Collect Poppy Redfern And The Midnight Murders (A Woman Of WWII Mystery, #1) Articulated By Tessa Arlen Issued As Textbook

Redfern and the Midnight Murders is the perfect historical mystery for those who dislike the grittiness that can by present in WWII fiction, It features a young amateur sleuth, Poppy Redfern, who works to solve the murders of two young women in her English village, alongside the help of an American pilot stationed nearby.


While I appreciated the setting, for me, I thought this one had a tone that didn't match the actual content, Two young women have been murdered, and you never really got the sense that this village was THAT troubled, We were told that the village was troubled and convinced that the Americans had something to do with it, But, I suspect that this would have had a much greater impact than presented here,

I also found the pacing to be very strange, It may have been due to the eBook format, but I found it jarring how time would jump around in the novel, Suddenly a couple of days had gone by and there had been developments,

This one didn't completely hold my interest I was expecting something darker, That being said, I do think this one will work for readers who enjoy mysteries of the more cozy variety,

copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley,bk. Every so often Amazon's book suggestions get it right, I loved this first novel by Tessa Arlen, She has an excellent ability to write in time and place, including the little things that makes the reader think "oh they do that because, wasn't available," and let's the reader know there are differences between life in the then and now, The mystery was well plotted, I liked the characters and as in real life, sometimes it is hard to identify real evil in someone that you know, I do hope that there will be more Poppy books in the future, Absolutely smashing! Arlen pens a dynamite beginning to a new series, filled with wartime suspense, skillfully wrought emotions, and a liberal dash of romance, Readers will fall in love with clever and quirky Poppy Redfern and the colorful villagers of Little Buffenden, as well as their dashing new neighborsthe American Airmen, What a wonderful start to a new series!

Poppy Redfern has been in London training as an ARP Warden, she arrives back in Little Buffenden to find her family home has been requisitioned and is now home to a large number of American airmen, the young ladies of the village are thrilled and even Poppy finds herself being squired around by an American by the name of Griff O'Neal, but the detente between the British and the Americans is put under strain when first one, then another village young woman is killed.
. . killed by an American by all accounts,   Poppy and Griff however think that it isn't that cut and dried and so they start to try and piece together what happened, only to have another young woman attacked not killed luckily! and a wedge being driven between Poppy and Griff.


Can they figure out what is going on, and patch together their friendship and more or will the Buffenden Strangler strike close to home,Move over, Nancy Drew, There's a young redhead attired with an Air Raid helmet and binoculars who's been blessed with plenty of spunk and attitude, Kinda finding a foothole in your territory, Girl,

It's the Summer ofand the small English village of Little Buffenden is preparing for air raids by the Germans with blackout curtains and practice routines guiding its inhabitants to underground safety.
Poppy Redfern has been commissioned as the Air Raid Warden and she takes her role seriously, With personal canine pet Bess in tow, Poppy makes her rounds each evening, Although hardly twenty, Poppy has shown responsibility every step of the way,

Things have changed drastically in the village as the American Air Force is building a new airfield nearby and their presence at the local pubs and cafes is not always met with friendliness.
Even moreso, the Americans have been dating young women in the village, Eyebrows have gone up on disapproving faces,

The routines of daytoday living have been shaken when the bodies of two of those women have been found murdered, Accusations are thrown into the air with their targets directed at the Americans, Our gal Poppy takes her mystery skills as a parttime writer and implements them into finding out who is behind the murders,

Tessa Arlen creates a journey into times past with an emphasis on the sacrifices made during World War II and the stress and uncertainty of potential raids on the English countryside.
But then she rounds out her story with developing a delightful character in Poppy, Poppy's exploits give depth and interest, The mystery is hardly mindboggling, but it provides an enjoyable escape from some of our heavyduty reads, Love the bookcover and love the thought that there's ain the making,

I received a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways, My thanks to Berkley Publishers and to Tessa Arlen for the opportunity,
sitelinkTessa Arlen getsstar, and I'd give her zero if I could for having the chutzpah to self rate her own bookstars.


The details of daily life in WWII England are much better than the mystery here, There's a mild red herring or two, but the killer's identity isn't surprising, The "Ilona" bit echoes sitelinkCharles Todd's character Ian Rutledge, Poppy may not really hear her heroine "Ilona" the way Ian hears the ghost of Hamish, but it sure seems that way, And the drama of the unmasking of the killer is absurd, Poppy is saved by an event that is pure Deus Ex Machina in its perfect timing,

It's not very good writing, Then again, Poppy's "Ilona" book should be rejected by any good editor, but instead it wins her a new job and gives the author material for another book.
One that I'm not terribly eager to read, Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen is the first in a new historical cozy mystery series set in the's in Great Britain, I found it to be an intriguing and delightful read, Ms. Arlen descriptive writing showed just how tough it was for England inbeing on rationing as all goods were diverted to the troops, Poppy is a smart and determined young woman who has trained to be an Air Warden for her small village which now has an American airfield near, An engaging plot with a few twists, likable characters and a dramatic reveal made this an engaging read for me, I already have the second book in the series on hold at my library, This is one of those mysteries where I just fell in love with the main character early on and very much enjoyed watching her navigate her world while trying to solve a mystery.


Poppy Redfern is an Air Raid Warden in a remote English village ina few years into WWIIwho has been raised by her grandparents and is rational, curious, kind, and compassionatewith a little dog as a sidekick.
While her kindness and rationality has her neutral on the American Air Force members arriving in town, she is mostly alone in this mindset, especially when women begin to be murdered and all eyes turn to the Americans.
Maybe not helping her stay clearheaded all the time is her crush on one of the Americans, but Redfern has the ability to shake most things off after some processing and continue with the task at hand, which in this case is who among them is a murderer

This was an enjoyable and entertaining read with an ending separate from the mystery that left me wanting to follow Redfern in her future endeavors.
This works well if youre looking for a new series to pickup and also if you want just a standalone as the mystery is all wrapped up in the first book.
Bonus: The audiobook is on Hoopla and has a good narrator, TW mentions domestic violence/past suicide, detail/talk of past peeping Tom

sitelink comdieh Stars

An decent mystery with too flippant a tone


I've been burnt out on WWII novels for years now, But after the moderate enjoyment of sitelinkThe Amber Shadows, I thought I'd give another WWII Mystery a try, Enter Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders which I saw on bookstagram, The results were mixed.

This is the story of Poppy Redfern, an air warden in a small English town during the war passing the time while working on her novel.
But when young women in her village started being murdered, Poppy decided she needed to solve the murders herself,

Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders was mostly a Cozy Mystery, The main problem I had with the story was that there was an almost flippant tone to the writing, At first, I gave it the benefit of the doubt, I thought that it would be like sitelinkDear Mrs, Bird which started out with a fluffy tone but ended up being quite poignant, But Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders never got to that level of emotion or depth, Even for a Cozy Mystery, a story about grisly murders and bleak war should have had more moments of seriousness, But despite historical research, there was always a disconnect with reality,

The

story is narrated in first person by Poppy, so it is her voice that gives the story that off feeling, I think the goal was chipper dreamer, but Poppy sounded too insouciant, And severely lacking in empathy, It was offputting to be in the head of someone whose primary goal for investigating the murders is get inspiration for her novel, The way she used the victims friends and family for her own ends was pretty abhorrent, I dont recall her exact age being mentioned, but I think she was meant to be in her early twenties Regardless, both her tone and her actions were often immature and irresponsible.
And the conversations between Poppy and her fictional character were weird,

The writing also switches between past and present tense almost as if Poppy is writing a diary, But the timing of when this is supposed to be written during or after the events seems to shift along with the tense into something murky and indistinct.


Part of the disconnect may also be that I'm less patient with amateur sleuths the older I get, While I enjoy my role as armchair investigator, I have less and less sympathy for average joes who meander obliviously into danger just because they are convinced they are the only ones who can solve the crime.


And to add one last nitpicky note: the dog on the cover is the wrong breed,

That being said, the plot did keep me guessing, The story was good overall, but not great, I may continue on with the series at some point when I want a lighter inbetween read, but it wont be one that I actively seek out,


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading:Stars
Writing Style:Stars
Characters and Character Development:Stars
Plot Structure and Development:Stars
Level of Captivation:Stars
Originality:Stars While I enjoyed the characters and setting, I found the plot and mystery way too predictable.
It was almost disappointing to be so right, And some of the story was much too instant for my taste, especially in book one, But I'd be willing to see where book two would go, Poppy Redfern is the new airraid warden for her village in England in, This has become an important job since an American Air Force base as recently moved into the area, Some of the young women have started dating Americans, but when two of them turn up dead, it sets up a divide in the village, Even though an American has been arrested for the murders, Poppy doesnt think he is guilty, She sets out with one of the American pilots to figure out what really happened, But has she just made herself a target

Ive been trying to read more historical mysteries this year, and this one was already sitting on my shelf.
The author clearly did her research as the details of life at the time came to life, Unfortunately, they tended to overshadow the plot, so the pacing was uneven, Poppy was an interesting main character, and I can easily see her growing as the series continues, but much of the rest of the cast never really came alive for me.
While the book wasnt bad, it wasnt as good as I hoped it would be,

Read my full review at sitelinkCarstairs Considers, I've never had a book about murder make me happy lol,
I absolutely adored Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders,

Last year I was granted a digital ARC copy of this book through Edelweiss and I never got around to reading it, I saw that it was available on Scribd a couple weeks ago and jumped at the chance to finally knock it off my TBR,

I am so glad to have listened to this on audio, The narrator Madeleine Leslay was fantastic, Highly recommend the audio.

What I Loved About This Book

The Coziness I've never read a cozy mystery, This is my first! I loved the way this book made me feel while listening to it, There was something about the setting and characters that I found so comforting,

The Characters Specifically Poppy, She is so endearing. I wanted to befriend her and I loved tagging along with her and Bess on while solving this mystery, I love Bess! for those who are reading and don't know Bess is the cute dog on the cover

The Setting I love a small town setting! Little Buffenden felt very familiar.
I felt at home and loved getting to know some of the towns people,

The Time PeriodThis is a WWII mystery and if you know me, you know I love this time period,

The Conclusion I didn't figure out who the killer was!

Overall definitely recommend, I'm currently listening to bookand I have a feeling it will be just as good!,