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Lexie Starr Mystery #1
Leave No Stone Unturned
Book by Glidewell, Jeanne
205 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2008
365 people are currently reading
1064 people want to read
About the author
Jeanne Glidewell
24 books42 followersJeanne Glidewell, a 2006 pancreas and kidney transplant recipient, and her husband, Bob, reside in the quaint little coastal town of Rockport, Texas. They previously owned a large RV Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 12 years, which gave Jeanne the idea for the Ripple Effect series. Her main characters, Rip and Rapella Ripple, are full-time RVers, with Rapella solving murder mysteries along the way in their travels. Her other (and first) cozy mystery series, the Lexie Starr mysteries, involves a 50-year old library assistant who meets and marries an east coast jeweler named Stone Van Patten. Together they renovate a historic Victorian mansion and turn it into the Alexandria Inn in the fictional town of Rockdale, Missouri. Lexie can’t help getting involved in murder cases taking place in and around the B&B.
All of Jeanne's novels - a romance suspense novel titled Soul Survivor; 7 books and 1 holiday novella in her Lexie Starr series; and 7 books in her Ripple Effect series - are available at nearly every eRetailer site in both eBook and paperback formats. "The Spirit of the Season" is a holiday novella (short novel) she wrote to benefit her local chapter of the Toys for Tots program, with all her proceeds going to help children in her (Leavenworth) county have a merrier Christmas. Jeanne appreciates your support in this endeavor.
Jeanne’s next release, book 8 in the Ripple Effect series, titled The Grim Ripper, is expected to hit bookstores in May 2023.
All of Jeanne's novels - a romance suspense novel titled Soul Survivor; 7 books and 1 holiday novella in her Lexie Starr series; and 7 books in her Ripple Effect series - are available at nearly every eRetailer site in both eBook and paperback formats. "The Spirit of the Season" is a holiday novella (short novel) she wrote to benefit her local chapter of the Toys for Tots program, with all her proceeds going to help children in her (Leavenworth) county have a merrier Christmas. Jeanne appreciates your support in this endeavor.
Jeanne’s next release, book 8 in the Ripple Effect series, titled The Grim Ripper, is expected to hit bookstores in May 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
March 26, 2013
The initial interest in Leave No Stone Unturned was that Lexie worked in a library as a volunteer. I could relate to her work and the fact that she was from the Midwest - Kansas. The story shows a female character willing and capable of taking action to research her son-in-law's involvement in his first wife's death. Lexie travels from her home to Schenectady, NY to investigate. All of Ms. Glidewell's characters are unique, even including the pet parrot with the foul mouth. Her antics were often a bit "off the wall" but mostly humorous. The mystery kept my interest throughout the book. The amateur sleuth even has time for a bit of middle age romance with someone who may be "the man of her dreams". I definitely recommend this cozy to those who like a bit of humor, romance, and eccentric characters with their mystery. I did thoroughly enjoy Ms. Glidewell's writing style. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.
March 26, 2017
Recommended by my Cozy Mystery Group Goodreads friend Gary. I found that I'd gotten a free Kindle copy in May of 2015! So far it's a pleasant, easy story.
* * * * *
This is a great story with interesting characters. I will order the next one asap. The only thing that bothered me is that Lexie Starr had no compunctions whatsoever about lying in her investigations, pretending to be a writer, exterminator, even a cop. That's illegal!
Favorite lines: A parrot named Sinbad responded when she said good morning to him and told him he sure was a pretty thing, "'Ah, horseshit,' Sinbad responded as he paced back and forth across the appliance. 'Horseshit, horseshit. Shut up, nasty thing. Sinbad's a bad boy, a bad boy. Damn bird.'" Ha ha!
"Detective Glick looked like solid muscle poured into a suit."
"Too lazy to pick his own nose. . . "
"He had tattoos on both forearms, some sort of dragon tattooed above his left breast, an earring in his right ear, one in his nose, one in his lip, and one through each eyebrow. Didn't those have to have hurt? To me it looked ridiculous on an otherwise handsome guy. It was like wearing your IQ on your face. Why not just take a magic marker and write across your forehead, 'I ain't got a lick of sense, and here's holes I had punched in my head to prove it."
* * * * *
This is a great story with interesting characters. I will order the next one asap. The only thing that bothered me is that Lexie Starr had no compunctions whatsoever about lying in her investigations, pretending to be a writer, exterminator, even a cop. That's illegal!
Favorite lines: A parrot named Sinbad responded when she said good morning to him and told him he sure was a pretty thing, "'Ah, horseshit,' Sinbad responded as he paced back and forth across the appliance. 'Horseshit, horseshit. Shut up, nasty thing. Sinbad's a bad boy, a bad boy. Damn bird.'" Ha ha!
"Detective Glick looked like solid muscle poured into a suit."
"Too lazy to pick his own nose. . . "
"He had tattoos on both forearms, some sort of dragon tattooed above his left breast, an earring in his right ear, one in his nose, one in his lip, and one through each eyebrow. Didn't those have to have hurt? To me it looked ridiculous on an otherwise handsome guy. It was like wearing your IQ on your face. Why not just take a magic marker and write across your forehead, 'I ain't got a lick of sense, and here's holes I had punched in my head to prove it."
August 21, 2019
“She’d always had a hard time stepping on a spider.”
Flunked the fifty-page test. Plausible plot, but poorly developed.
Author needs to write about things she knows. Her writing is on-the-nose and tells too much too soon.
“What I now suspected about [redacted] scared me half to death and made me almost nauseated.”
Glidewell needs to join a writers group and/or find a good editor.
“Then I realized you couldn’t prop a poached moose up in the bed of your truck and drive four hundred miles down I-70.” Four hundred miles on I-70 doesn’t quite get you from Shawnee to the Colorado state line. No moose would venture into the eastern plains of Colorado, which are geologically indistinguishable from the western plains of Kansas. Not to mention, the condition of the carcass after a day or two exposure.
“Finally a twenty-four-carat gold bracelet graced her wrist.” Presumably gold plated because a solid-gold bracelet would cost thousands.
“Throughout Wendy’s teenage years I unfailingly put a hundred dollars a week into as college fund.” Is she kidding? That makes about $25,00 by the time her daughter graduated high school, not enough to pay for one year of college. “After her high school graduation she left Shawnee, Kansas, and went east to Massachusetts to go to medical school.” No college? “Eventually settling on a career in pathology.” Uh-huh.
Flunked the fifty-page test. Plausible plot, but poorly developed.
Author needs to write about things she knows. Her writing is on-the-nose and tells too much too soon.
“What I now suspected about [redacted] scared me half to death and made me almost nauseated.”
Glidewell needs to join a writers group and/or find a good editor.
“Then I realized you couldn’t prop a poached moose up in the bed of your truck and drive four hundred miles down I-70.” Four hundred miles on I-70 doesn’t quite get you from Shawnee to the Colorado state line. No moose would venture into the eastern plains of Colorado, which are geologically indistinguishable from the western plains of Kansas. Not to mention, the condition of the carcass after a day or two exposure.
“Finally a twenty-four-carat gold bracelet graced her wrist.” Presumably gold plated because a solid-gold bracelet would cost thousands.
“Throughout Wendy’s teenage years I unfailingly put a hundred dollars a week into as college fund.” Is she kidding? That makes about $25,00 by the time her daughter graduated high school, not enough to pay for one year of college. “After her high school graduation she left Shawnee, Kansas, and went east to Massachusetts to go to medical school.” No college? “Eventually settling on a career in pathology.” Uh-huh.
March 27, 2017
In Jeanne Glidewell's Leave No Stone Unturned, the first installment in the Lexie Starr cozy mystery series, this debut is compelling and intriguing to give you a great story. Lexie Starr is a widow with an only child. When her daughter Wendy had gotten married to Clay Pitt, she became suspicious of him and his behavior. She had believed he had killed his first wife, a few years ago. That left Lexie to do some snooping of her own in Schenectady, New York, where the first murder took place. She had contacted Stone Van Patten, a jewelry from Myrtle Beach, where Wendy had lost her charm. As Lexie explained the story to Stone, he offered his services to help her figure out this murder in New York. From there, she came across some interesting characters and ran across a tough-as-nails detective named Ron Glick. The closer they had gotten closer to the truth, the more they had doubts about Clay, when things had taken a twisted turn of their own. Wendy had vanished at the airport. It had made things a bit dangerous, when her own suspicions on Clay changed, when they have a new suspect of their own as the killer, since things had gotten heated in the climax, and it became a bit sweeter for Lexie and Stone.
November 7, 2017
Quite a good little mystery with a side of budding romance. Not at all what I expected when I picked this ebook up for free.
January 7, 2020
The book was cute and easy to read. I don't feel inspired to continue with the series.
January 12, 2014
It had been a long time since I'd read a mystery novel, so I was excited to see a free Nook book of this genre. The story was engaging and easy to follow, and the eclectic mix of characters added to the journey.
So, why did I give a three-star rating? First, and more importantly, I found that I had to suspend belief more times than necessary. Second, I was very disappointed that Lexie needed to rely on a man, one with no ties to the incident, to progress in the case. It would have been more powerful to me had she, as a mom protecting her daughter, gone at it alone.
That said, I loved the author's writing style and will likely read another book in the series to learn how Lexie grows as an amateur sleuth.
So, why did I give a three-star rating? First, and more importantly, I found that I had to suspend belief more times than necessary. Second, I was very disappointed that Lexie needed to rely on a man, one with no ties to the incident, to progress in the case. It would have been more powerful to me had she, as a mom protecting her daughter, gone at it alone.
That said, I loved the author's writing style and will likely read another book in the series to learn how Lexie grows as an amateur sleuth.
October 5, 2018
This one had a very good mystery and was an easy read. Unfortunately it had several editing mishaps, which sets my actual rating at 3.5 or so, rounded. Hopefully the next one will be better.
May 28, 2015
Cheeky and far fetched
Book had some good moments, but they were too seldom. It had good potential, but the author just dropped the ball. It was not believable and sort of fell all over itself. It was CLEAN and I appreciated that, but too many, by far, far-fetched ideas, plots, situations and just not well written.
Book had some good moments, but they were too seldom. It had good potential, but the author just dropped the ball. It was not believable and sort of fell all over itself. It was CLEAN and I appreciated that, but too many, by far, far-fetched ideas, plots, situations and just not well written.
January 27, 2016
This was really good. I really enjoyed the mystery of trying to find the killer of the first wife of Lexie's son-in-law. The characters and plot were excellent and well written. I enjoyed the scenes that the author gave, and the interconnections between the characters. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but not totally, so I was quite pleased with the overall result.
April 13, 2014
Fun, interesting with no gratuitous anything. Made me laugh out loud. Like this series, all are stand-alone & TTS-enabled. Author's other novels have 'opinion-differences' for Christian tastes. But this one aligns as well as any not labeled Christian.
July 28, 2015
A quick, fun ( although unbelievable ) read. However, the author's horrible depiction of a gay character ( a drug-using, stripper whose boyfriend may have AIDS ) and the attitude of the other characters toward him was offensive. Thus, the two star rating.
June 5, 2017
A mystery, the first in the series and a new author for me. I found the plot intriguing and the book was will edit and write. The characters were not well developed and protagonist, Lexie was disturbed by reported violence. The comments on the various sexual predators filled the pages. Many of her actions were illegal and bother me. She wondering about her daughter marrying a man she didn't know very well but she felt nothing wrong about meeting a man she had never meet and starting a relationship with him. There is a definite need for more research on the subject what is legal and what can not be done if the criminal can be convicted. There is distinctly dislike of men throughout the book. I would not have finished except for the plot it is unique. I will read another of this book.
Disclosure: I received a free copy from the author through e-publishing for an honest review. I would like to think them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.
Disclosure: I received a free copy from the author through e-publishing for an honest review. I would like to think them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.
September 29, 2020
A fun read
Lexie Starr discovers a news clipping that says her new son-in-law is a suspect in the murder of his first wife. Is her daughter in danger? Will she be next? Not if Lexie can stop it!
This delightful cozy mystery follows Lexie from Kansas to New York as she tracks down what happened. She meets an eccentric bed and breakfast owner and a handsome widower who help her. Will they be in time to keep her daughter from becoming the next victim?
I enjoyed this book. The action moves at a good pace and the characters are likable. It is the prefect book to tuck in your bag for reading at the beach, or in the doctor's office, or for taking an afternoon to spoil yourself with something light and entertaining.
Lexie Starr discovers a news clipping that says her new son-in-law is a suspect in the murder of his first wife. Is her daughter in danger? Will she be next? Not if Lexie can stop it!
This delightful cozy mystery follows Lexie from Kansas to New York as she tracks down what happened. She meets an eccentric bed and breakfast owner and a handsome widower who help her. Will they be in time to keep her daughter from becoming the next victim?
I enjoyed this book. The action moves at a good pace and the characters are likable. It is the prefect book to tuck in your bag for reading at the beach, or in the doctor's office, or for taking an afternoon to spoil yourself with something light and entertaining.
February 10, 2020
A exciting mystery, with more twists and turns in it than a Jersey turn pike in it. The love and loyalty between a mother and daughter, Lexie was like a
mother Grizzlie bear protecting her cub in danger. Action galore in this one,
besides finding new friends that prove they have your six and more. The characters were incredible and very realistic to true life. This is one mystery you can't put down! I now because I read it from cover to cover with
Out putting it down. A great mystery worth the five star rating, if I could give it a Ten I would. Pick it up today and read it, you wont be disappointed.
Debra H.
mother Grizzlie bear protecting her cub in danger. Action galore in this one,
besides finding new friends that prove they have your six and more. The characters were incredible and very realistic to true life. This is one mystery you can't put down! I now because I read it from cover to cover with
Out putting it down. A great mystery worth the five star rating, if I could give it a Ten I would. Pick it up today and read it, you wont be disappointed.
Debra H.
September 1, 2020
Dull storytelling
The author may have good ideas for a plot but the execution is excruciating. So much tell and not enough show. Pages and pages of the protagonist just describing stuff with no break. Unlikely exposition, for instance a 48 year old woman in 2013 not knowing what “being out” meant. Jarring things like a mother planning her daughter’s marriage annulment in the middle of a high tension climactic scene. People saying “I love you” after a few days together. Just meh all around.
The author may have good ideas for a plot but the execution is excruciating. So much tell and not enough show. Pages and pages of the protagonist just describing stuff with no break. Unlikely exposition, for instance a 48 year old woman in 2013 not knowing what “being out” meant. Jarring things like a mother planning her daughter’s marriage annulment in the middle of a high tension climactic scene. People saying “I love you” after a few days together. Just meh all around.
July 13, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. Lexie Starr is a widow living in Kansas. She discovers that her new son in law appears to have murdered his first wife. She doesn’t want to ruin her relationship with her daughter so she decides to travel to NY to investigate the matter. In the meantime, she connects with a jeweler online named Stone who lives in Myrtle Beach. The two hit it off and decide to meet and he offers to help her investigate. There were some laugh out loud scenes as well as some tense moments.
March 28, 2021
A great story of a mother's love and perseverance when trying to ensure the safety of her daughter. Having accidentally found evidence that her son-in-law was previously married and his wife murdered Lexie trust to find out the truth.
This book has a wonderful cast of characters who, for the most part are an absolute delight. See if you can solve the case before the cast of characters.
I received a free copy of this ebook from ebook discovery. This is my honest, freely given review.
This book has a wonderful cast of characters who, for the most part are an absolute delight. See if you can solve the case before the cast of characters.
I received a free copy of this ebook from ebook discovery. This is my honest, freely given review.
July 8, 2017
This is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed it very much. I liked the characters and the story moved along smoothly and swiftly. I enjoy the short chapters so I can fit reading in between my busy times during the day, and still end at the beginning of a new chapter. Highly recommend.
February 22, 2018
What a delightful quick read. Loved the characters.
I will no doubt read more in the series, but some less than perfect mechanics threatened to pull me out of the story. I didn't let it, but I really wanted to get out my editing hat and help out and that's not why I read it.
All-in-all, an enjoyable cozy mystery.
I will no doubt read more in the series, but some less than perfect mechanics threatened to pull me out of the story. I didn't let it, but I really wanted to get out my editing hat and help out and that's not why I read it.
All-in-all, an enjoyable cozy mystery.
May 30, 2019
The mystery was unusual and intriguing, and I appreciated the mother love that led Lexie to do everything possible to protect her daughter, even though her daughter was adult and married now. I thought the middle-aged romance was a little rushed and unbelievable, and I did not appreciate Lexie's and Stone's willingness to lie and break the law to solve the mystery.
August 4, 2021
First in a series it is ok but nothing spectacular that makes me want to rush on in the series. Pretty far fetched plot. An amusing secondary character provides some humor. Throw in a man who has communicated with her via email about a charm bracelet who decides he wants to meet her and it’s a strange combo of cozy mystery and romance. I may go back and read more but in no hurry to do so.
August 20, 2021
An enjoyable read/cozy mystery. Lexi's daughter, Wendy, recently married someone that Lexi has reason to believe murdered his first wife and their unborn child. She travels to her son in law's home town to investigate in order to keep her daughter out of danger. When her daughter winds up kidnapped, all bets are off for Lexi.
October 17, 2022
The set up of this book was unique to me = and I have read an extensive number of cozy murder mystery series! Lexie is worried that her daughter may be murdered by her new husband because she suspects that he murdered his first wife! Lexie has to proceed carefully so her daughter doesn't know what she suspects which causes no end of confusion and hilarity.
June 25, 2017
An easy read with interesting characters and a well thought-out plot. The heroine is a middle-aged lady whose grown daughter has recently married, leaving mom as an empty-nester. Still, not as predictable as it could be and the characters keep it moving. I recommend it for some downtime reading.
February 2, 2018
Oh, dear. Stilted dialogue, improbable plot points, police breaking the law (in other districts). Also very dated.... On the plus side, the grammar was better than most these days.
I'll not be trying another of these.
I'll not be trying another of these.
July 19, 2018
This was my first book by this author and I enjoyed it very much. It had a good plot that didn't have an obvious ending, it moved along at a good pace and had many likeable characters including Lexie herself.
August 25, 2018
Great page turner with a funny twist
Good storyline, and the author moves everything along at a comfortable pace. I laughed out loud at some of the main character's musings. Like me, she jokes when in a crisis. Thoroughly enjoyed this book :)
Good storyline, and the author moves everything along at a comfortable pace. I laughed out loud at some of the main character's musings. Like me, she jokes when in a crisis. Thoroughly enjoyed this book :)
June 21, 2019
The plot Is a bit Far-fetched on so many levels that I won’t Bother to list them all. If you are willing to suspend disbelief, there are some Amusing moments. But there are many better books to read. If left on an airplane on a long flight, it’s better than online entertainment.
January 5, 2021
Interesting
I'm not sure this would be considered a cozy at least, I've never read one that mentions drug use and gay strippers! It was an ok story, but a bit unbelievable in many parts.
I'm not sure this would be considered a cozy at least, I've never read one that mentions drug use and gay strippers! It was an ok story, but a bit unbelievable in many parts.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews