Reading a new Leslie Meier mystery is like catching up with a dear old friend. Kate Carlisle "Halloween is coming to Tinker s Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town s annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for the "Pennysaver."" "There s the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children s Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge But not everything goes quite as planned . . . "Lucy s getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge, revealing a deceased Evan . . . Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide, so Lucy knows she s got some serious sleuthing to do. With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she ll have to step into an old ghost story . . . Series fans should be satisfied. "Publishers Weekly