Tippy Toe Murder

I understand why some reviewers had a hard time with this. It's not a cozy. More like a cozy thriller.
I've read true thrillers and this is the G-rated version but yeah, as far as the cozy genre goes this is no cozy. However, it is well written and fast paced for the most part and not overly long.

It is a bit preachy and over the top as nearly every male character including the MC's husband is seen as either an out right abuser or a potential abuser with every female being portrayed as weak and vulnerable which I think is a bit unfair. There are a lot of men out there who are NOT abusers. And not all women are sweet, docile shrinking violets. But, I get the author's point.

I enjoyed reading this after some trepidation based on the show more negative reviews. I'm glad I decided to give this a go. show less

Though some of the story deals with the ordinary and hectic life of Lucy Stone and her family, I hesitate to call this mystery a cozy. The protagonist, who wants to help the police solve the murder, is an amateur. But the story is a gritty one, dealing with spousal abuse, child abuse, and cold-blooded murder. Lucy loans a video camera to a friend who wants to catch a thief in the act. It becomes a murder weapon, but in whose hands? In addition to looking for a murderer, Lucy puts herself in danger to help save a friend and keep a child safe. The story is well written, as are the characters, and there is more than one mystery involved to keep readers engrossed in the story.

Lucy Stone is pregnant with her fourth child and trying to keep it together juggling ballet lessons, Little League practice, putting meals on the table, and anything else as it comes up. She’s worried when her friend Caroline Hutton goes missing, but her husband Bill assures her that the police will do their best and to stay out of it, telling her that it’s none of her business and she has other things she needs to take care of instead.

One of Lucy’s friends, Franny, works at a hardware store in town as cashier and clerk. She’s not happy when the owner’s grandson comes to work, discovering that he’s the probable thief who’s stealing from them — but his grandfather thinks it’s her, and demands repayment in a few days. show more Franny, determined to give proof, begs Lucy for the use of her video camera to catch him. But when she’s removing the camera a day later, he sees her and thinks she stole the money to buy it. Now she needs to tell Lucy that he has the camera and won’t give it back. So Lucy goes to the store to retrieve the camera and finds the body of Morrill Slack. Now, Franny’s been arrested for the murder and Lucy’s sure she’s innocent.

Then Lucy and Tatiana, her daughters’ ballet instructor, decide to go through Caro’s scrapbooks to see if they can find a clue as to where she might have gone. But what she finds connects more than one person and one event, and when it all comes together for Lucy, it could be worse than she at first believes, and could change her life forever, or even get her killed...

This is the second book in the series and while this is labeled as a cozy and they can touch on dark subjects, this one was way too dark in its handling of domestic abuse and its aftermath; and while not an easy subject to address in any way for any person, it was graphic and violent and shouldn't be considered a cozy. Once someone has experienced it (as I have, firsthand), it’s not something you want to revisit, nor even remember; but it’s not something you ever forget. Therefore, there were passages that were difficult to read and I probably wouldn't have read this book if I had known beforehand.

While I never really connected with Lucy’s life — I did feel that Bill didn’t give her enough slack when she was pregnant and the hormones keep pushing at you no matter what you do; I felt that yes, although he’s working full-time, he helped make those kids and should have reached out a bit to help his pregnant wife when he could, not just come home and pop open a beer and decide that’s it’s for him. A good husband would at least allow her time to rest before the baby’s born, so there was that.

Anyhow, the rest of the book seemed to come together nicely without any problems, and when the ending comes and the murderer was revealed, although I didn’t find it too compelling it was fine, and I will read the next in the series to see if I will continue with it or not. show less

Ballet, pregnancy, and a disappeared former dance teacher… Lucy’s summer is off to quite a start! Add that to a mystery at the local hardware store and a punk teenager whose grandfather swears is a saint, and this was a doozy. The mystery, as always was good. The twists kept me guessing. I ❤❤ Lucy’s home drama. Too funny. This one did contain a few graphic scenes that come up out of the blue. I've read the entire Lucy Stone series, and this is the only book that contains this sort of content, so I'd advise not judging the whole series based on this one book. It's absolutely one of my favorite mystery series.

Trigger Warnings: graphic sexual assault of an infant, sexual assault, domestic abuse

I have read random books out of this series for years, usually the holiday themed ones. So, I am going back and filling in some of the earlier books I haven't read and they have been hit and miss. This one was a good one with lots of background on the characters and the town which is half of the reason I like cozies. The mystery was darker than most cozies with lots of horrible abuse allegations but it is a topic that's important to cover. This series has been going on a long time so it was fun to see Lucy still pregnant as opposed to the newer ones where she is a grandmother! I tend to like these more than the Joanne Fluke ones but, sadly, no recipes (which is another thing I love about cozies).

A friend sent me this mystery in a box of books. I think it was the only mystery in the box. I enjoyed it. I can't remember if I read the first book in this series already or not.

Abuse is touched on in several forms. Franny, an employee at the hardware store, was in an abusive marriage until her husband died. Her boss seems to take advantage of her--probably not paying her what she's really worth and harping on her. Despite all her years of service, he seems quick to judge her guilty of stealing. I'm not sure if that was because he didn't want to believe it of his grandson or if he truly though Franny might take advantage of having another employee around and start taking things now that she had someone to blame it on.

So when her boss show more turns up dead, Franny is the number one suspect.

At the same time, Caroline "Caro" has disappeared from town, leaving behind her beloved dog. No one seems sure if there is foul play or not.

Meanwhile, Lucy Stone is balancing being a wife and mother with being pregnant with child #4 and keeping up with the family schedules. For her daughters, this includes performing in the dance recital. In fact, it is the dance teacher who helps Lucy put together the clues to figure out why Caro left town. show less

I'm glad to have found this series. And I'm confident the rest of the books will be just as good as this one. There was a double mystery here. The disappearance and the murder - both of them solved almost together. The murderer came out of the blue to confess, and that took one star away. But I was impressed with the timing of the entire book. I'm always responsive towards a deft manipulation of characters' whereabouts and their role in the story. The author did a sterling job moving her characters and she made me care and she immersed me in her world. The atmosphere is unique, and like I said, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of these juicy books.