Silent Nights Are Murder : A Poppy McAllister Mystery by Libby Klein

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.

Silent Nights Are Murder

A Poppy McAllister Mystery

Libby Klein

Kensington Cozies 

This is book of the Poppy McAllister series and it is the best one yet. This cozy is like a Christmas present that is exactly what you wished for but with extras that you weren’t expecting and topped with a perfect bow. While reading this I flashed back to the scene from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Uncle Vern says “Justice.” I have been waiting for this plot to come to fruition and the crabby baby‑momma Gigi is going to have to rely on Poppy to save her bacon. 

Each Poppy mystery is a stand-alone work of cozy goodness complete with gluten free recipes that can be adapted for regular flour. More importantly, there is Poppy, a completely relatable character who would make an awesome friend.  She has been on such a ride from the series starter to this point. She has found the love of a good man, the joy with small child, survived the crazy that is her Aunt Izzy, started a successful Bed and Breakfast, and she finally isn’t finding dead bodies. This time around the dead body is looking for Poppy and as karma would have it, her first love, Tim, who lost out over an ultimatum and got a little bitter, will now need to rely on Poppy to save him, his restaurant, and his baby momma. 

Of course Poppy is going to do the noble and kind thing, it is the sort of person she is. She even does what she can to help the homeless guy who is sitting across from the restaurant parking lot regardless of what Gigi thinks or screams. Who knows, maybe he saw something or knew something. As usual, police detective Amber is expecting Poppy to go above and beyond in the on-site sleuthing and to report back everything. Poppy would prefer to make pastries for her handsome hunky Italian barista-owner of La Dolce Vita. Speaking of Gia (Giampaolo), he is one of four men who may or may not have misplaced an amazing engagement ring back at Thanksgiving. Aunt Ginny decides that there needs to be a holiday get-together to suss out the suitor. Not to worry, the reader finds out soon enough what the answer is for that mystery. 

This is a typical Poppy mystery which means that you are going to laugh a LOT, you are going to read about amazing baked goods that will make you want to be a gluten-free person, and you are going to roll your eyes almost as much as Poppy does over the hijinks of Aunt Ginny and the other biddies. The suspects are sketchy and sometimes snarky, but always worthy of being on the list which is very short this time given the need for the freezer key. I was completely misdirected by the fishy fake outs and did not figure out any part of this from the marriage proposal to the frozen fish seller. This was a great cozy and I could see it being the last one but I really hope it isn’t!