Tis the Season Murder gives us two Lucy Stone mysteries. I love coming back to visit Lucy and her family even though these were previously released. So waiting on the new Lucy Stone to come out. Lucy is a small town reporter who many times ends up sleuthing a mystery she finds. Readers have watched Lucy's children grow and leave the nest. They have seen how her family has changed. I love when you can follow so closely.
New Year's Eve Murder: After all the Christmas jolliness has commenced, Lucy's daughter, Elizabeth, won a mother/daughter makeover in New York. However, what is suppose to be a fun time and a great way to ring in the New Year, turns deadly. When Elizabeth is struck with a unknown disease, Lucy must work to find out what it is and where she contracted it from. Will she be able before the clock strikes in the New Year?
Christmas Carol Murder: Lucy is happy to be acting in the town production of The Christmas Carol. The town has hit hard times so bringing some cheer is what Lucy hopes will happen. The only happy people are mortgage tycoons, Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner. However, when one turns up dead, Lucy must find out who done it before someone Bah Humbug's the other.
I received a copy through Netgalley. A review was not required.

Another enjoyable couple of stories from Leslie buyer. I always like the small town stories and the characters that she incorporates in them. These were very festive and quick reads. I enjoyed reading them on a cold rainy.

Lucy's daughter Elizabeth won mother/daughter winter makeovers in New York from a popular magazine and the two are looking forward to spending some time together.
With Christmas over they are excited to head off on their adventure and be pampered for a few days. When one of the beauty consuls dies and it ends up being murder and not the flu Lucy can't help but to look at all those around them. She soon learns that things are much worse than she thought and when Elizabeth ends up very sick she knows she must find the culprit in hopes that no one else will fall ill.
In this second story Lucy can't wait to participate in A Christmas Carol, a production the town puts on every year. When one of her cast mates is murdered she wants to find the killer so the show can go on. With death threats showing up it looks like another murder is set to happen but Lucy hopes that she can figure out what's going on before another death occurs. The show must go on but will all the actors be alive to pay their parts?
This is a wonderful combination of two holiday stories that gives you a look into the Stone's holiday season. A fun read that will have you looking forward to the holidays.

If you love holiday mystery stories and are new to Lucy Stone mysteries this is the perfect introduction. This volume brings together 2 previously published books. They were just as enjoyable the 2nd time!

I really wish this publisher would stop putting out books that were released before and branding them as a new title. I already read the two books in this one and while I enjoyed them, I already read them.

These were two entertaining holiday mysteries. I enjoyed Lucy Stone’s adventures and mishaps.
If you like a cozy mystery, I hope you’ll read these

'Tis the Season Murder is a "box set" of two previously published holiday themed books.

<b>New Year's Eve Murder </b>(originally published 2006) - 1 star
This is not very holiday themed. It seems as if the original intent of this book was a love letter to NYC post-911 and it was shoehorned into the week after Christmas to give it a holiday title.

I had to go check the original publication of this book because I would have thought it was 2002/2003 based on the dated pop culture references.

If the book was written in 2003, it would tie in with the popularity of Devil Wears Prada and explain the shift from rural Maine to NYC. This author tries really hard to make the magazine world setting work but it feels forced. I find it hard to believe that a magazine would have makeover contest winners shipped in to NYC the day after Christmas and New Year's. Also most colleges are on break too so there wouldn't be a dorm full of kids going to classes as referenced in the book.

Overall, it was hard to overlook so many things that seemed off in this book. And Lucy was just so judgy and superficial in this book. I don't recall her bugging me in previous books like she did in this one.
<spoiler>The anthrax angle is just dumb. A random college kid thinks a spider bite is unlikely the cause of Elizabeth's illness and immediately jumps to ANTHRAX as the probability? Then Lucy jumps right in with no confirmation by a doctor to let the magazine editor in chief know this?
Also, all of Chapter Fourteen is ridiculous. If this wasn't a NetGalley book, I'd have walked away at that point. </spoiler>

<b>Christmas Carol Murder</b> (originally published 2013) - 3 stars
I was so irritated with the New Year's Eve Murder that I just couldn't reread this one.
I read this book in December 2017. Here is my review posted on GoodReadds from then.
A good Christmas cozy mystery. Surprised it was written in 2013. It feels more 2008-2010 when the housing bubble burst.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*

Her daughter wins a makeover in New York. They go there after Christmas were liz has contact with anthrax but not knowing who did or why someone was murdered. this is one of the original books

Another great collection of holiday themed mysteries. I hope they put together a collection of her Thanksgiving stories.

I love Leslie Meier’s series about Lucy and her family/ friends in Tinker Cove. And awesomely enough, there are two books in one for this book. In one, she and her daughter win a trip to NYC! A dead fashion editor, a crazy illness for her daughter, and figuring out how to squeeze a $10,000 college tuition bill into their house budget are things that Lucy needs to solve. In book 2, Lucy lands a part in the local play, houses are being foreclosed on, and the local bad banker gets blown up. Overall, both books were great and can’t wait to read more in the series!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Kensington Books for the chance to read a review this book.
Lucy Stone is here with two previously published novels in one book.
New Year's Eve Murder is set in New York City as Lucy and oldest daughter, Elizabeth, take part in a Mother/Daughter makeover contest for a fashion magazine. Along with makeovers, new clothes and maybe a few catty competitors, Lucy has to deal with a dead Fashion Director, a mysterious illness which lands Elizabeth in the hospital and possible anthrax contamination. Feeling slightly out of her element, Lucy goes ahead and plunges into her own investigation to find answers. A;ways fun to follow Lucy as she works to find answers.

A Christmas Carol Murder has Lucy acting in Tinker's Cove's production of A Christmas Carol. Maybe the holiday play is a little too close to home with the economy failing, jobs being cut and homes being foreclosed on. When a banker is blown up by a package, Lucy begins to search for the culprit and tries to help the little town salvage the holiday. Can she get to the bottom of things?

This book is made up of two books, New Year's Eve Murder and Christmas Carol Murder. Both are very good although there's no true investigating. In the first Lucy Stone the main character is in New York city with her daughter for a makeover and gets dragged into an anthrax scare. Eventually she finds that a terrorist group is operating in New York and she is instrumental in catching them. In the second book Lucy is mostly working for and investigating stories for her newspaper focusing on the amount of social injustices and foreclosure in her town when she helps identify a bomber who's been affected by it all. I enjoyed the books. #TisTheSeasonMurder #NetGalley

Lucy Stone and the little town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine return in two of Meier’s holiday themed mysteries. In New Year’s Eve Murder Lucy’s kids are growing up, and she and daughter Elizabeth have won a fashion magazine makeover session in Manhattan where murder makes an appearance. In Christmas Carol Murder, Tinker’s Coves production of A Christmas Carol ends up with a local money man deaded than a doornail. A sweet collection of cosy mysteries with a minimum of blood and guts

‘‘Tis The Season Murder
Book One
A New Years Eve Murder in which Lucy Stone and her daughter Elizabeth win a makeover contest sponsored by Jolie magazine.
Leaving her little town of Tinkers Cove Maine and traveling yNew York City is exciting, especially when the contest is offering a cash prize, which Lucy can certainly use.
Things take a turn for the worse when the makeup director winds up dead, and Elizabeth is rushed to the hospital and put in intensive care.
When it seems that Nadine was specifically targeted and Elizabeth was just a victim of circumstance, Lucy decides to use her investigative skills to find the answers.

Book Two
Christmas Carol Murder
Jake Marlowe and partner Ben Scribner own Downeast Mortgage.
Unfortunately the downturn in real estate and the recession has hit hard in Tinkers Cove Maine, as Lucy Stone prepares to write an article about the auction of a foreclosed home.
Things take a deadly turn when a holiday gift mailed to Jake blows him to pieces and has this close knit town feeling anxious and scared. The suspect list is long and no one is saddened by the misers death.
Lucy is determined to find the truth and restore peace to her little town.

This is a great book to read, either for the first time, or like myself, for the third.

Tis the Season by Leslie Meier is a compilation and reissue of two previous Lucy Stone mysteries.

Even though I have read every Lucy Stone installment, I enjoyed going back and reading # 12 and 20 again. ( I am a huge fan.)

I will always love Lucy. She is real, relatable, strong, resourceful, and hilarious.

This combo got me into the holiday spirit (woohoo) despite the current hot weather and is great for long-term fans to reread, or for fans reading Lucy Stone for the first time.

Excellent

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am submitting this review to my GR account immediately and will post to my Amazon, Bookbub, and B&N accounts upon publication.