Restaurant Weeks Are Murder (A Poppy McAllister Mystery #3) by Libby Klein @libbykleinbooks @KensingtonBooks #bookreview #mystery

Title: Restaurant Weeks Are Murder

Author: Libby Klein

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: February 26, 2019

Page Count: 304

My rating:   4 stars

About the book:

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 chefsuspect . . .

Includes Seven Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!

Restaurant Weeks Are Murder by Libby Klein is the third book in the cozy A Poppy McAllister Mystery series. Each book of this series has a new mystery to be solved by the main character so they can be read and understood as a standalone if choosing to do so. Of course as with any continuing series there is some character development that would be missed if not reading from the beginning.

Poppy McAllister is a forty something widow who moved back to her hometown of Cape May after the death of her husband. Poppy returned to be near her elderly Aunt Ginny and has made a living for herself when they converted Aunt Ginny’s home into a bed and breakfast.

Poppy has always had dreams of becoming a chef so when she gets an invite from an old boyfriend to help out during the Restaurant Week challenge she couldn’t help but accept. What Poppy didn’t expect signing up for the high pressure cooking competition was to find herself in the middle of yet another murder investigation.

Having read the first two books of the series and thinking to myself when finished with each that five stars was just not enough for them I had high hopes going into this book. While the series is still at the absolute top of my favorites I did come away with a complaint this time, I truly do wish the author would move away from the old love triangle trope as it’s getting old. A strong female lead doesn’t even need one romantic prospect to be entertaining in a cozy so let’s move on from the back and forth, please? Otherwise I absolutely loved coming back to Poppy and her Aunt Ginny and all the quirkiness that surrounds them.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Libby Klein graduated Lower Cape May Regional High School in the ’80s. Her classes revolved mostly around the culinary sciences and theater, with the occasional nap in Chemistry. She has worked as a stay at home mom, climbing the ranks to the coveted position of Grandma. She also dabbles in the position of Vice President of a technology company which mostly involves bossing other people around, making spreadsheets, and taking out the trash. She writes culinary cozy mysteries from her Northern Virginia office while trying to keep her cat Figaro off her keyboard. Most of her hobbies revolve around eating, and travel, and eating while traveling.