Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen

Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen ISBN-13: 9781984805805 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Berkley Released: November 5th 2019

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Summer 1942. The world has been at war for three long and desperate years. In the remote English village of Little Buffenden, the Redfern family's house and farmland has been requisitioned by the War Office as a new airfield for the American Air Force.

The village's Air Raid Warden, twentysomething Poppy Redfern, spends her nights patrolling the village and her days writing a novel of passion. It is a far cry from the experience of the other young women in town: within days, two of the village's prettiest girls are dating American airmen and Little Buffenden considers the "Friendly Invasion" to be a success.

But less than a week later, Doreen Newcombe, the baker's daughter; and the popular Ivy Wantage are both found dead. Poppy realizes that her community has been divided by murder, and the mistrust and suspicion of their new American neighbors threatens to tear this town, already grappling with the horrors of war, apart. Poppy decides to start her own investigation, but she might very well become the next victim.


My Review:
Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders is a mystery set in 1942 in England. The main characters were engaging, likable people. Poppy reacted realistically to events and grew as a person. The mystery was clue-based, and whodunit could be guessed. However, I was surprised to realize that I had stopped trying to guess whodunit by the end. Poppy would discover an alibi for certain people only to discover that alibi wasn't valid after all, or she would discover a clue that turned out to be less helpful than expected in narrowing down whodunit. For example, one murder happened while the USA airmen were confined to the base, so they seemed to be in the clear. But then she discovered that people could have gotten out after all. So I stopped guessing. Still, it was an interesting mystery and fun to see Poppy investigate and solve it.

There was occasional use of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this very interesting historical mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.