
It so happens that a brothel is located close to the resort, and there are suspicions the deceased is a prostitute - perhaps an Eastern European girl - that 'visited' guests in the hotel.
The discovery of the dead body is followed by a shooting, and the Stone family must stay in France for the duration of the police inquiries.
By now, Lucy's detective instincts are in high gear, but she's in a foreign country and can't do much investigating. Still, Lucy's probing helps reveal the truth about what's going on.
I like the Lucy Stone cozy mysteries, but this novel is more about vacationing in France with your family than about solving crimes. A bit disappointing.
Rating: 3 stars
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