Happy Halloween! Here's an early mystery from Leslie Meier, who writes the Lucy Stone Mystery series (often with a holiday theme). Halloween is coming and Lucy is busy making cupcakes for the annual festival. A fire (and a body, of course) is a distraction ... there are, and have been, other fires. Lucy thinks there might be a connection. There are builders and investors looking for a way around the strict guidelines in the historic district (where many of the fires have been). And a cheating husband, too. In Trick or Treat Murder all the kids are young, one just six weeks old! It was a fun change from 'knowing' them as pre-teens to young adults in later books.

Do kids read, or hear, Mother Goose rhymes these days? I sure hope so because it would make Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters, by Rachel Kolar and illustrated by Roland Garrigue all that more fun! It's good just on it's own, but knowing the 'original' just made me chuckle all the more. Great pictures, clever verse, read this more than once!

Reading Hermit With Dog