As part of my ongoing series highlighting the most recommended and popular Cozy Mystery series suggested by site readers, this month I will be discussing the first entry in Libby Klein‘s first entry in her Poppy McAllister Mystery Series, titled Class Reunions are Murder.

This book is another relatively recent Cozy, released in 2018, though the series already has seven entries – some authors really have a talent for writing quickly! Though it’s also possible she had a few written before getting them published. As such, it definitely has a lot of the hallmarks of a modern Cozy – specifically, a down-on-her-luck sleuth who is ready to move on to a new career, new town, etc.

In this case, Poppy isn’t actually looking to move back home at the beginning – she’s a recent widow in her early 40s who is still going through the grieving process for her husband, and only intends to go back to her childhood home of Cape May, New Jersey, to attend her high school class reunion. She doesn’t really even want to go to that, but is pressured by her old high school friends. All of them were former nerds/outcasts in their high school experience, and have received personal invitations to the reunion from their mutual bully, Barbie, who wanted to meet with them privately at some point during the reunion.

When Poppy and friends do run into Barbie at the reunion, she’s combative and insulting not only to them, but to the majority of her other former classmates. Naturally, as in many Cozies, the meanest person introduced is given cosmic karma for their attitude by being killed after antagonizing a large group of people who already have no reason to love her. Poppy is the person who locates her body – and naturally becomes the primary suspect.

A bit of a warning – a few of the reasons Poppy’s life is a mess at the beginning of the novel are a bit darker than in most Cozies (even for the “grieving widow” subset of Cozy sleuths), so if you’re looking for a more pure “good-times” sort of Cozy, this might not be at the top of your list. Indeed, the fact that Poppy’s life legitimately seems depressing at the beginning of the novel is one of the big differences between this and other Cozies. Most Cozy protagonists have already gotten over the worst of their emotional issues before becoming determined to make a fresh start, but Poppy feels like a much more realistic depiction of someone who really legitimately needs to make a big change to start to get their life back on track.

Naturally, this being a Cozy, a lot of those problems start to unravel as Poppy is exposed to her old hometown, though they become replaced by new problems – most obviously the murder accusation, but also other complications like her bail being covered by her old high school boyfriend, her eccentric Great-Aunt Ginny needing more supervision now that she’s in her eighties, and other similar Cozy-ish sort of developments. The final takeaway is that Poppy does indeed start at a relatively low place – but in this case, it’s a good thing, because it gives the character a real ability to grow through the course of the novel. This is definitely a transition that’s worth seeing, and one that is surprisingly rare in protagonists of the Cozy genre. 

If you’re interested in seeing other most recommended or popular Cozy Mystery authors/series, please visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

PS: If this tips the scales for any recipe fanatics out there, this novel does include seven recipes at the end.

Today, I’ll be continuing my posts about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series with Victoria Gilbert‘s Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series. As usual, I’ll be specifically discussing the first book in the series – in this case, A Murder for the Books.

Starting this book, most Cozy readers will very quickly identify that this is a very standard opening for modern Cozies. Library director Amy Webber has relatively recently left a much more prestigious job at a nearby university for two reasons – first, so she can be closer to her Aunt, who is having increasing physical mobility problems, and second, to avoid her philandering former boyfriend. Though Taylorsford, Virginia, isn’t exactly described as Amy’s hometown, she definitely has a history in the smaller community, having spent many of her vacations as a child with her aunt, and technically commuting from there to her former university job until she quit.

Despite the fact that she has sworn off men for the time being, she quickly becomes exposed to temptation in the form of Richard Muir, her new neighbor, a “hunky” artistic former dancer and choreographer now working as an instructor at the university Amy formerly worked at. Richard has recently purchased the house next door to Amy – a supposedly haunted house owned by his great-uncle. Said relative had a particular interest in proving the innocence of a supposed murderer who had been legally acquitted, but still believed to be a murderer in public opinion. When Amy takes Richard into the archives to begin his investigation of older material, the pair quickly locate a corpse.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again – I strongly prefer when a Cozy presents the murder right away rather than lingering through chapters and chapters of atmosphere before getting to the mystery. This is definitely one of the fastest to murder – the corpse is located at the very end of Chapter 1, page 17 according to my Kindle, out of 30 chapters and 323 pages. While atmosphere is of course an important part of a Cozy, it’s definitely better to establish it while keeping the actual case in mind rather than going through many descriptions of pastries or antiquing or other incidentals.

Fortunately, Taylorsford does present an interesting atmosphere as well, as an example of a relatively old small American town with a mix of some surviving older buildings, including the library, as well as some newer development like the nearby shopping areas.

A Murder for the Books includes many familiar modern Cozy elements, but it does so in a charming enough manner to entertain nonetheless. Enthusiasts of modern Cozies should find plenty of material to like in A Murder for the Books – and this is especially true for anyone who considers the actual crime to be the most important “front-and-center” element of the Cozy.

If you’re interested in seeing other most recommended or popular Cozy Mystery authors/series, please visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site