This is the first in what I hope is a really long series (Poppy McAllister) by Libby Klein. It came out earlier this year and I consistently heard it was one of the funniest books out there, and I was not disappointed! I don’t think I’ve laughed so much while reading a mystery! These are some really great characters and I highly recommend starting this series! The second one “Midnight Snacks Are Murder” comes out July 31, and the third one, “Restaurant Weeks Are Murder” comes out February 26, 2019.
My Goodreads review:
Class Reunions Are Murder by Libby Klein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was such a fun book to read! I found myself laughing on a regular basis at some of the scenes. I think this series is definitely off to a great start and I can’t wait to find out what the next book brings.
Poppy McAllister let herself be talked into going to her 25th high school reunion by her best friend, Sawyer. She was widowed, depressed and quite a bit overweight, so she had no desire to be seen by anyone, except her cat Figaro that she lived with in her and her husband’s big house. Poppy stayed with her Aunt Ginny, her mother’s sister, who lived in a big Victorian in Cape May, NJ. Not more than once, Poppy longed to be home in Virginia, especially when at the reunion she discovered the very dead body of the so-called class sweetheart and Prom Queen, Barbie Pomeroy Clark. Lots of secrets were hidden by the various characters in this story and there was a really good side mystery involving Aunt Ginny and a social worker who was trying to force her out of her home and into assisted living, claiming that Ginny’s eccentric and sometimes flamboyant personality was senility.
There were some really great characters in this book, but I think my favorite, aside from Poppy herself, was her Aunt Ginny. She was sharp as a tack and faithful to her niece. She was not going to let her niece go to jail for a crime she didn’t commit, but the local police officer, Amber Fenton, who just happened to be a classmate, seemed determined to arrest Poppy for the murder. Poppy had to work twice as hard to gather evidence, because Amber said it was just a matter of time before the lab report would come back and Poppy would be arrested for real this time.
I can honestly believe there are people like this, mean girls who simply got older but are still mean, flirts who have never stopped going after the opposite sex and people who unmercifully make fun of overweight people, even if they are in the same shape themselves. I was really proud that Poppy finally took her life into her hands and worked on her whole self, not just her weight. The cute coffee shop owner apparently thought she was pretty enough to want to date, as did her ex-boyfriend Tim, whom she’d almost married. She had a really good epiphany towards the end and it turned her life around. Now she had two handsome guys interested in her, wonderful friends who stuck by her through the whole ordeal as well as an awesome aunt who even put up with her cat that got into crazy destructive moods.
The showdown was great! I had a suspicion who the killer was but I had no idea why, and I did waver back and forth. The scene with the social worker who was trying to get Ginny into assisted living was epic! You’ll just have to read it and find out, it’s just too good to spoil. I can’t wait to read the next book. Things are definitely looking up for Poppy McAllister!
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 