Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from Great Escapes Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Restaurant Weeks Are Murder

by Libby Klein

Series: Poppy McAllister Mystery #3
Series Rating:
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation on February 26, 2019
Genres: Cozy Culinary Mystery
Pages: 304
Format: Kindle
Source: Great Escapes Book Tours
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, Hudson Booksellers, Target, Walmart
Also in this series: Antique Auctions Are Murder

Cape May, New Jersey, is the site of a big culinary competition—and the knives are out . . .

Poppy McAllister is happy about opening a Jersey Shore B&B—but working in a professional kitchen has always been her real dream. Now it’s coming true, at least briefly, as she teams up with her former fiancée, Tim—and his condescending partner, Gigi—during the high-profile Restaurant Week challenge. Poppy’s specialty is pastries, despite her devotion to a Paleo diet. But if anyone can make glorious gluten-free goodies, it’s Poppy.

Things get heated quickly—especially when some ingredients get switched and Tim’s accused of sabotage. Relatively harmless pranks soon escalate into real hazards, including an exploding deep fryer. And now one of the judges has died after taking a bite of Poppy’s cannoli—making her the chef suspect . . .

Includes Seven Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!

Be on my team for the cooking competition, he said. It will be fun, he said…

Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein combines this splendid mystery with real to life character that stole my heart.

This book is the first that I have read by Libby Klein and I can’t wait to try some of the recipes that she included in the book. I adored the way that she described people. Here is an example:

He leads us up to a very dignified chef, who reminded me a little of Sam the Eagle from the Muppets, with his bushy eyebrows and tufts of gray hair over a serious expression.

Poppy McAllister

Our sleuth is Poppy McAllister. She is living with her 80-year-old Aunt Ginny, whose house they have turned into bed and breakfast. Poppy has gone on a Paleo diet and has lost some weight. She is feeling really good about herself. I think she should be; Poppy is reliable and compassionate. She has also turned into one of the trouble magnets; you know the ones that find dead bodies or are present when people are murdered.

Poppy is also in a love triangle at the moment, and she doesn’t seem to know which way to go or whom to choose. Let’s say that both guys are hot and they want her undivided attention.

What I like about Poppy

• Poppy is a brilliant baker, and she creates these fabulous gluten-free desserts. Yum!
• She is polite nice even when her inner voice is telling her not to be. OK, most of the time she is nice.
• Poppy treats her Aunt Ginny with respect and tolerates Ginny amusing fashion outfits and attitude.
• She has the cutest little cat Figaro, who is a naughty little sneak.  Poppy doesn’t hold it against him.
• Poppy is trying to better herself and be the best that she can be. I adore her attitude.

What I didn’t like about Poppy

• That she wore that yellow apron when she could have just gotten another one herself.
• Poppy allowed Gigi to make her feel bad, all the while knowing that she was just as good as Gigi.

The Mystery

What a crazy mystery with suspects galore. I honestly didn’t figure out who the murder was or the motive until Poppy stumbled upon it herself. The restaurant business is crazy, or was that just the Jersey shore? No seriously, there were so many things going on, and it was so entertaining. I loved the accents, the outfits, whole Chopped-like cooking competition.

Well done, Ms. Klein.

My favorite character

Let me tell you there were lots of characters; they are funny, snarky, quirky, rebellious, and sweet ones. But, my favorite is Aunt Ginny. She is dynamic, fresh, witty and outrageous. Aunt Ginny has lost her filter, and the things that come out of her mouth are hilarious. Ginny and her senior friends just go and do what they want.

One of the best things about Ginny were the outfits that she would show up in; here is one of them:

Aunt Ginny was dressed in marine-blue harem pants and a matching gauzy long-sleeved to bejeweled with aqua sequence and tiny gold bells. There were gold bedroom slippers on her feet.

5 Stars for Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein

My rating for Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein is five stars. Once, I started this one I just couldn’t put it down. I had to know what was happening to Poppy next. Although, I haven’t read the first two books in this series, I have added them to my TBR (yes, it is huge, but that is OK).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a marvelous mystery with laugh out loud characters and their antics.

The recipes in this book are Paleo Black Forest French Toast, Paleo Chocolate Chunk Loaf, Lemon Creme Brulee, Gluten-Free Lavender Shortbread, No-Bake Passion Fruit Chili Cheesecake, Paleo Earl Grey Madeleines, Dark Chocolate Pots de Creme, Paleo Biscuits, and Aunt Ginny’s Fig Jam.

Other Books in the Series

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Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win (3) Print Copy – Restaurant Weeks Are Murder (A Poppy McAllister Mystery) by Libby Klein.

And you will want to check out the recipes in the back of the book.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2019 Cloak and Dagger
• 2019 Craving For Cozies Reading Challenge
• 2019 Cruisin' Thru The Cozies Reading Challenge
• 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge
• 2019 New Release Challenge

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