Lives of Consequence
Leslie Strauss Meier '70
Leslie Strauss Meier's idea for the protagonist Lucy Stone launched what has become a 21-year book dynasty, spawning 19 mysteries, including 17 full-length novels and two novellas. Her most recent book, "Chocolate Covered Murder," was released in January 2012.
Initially, Meier had no intention of becoming a professional writer. Instead, while pursuing a teaching certification in English, she was urged to submit one of her short stories for publication. Meier sent the story, which would become "I Could Never Say No to Lloyd" to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It was accepted and eventually nominated for a prize by the Mystery Writers of America. That success led Meier to write more short stories and, eventually, her first full-length novel.
During more than 20 years of writing about main character Lucy Stone, Meier has drawn many of her plots from the headlines as well as from her own experiences covering local politics as a newspaper reporter in Cape Cod. Stone's next book, "English Tea Murder," is based on Meier's trip to England.
While Meier has two more Lucy Stone mysteries in the works, she is also in the early stages of stepping into suspense novels. In order to prepare for this new genre, she has been doing research and reading suspense novels to get a feel for how this genre works.