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

Midnight Snacks are Murder by Libby Klein

My Rating: ★★★★

Poppy McAllister is a busy bee. She’s got her budding gluten-free baking business and now a bed and breakfast with Aunt Ginny. The problem? It seems like there’s a new delay in the construction on her aunt’s house almost every day. To top things off, her mother-in-law has turned up and wants to oversee the construction since she’s an investor in the bed and breakfast. Just when Poppy thinks her hands are full, Aunt Ginny gets arrested for murder. Now Poppy has to carefully balance her work life with a new murder investigation since her former bully, Amber, doesn’t want to look at anyone but Aunt Ginny for the crime.

I absolutely loved the first installment in the series, so I had to pick up this book as soon as possible. The stakes are higher now that Aunt Ginny is wrapped up in a murder mystery after her short-lived time as the accidental Snack Bandit. Aunt Ginny is truly a hoot. I couldn’t stop laughing during her short-lived time as the Snack Bandit as well as her many shenanigans that come later in the book. At least her other shenanigans were planned. The poor woman ate some interesting things while she was a snack bandit!

Weirdly enough, Poppy is somehow the least interesting character this time around. Maybe it’s because she’s one of the few normal people in a sea of strange to hilarious characters, but I still enjoyed following her around. I can relate to her in many ways, so I totally understand her insecurities as well as some of her other problems. It was neat to see her continue to develop as well as hone her investigating skills as much as an untrained and green amateur sleuth can.

I was pretty excited to see more of Georgina, Poppy’s mother-in-law. We didn’t see a lot of her in the first book, so it was great to see her out there and in action. She does remind me of a better version of someone in my life, so it was really cool to see how much character development she had throughout the book. I’m excited to see where she goes from here as well as how her relationship with Poppy will continue to develop.

The murder mystery itself was interesting and had so many sides to it. I didn’t catch on to who the killer was until the very end, so Libby Klein really kept me on my toes. It was fun to meet the variety of new characters and watch new and old characters aid Poppy in her investigation. I hope that we see some of the new characters continue to appear in future books, and I’m excited to pick up the third installment soon.