by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Turkey Trot Murder. We also have a link to order it from Amazon, and from an indie bookstore where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Anybody who knows Lucy, realizes her life revolves around her family—husband Bill, daughters Elizabeth, Sara, and Zoe, and son Toby. Thanksgiving usually means a full table and everybody home for the meal. This year, Elizabeth’s working in Paris, Toby and family are in Alaska, Sara’s going on a field trip to Greenland, and Zoe has decided to visit a friend in Montreal. To take her mind off things, Lucy has decided to run in the annual 5K Turkey Trot. Of course, it’s easier to come up with excuses not to work out than it is to actually do it. However, Libby the Lab, Lucy’s training partner, is up for a run anytime.

There are two routes they can take—along the open water where it can get downright cold (after all, this is Maine) or around the pond. It’s when they go to the pond and find a woman has fallen through the ice that things really go downhill fast.

The woman is the daughter of Ed, a wealthy man, not just monied but in the ultra-monied class. Rumors fly that Alison was on drugs at the time, she committed suicide, or it was an accident, but Miss Tilley, former librarian and Lucy’s friend, puts it into words. Alison was murdered.

Drugs are a problem even in a small town. Lucy’s shocked to find out how far-reaching the problem is, including some of Zoe and Sara’s friends. Ed, Alison’s father, blames the Mexican cartels for the drug problem. When Rey, a television chef and cookbook author, wants to reopen the Old Irish Pub as a fusion restaurant, Ed targets him as “one of the problem Mexicans” even though Rey’s family came here before America was even a country.

Things get ugly with protests, vandalism, and distrust, all brought to a head when Bill is injured at the restaurant. When a second death occurs, tempers flare.

This is book twenty-seven in the series. Current events play a big role in the plot, and hopefully, offer solutions to some of the problems seen in everyday life without talking about politics except on the town council level. Lucy’s lived a rather idyllic life except for her penchant for finding bodies. In this book, she’s more relatable than ever before—on the verge of an empty nest, redefining her job, more mindful of what she has and how easily it could be lost.

The books can be read out of order without losing any of the background, but to find out how Lucy and her family have evolved, start at the beginning (Twenty-seven books on your holiday wish list?). This one is my favorite—at least until book twenty-eight comes out.

To enter to win a copy of Turkey Trot Murder, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “turkey,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen November 11, 2017. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Turkey Trot Murder

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won’t see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.