Member Reviews
Poppy and Aunt Ginny are back, along with the rest of the Cape May crew. This fifth installment of the Poppy McAllister series sees Poppy and her B&B host couples on a wine tasting tour. One one man winds up dead, there’s a complicated back story and a collaboration that Poppy, Aunt Ginny, and friends must work to uncover.
I really feel like this book got the series back on track. The fourth book had way too many subplots and was frustrating to read through. This had the light-hearted feel of the first three books, and included tender, steamy, and laugh out loud moments that author Libby Klein writes so well.
I often recommend these to fans of cozies other of mysteries in general, and this series is especially important for body positivity.
Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the free copy in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.
This light read was exactly what I needed, and I suspect it will warm many hearts this winter.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the 5th book in the Poppy McAllister cozy mystery series.
I have read all the books in the series and I thought that this book was a great continuation of the series and I really enjoyed it.
It took place in a great location, it had characters I liked, it made me laugh alot and it had a good murder mystery.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves reading cozy mysteries.
I hope Libby Klein decides to keep writing more books in this series.
It seems like Poppy should be busy enough with her two baking jobs and the B&B but that didn't stop Poppy from trying to solve the murder of a guest that no one seemed to like.
I have enjoyed the other books in the series as I did this one. My only criticism is that the question of which guy should she choose is beginning to get a bit old. The mystery is well-written and I enjoyed watching how she solved it.
I'm addicted to this series. Poppy and her Aunt Ginny are wonderful and the author is able to add Poppy's friends (and enemies) without crowding the dialogue and indeed giving each person a fabulous personality.
Author Libby Klein offers up her trademark blend of humor mixed in with a murder mystery in this fifth installment of the popular Poppy McAlister Mystery series. Will Poppy choose between her beau’s Gia and Tim in this book? I’m team Gia all the way!
The South Jersey Wine Tour has filled the rooms at Aunt Ginny’s Butterfly Wings Bed & Breakfast with an eclectic cast of guest characters. Figaro, Poppy’s cat, is not happy with the arrival of the tiny teacup Pomeranian one of the visitors brings along. During the wine tour, a guest dies suspiciously but everyone says they saw nothing unusual happen.
Full of laugh-out loud scenes including the crazy antics of Aunt Ginny and her bawdy group of elderly friends! They remind me of watching old ‘I Love Lucy’ re-runs! There are so many conniving characters it’s like a wild goose chase choosing a suspect. The ending is a wily written masterpiece. Say whatttt, Gia?!?
The author also offers several delicious recipes for readers to try at the end of the story.
I honestly reviewed a digital ARC provided by NetGalley and Kensington Publishing. All opinions are my own.
This is one of my favorite series. I like meeting up with poppy. It’s a quick, fun read. I would recommend it.
This was a cute cozy mystery. A lot of mysteries I feel like you can guess who did it. However, this one, there were so many suspects, the cause of death was up in the air, kept me guessing. I loved the cat and dog interactions and all the baking scenes! Plus there are gluten free recipes at the end of the book which are super cool. Wine Tasting Are Murder also has a slight romance vibe to it. Poppy can't decide on who to love. The .love story line definitely has put me on edge and I look forward to the sequel to find out what happens.
Libby Klein as once again written an AMAZING novel in the Poppy McAllister mystery series. Dare I say this is my FAVORITE of all the newer series to date? I think so! Poppy is once again delivers as one of the funniest and down to earth heroines in the genre. Add this to the fact that the secondary characters are just as enjoyable (and hilarious) and you know you have a fantastic book! I'm already looking forward to the next one!
Wine Tastings Are Murder is the fifth entry in the Poppy McAllister mystery series, but it's the first one I've read. The basic premise of the series is that Poppy owns a bed and breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey, keeps getting involved in murders, and also has two love interests that she can't seem to choose between.
Overall I enjoyed this mystery - there's an interesting cast of characters, a great location with a lot of charm, and the mystery was really intriguing, though I"m not sure it would've been possible to figure out the solution to this one. In this mystery in particular (and based on a comment in the book and a few references to Poirot and Miss Marple, this may be a trend in the series) there are a few clues and inconsistencies, but the ending isn't reveled until Poppy sits the suspects down and confronts them with the solution, very much like a classical British mystery. The love triangle aspect may be tiresome as it gets dragged out for some readers of the series (it's a particular cozy mystery trope that I find only works for a handful of books before it gets old), but as this was my first book in the series, I found it enjoyable and was interested in the cliffhanger ending.
Poppy McAllister is running a bed and breakfast with Aunt Ginny in Cape May, NJ. Poppy also has 2 love interests that are pressuring her to make a decision on who she wants long term. Tim her boyfriend from high school or the hunky Gia. While baking up yummy desserts for her B&B and both businesses of her love interests she stays busy. But, a wine tour brings murder to her door. Twists and turns around every corner but Poppy and her friends along with Aunt Ginny find some interesting tidbits along the way to solving a murder.
Wine Tastings are Murder is book 5 in the Poppy McAllister series. This is the first book I read in this fun, laugh out loud cozy series so I was confused about some of the relationships and events pertaining to Poppy. I soon realized what was happening with her love life. I am not a fan of love triangles in cozies, they are so cliche. In this installment Poppy is hosting a welcome happy hour for a group touring local wineries The disagreeable family of Vince Baker staying at Poppy's Butterfly House B& B provide plenty of suspects when Vince drops dead the next day while at a wine tasting. As Poppy investigates the murder "as a consultant", she soon learns that other members of the tour group had links to Vince. This made for an interesting and unusual whodunit. I did love Poppy's Bed and Breakfast being set in Cape May and the references to the old Victorians, the boardwalk in Wildwood and the pork roll (I call it Taylor ham). Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest opinion. I enjoyed this so much I will be going back to read the previous books. If you're a fan of baking (awesome gluten-free recipes included) and quick-paced mystery with a side of romance this is for you!
I really enjoyed this story. Poppy is the amateur sleuth in this series ans her cat Figaro. This series takes place in Cape May New Jersey. Poppy lives with her Aunt Ginny and runs a B&B. In this book there is a murder on the wine tour. Poppy ends up with everyone on the tour in the B&B per Amber, the police person in charge of finding who done it. Through all of the sleuthing you don't know have a clue who it is until the end. It is one where I wanted to keep reading until I found out, If you like cozies, this is a very good one.
When a wine tour group descends upon the B&B Poppy McAllister begins to feel more confident in the success of her business. But when a guest dies while on the tour, she finds her business may be in jeopardy of being as cursed as she is. In order to ensure the true murderer is convicted, Poppy, Aunt Ginny, Sawyer and the biddies all work together to help uncover whodunit and save the business.
A really enjoyable series that always leaves me wanting more. Solid characters, genuine emotions and feeling of insecurity, and laugh out loud moments will keep you turning the pages. Every girl needs friends like Poppy has in Sawyer. Aunt Ginny and the biddies. Sawyer ordering her coffee from Sierra was just one of many ways I see my BFF in the character. After all, snarky is the new black and one of the reasons I enjoy this series so much.
Poppy and Aunt Ginny are a hoot! Guest staying for a wine tour end with a murder and a long history of suffering. Poppy and the gang ban together to help solve the crime. Poppy has to make a choice Gia or Tim. I couldn’t put this one down all the twist and turns. You will laugh and cry with this one! I can’t wait for more adventures with Poppy!
#WineTastingsAreMurder #NetGalley
What a cliffhanger! I like the characters (and was glad that Poppy limited herself referring to her aunt and friends as "biddies"...that was annoying in previous books) and thought the mystery was a good one. I didn't have it figured out by the end, which wasn't surprising given the complex crime that was involved. I look forward to the next book and hope that Poppy's love life is figured out by then.
I received a free advanced reader copy of Wine Tastings Are Murder by Libby Klein in exchange for my honest review. As a sign of honesty, I should first say that I have not read any other Poppy McAllister novels prior to this one.
If you are new to this series, like me, then I should warn yo that the reader doesn't learn Poppy's name until Chapter 3. Which caused a bit of confusion when they first said her name because I thought it was a nickname. The book starts off with Poppy contemplating her love triangle, so again there was information but it was like jumping in with two feet instead of dipping your toe. She mentions Aunt Ginny and the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast, but it isn't quite clear until later that the reader is shown how dire the situation is, and how it came about. To assist with making everything better, Poppy is hosting a Welcome Wine and Cheese wine tour. Vince Baker and his (much) younger wife Sunny have arrived with their tiny Pomeranian Tammy Faye, and following are uninvited guests Vince's daughter Alyce and her husband Ryan, who despise Sunny.
At the winery, however, disaster strikes as Vince Baker collapses after what appears is a heart attack. However, the police determine it was foul play, and now Poppy must figure out if she has a murderer in her B & B while dealing with Aunt Ginny, a narcoleptic chambermaid, a dog, a cat, and her love triangle.
The novel was very funny, and fast paced. However, this is not a series to start at random. I really recommend people read from the very first book. While I did enjoy the fun parts, like Aunt Ginny fighting with Amazon's Alexa, there were parts that I did not like. Sometimes Poppy's friends were a bit too pushy for me, and Poppy too much of a pushover. Part of her problems were from them, and Aunt Ginny. I also felt that there were moments where Poppy needed to take a step back and breath, but she over dramatized a situation.
One of those situations was the love triangle that I just didn't agree with at all. There was something about one of the characters that just bothered me. The way this individual spoke to and about Poppy just set my teeth on edge. It wasn't rude exactly, but not something I think someone "in love" would say. Without giving away details, I was quite happy with the choice she made, but the cliff hanger might be what keeps me away from the next book.
Overall, I did like the book, but the cliff hanger was a bit too much for me. I have to rate this 3 out of 5 stars. If you like mytery, romance, baked goods, and fun times, then I recommend this novel.
This was the fifth book in the series but the first one I’ve read. It was pretty good as a stand-alone but I probably would have appreciated sone of the characters and their relationships a little better if I read the previous books.
In this book Vince, a guest at Poppy’s B&B, is murdered when the group is there for a wine tasting tour. His obnoxious squabbling family members give multiple suspects right off the bat. When Poppy’s friend Kim appears to be a suspect, Poppy does some sleuthing of her own to find out who killed Vince. The whodunit keeps you guessing until almost the end!
I thought Poppy was a wonderful character and Aunt Ginny had me laughing out loud a few times. The only downfall to me was what seemed to be a little bit of excessive drama surrounding Poppy’s romance but that may be my general annoyance about love triangles in general. Along with Aunt Ginny being my favorite character in the book, I loved the cat Figaro and just the general hilarity of some of the antics Poppy and friends got into. I’ll have to go back and read the other books in the series.
I have read all of Libby Klein's "...Are Murder" series. This one is hands down the best and my favorite so far.
Poppy McAllister seems to constantly have the bad luck of finding bodies. She is also torn between two men who love her. Besides juggling her love life, she has to maintain constant vigilance over her charming octogenarian Aunt Ginny (definitely one of my favorite book characters of all time) and maintain her Butterfly Wings B&B. When a member of the wine tasting group Poppy is hosting winds up dead, she finds herself in an Agatha Christie-esque spiral to find the killer.
Obviously I enjoy these characters since I eagerly await each new release in this series. Aunt Ginny is a delight. I sympathize with Poppy and her plus size struggles. The food in these books always sounds amazing.
The best parts of these cozies though, is the humor. There were many parts where I literally laughed out loud. There are not too many cozies that can do that. Libby Klein is a truly gifted author and I very much look forward to the next release.
I love a good cozy murder mystery, and this one certainly delivers. I love the descriptive writing. It was easy to curl up and be transported right alongside Poppy. The characters were well written and there were some great moments written for a laugh. This one definitely makes me want to pick up all of the previous books in the series!
I was glad to see Poppy back in another book. The character's development has been a positive trend. At the beginning of the series, Poppy was borderline annoying but as the series has progressed, she has become more pleasant and genial. I was glad to see that the love triangle was finally resolved to a degree. Sometimes that type of thing can get tedious if it go too long. There was a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the book to keep us wanting more. The mystery itself was imaginative and had a good conclusion. I will be watching for the next book in this series.