I absolutely loved this Lucy Stone mystery! Halloween is growing near in Tinker’s Cove, Maine an the town is gearing up for the pumpkin-themed celebration. I am a reader who DELIGHTS in holiday-themed books that go all out on the holiday cheer and “Candy Corn Murder” did that in spades, with a candy corn guessing competition, the whole town growing giant pumpkins, the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin special, Halloween themed ice cream, and Lucy’s husband Bill building a giant catapult in their yard for pumpkin throwing. So much fun. Patrick, Lucy’s grandson, is also staying with them, and in between searching for who in town is sabotaging the festival and smashing pumpkins, Lucy is dealing with “new age” childcare expectations and the list of foods from Patrick’s parents that he isn’t allowed to eat (including anything a 4 year old will willingly eat.) I always love the books that are set in Tinker’s Cove the best, and this was one of my very favorites that I know I will enjoy rereading at this time of year.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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It’s almost Hallowe’en, and the big holiday festival is fraught with problems. Vandalism of the giant pumpkins, cancelation of a special event, and a dead body accidentally discovered during a contest are only part of the problems. Lucy’s husband, Bill, becomes the prime suspect in the murder, and she is sure the only way to prove his innocence is to uncover the real killer. This tale also touches on some social issues, in both the flashbacks and the present time. Since this murder actually involves Lucy’s family, it’s a little darker in tone than some of the other novels in the series. Still, it’s always entertaining to visit the Stone family in Tinker’s Cove. ( )

I liked the callbacks to the first mystery in the series, not only the Country Cousins focus, but the starting of each chapter with a press release (in the first book, it was a catalog item write-up). The very ending felt a tiny bit rushed. As usual, some nice topical issues, including Lucy (mostly) and Bill taking in their grandson for a few months. ( )

This was a fun Hallowe'en story. With Hallowe'en coming, Tinker's Cove decides to use the holiday to boost the tourist trade by holding "The Pumpkinfest". They had the biggest pumpkin contest, pumpkin toss using catapults, carved pumpkin contest, scenes using pumpkins and more to drum up tourists and it worked. The story took a long time to get to the actual murder and investigation, but the lead up was interesting.

Lucy Stone, local reporter, is caring for her grandson while his parents are away for 4 months. Bill, her husband, is building a catapult to enter the pumpkin toss contest as well as growing a pumpkin for the biggest pumpkin contest. Evan, a local unemployed handyman, is helping him. Lucy does not like Evan or all the drinking that he and Bill have been doing. There seem to be some malicious pranks going on in town, such as smashing the pumpkins and vandalizing the displays. One of Lucy's daughters is becoming involved with the local scuba club president and Bill is not too sure about that. Her daughters and some of her friends are participating in the local "Take Back the Night" march. There is a side story going on that takes place in 1979 that involves women's rights, that you know will somehow be part of the mystery. When someone turns up dead in the trunk of a car, Bill is under suspicion and Lucy gets involved trying to find the real murderer as the police seem set on her husband and are not looking elsewhere.

All the goings on come together in the end to add a surprising ending to the story.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. ( )

I don't have much to say about this one. It was a light read and definitely falls into the cozy mystery category. Please forgive my pun but the story was kinda corny; cute book cover though. ( )