Monday 6 August 2018

Midnight Snacks are Murder (A Poppy McAllister Mystery #2) by Libby Klein


Midnight Snacks are Murder (A Poppy McAllister Mystery #2)
When her sleepwalking aunt is accused of committing murder, Poppy McAllister finds out there's no rest for the weary . . .

Between trying to get her gluten-free baking business off the ground and helping her aunt remodel her old Victorian into the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey, Poppy is ready to call, “Mayday!” And now Aunt Ginny—who's a handful wide-awake—is sleepwalking on her new sleeping pill prescription and helping herself to neighbors’ snacks and knickknacks.

Even more alarming, a local humanitarian who worked with troubled teens is found murdered, and the police suspect the “Snack Bandit.” Other than a bad case of midnight munchies and some mild knickknack kleptomania, Aunt Ginny is harmless. Someone’s trying to frame her. Poppy will need to work tirelessly to uncover the killer and put the case to rest—before Aunt Ginny has to trade in her B & B for a bunk bed behind bars . . .

Includes Seven Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
   (Summary via Goodreads)


I fell in love with the Poppy McAllister Mystery series with the first book in this series, Class Reunions are Murder.....I couldn't put it down it was so captivating.  Well it shouldn't come as any surprise that the second book in the series, Midnight Snacks are Murder would be any different.  And it wasn't !!

You cannot help but fall in love with Poppy and her crazy Aunt Ginny.  In Class Reunions are Murder you only get a glimpse of how crazy Aunt Ginny is and how patient Poppy is with her.  But in Midnight Snacks are Murder you see how deep the crazy goes and how Poppy is a Saint with her patience.

Poppy moved back home and her and Aunt Ginny are working around the clock turning the big Victorian that Poppy grew up in into a Bed and Breakfast.  If this was a real place, I would totally be staying there !!!  Things are stressful not only with the renovations but Poppy's mother-in-law shows up unannounced and "takes" over bossing around the help and changing everything !!!  Add to the mix that Aunt Ginny gets put on a new sleeping pill that makes her sleepwalk into the neighbors houses and a man ends up dead looking like Aunt Ginny paid him a late night visit and you have a book that you will not want to put down !!

It amazes me the stories that authors make up and how much a reader can feel like everything is real and you are a part of it all....... Libby Klein has that talent down with a capital T !!!  I just finished Midnight Snacks are Murder and cannot wait for the next book in this series, Restaurant Week is Murder......Klein did it in the first book so it shouldn't have come as a surprise when she ended this book with you longing for more......


Review by Missi S.

Wednesday 1 August 2018

Murder at Ochre Court (Gilded Newport Mysteries #6) by Alyssa Maxwell


Murder at Ochre Court (Gilded Newport Mysteries #6)

In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society . . .

After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald and staying with her more well-heeled Vanderbilt relatives in New York City, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering ocean vistas, and grand stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news.

But for now she's covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a coming-out ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be literally on display, fittingly as Cleopatra, in an elaborate tableau vivant. Recently installed modern electricity will allow Miss Cooper-Smith to truly shine. But as the deb ascends to her place of honor, the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come back on, Cleo sits still on her throne, electrocuted to death.

Quickly establishing that the wiring was tampered with, Emma now has a murder to investigate. And the array of eligible suspects could fill another ballroom--from a shady New York real estate developer to a neglected sister and the mother of a spurned suitor. As Emma begins to discover this crime has unseen connections to a nefarious network, she puts her own life at risk to shine a light on the dark motives behind a merciless murder.  (Summary via Goodreads)



The last person you would suspect !!!  The one behind all the evil in Alyssa Maxwell's latest installment of her Gilded Newport Mystery series is the LAST person you would ever imagine it would be !!  A complete unexpected surprise !! 

I LOVE the Gilded Newport Mystery series and can never get enough of Emma !!!  Emma is truly someone to admire....she is a strong, independent woman during a time when women were looked upon as being nothing more than servants, debutantes, wives and mothers.  Emma wants so much more and being a journalist for the society page of newspapers, although unusual at that time, still isn't want she wants.  She wants to be taken serious and given more important stories.  After all with her background and family and society connections, she knows more than just who is at the party and what they are wearing.

And in Murder at Ochre Court, the sixth book in this amazing series, you follow Emma down some dark tunnels and easedrop on some pretty scary conversations but that will not deter her from finding out the truth behind the death of Cleo.......  to think that she was electrocuted when electricity was just becoming a thing.......

The imagination of an author always amazes me but the research that some authors do when writing a story, a piece of fiction, that blows my mind !!!  You cannot truly appreciate the story until you read the Author's Note at the end of one of Maxwell's stories ...... she sheds more light onto the background of the buildings and the Newport area that Emma calls home.  

I HIGHLY recommend getting lost in Murder at Ochre Court....it will take you on a very memorable journey and even though there are a lot of twists and turns you will not lose your way !!!

Review by Missi S.