MISCHIEF NIGHTS ARE MURDER (A Poppy McAllister Mystery #8) by Libby Klein will be released July 25, 2023 by Kensington Books.
Poppy McAllister is far from pleased when her elderly Aunt Ginny signs up their bed and breakfast to be part of the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour. On the first night of the tour, Poppy's guests include several paranormal researchers, a pet physic, and a tabloid reporter who is planning to write an expose about Poppy and her "talent" for finding dead bodies. Several of the guests know each other, and they spend most of the evening arguing before one of them drops over dead during the dessert course. When the medical examiner determines that Professor Simon Beck's was poisoned, Poppy, Aunt Ginny, and the rest of the B&B employees find themselves on the suspect list along with the dinner guests. To keep her B&B up and running for the rest of the haunted tour, Poppy agrees to tag along with her original dinner group and spy on them for the police.
My main reason for reading MISCHIEF NIGHTS ARE MURDER was the Halloween/haunted tour theme. I found the book to be very entertaining, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ghost stories and paranormal investigation of Poppy's bed and breakfast. The main characters are all quirky and, for the most part likeable. The pet psychic and his numerous chats with Figaro the cat had me laughing out loud. There are plenty of suspects with plausible motive for wanting the professor dead. I was kept guessing about the killer's identity until the end. MISCHIEF NIGHTS ARE MURDER is a fun cozy mystery that I would definitely recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.