The eighth and latest installment of the Poppy McAllister Mystery series finds its namesake heroine grumpily going along with hosting a stop on a Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour. Her B&B, Butterfly Wings, already has a reputation for being a murder house—despite the fact that no one’s actually died there (yet). This is likely due to Poppy’s reputation as a murder magnet, as she’s stumbled across a frankly alarming number of freshly murdered corpses.

It doesn’t help that people claiming to have various levels of psychic ability have very publicly hyped up Butterfly Wings as being full of paranormal phenomena. The last thing Poppy needs now is for a skeptical tabloid journalist to check in at the B&B with the intention of proving that she’s a fraud right before she’s supposed to give a tour group of ghost-hunting aficionados their money’s worth with dinner and a viewing of her allegedly haunted home. The worst part is that none of this was even her idea: her mischievous Aunt Ginny signed them up, and their contract with the tour organizers means they have no way of backing out without taking a huge financial hit.

At least, that’s what Poppy thought was the worst part until one of her tour diners abruptly falls over dead into his tiramisu. Dr. Simon Beck had been a professor of parapsychology at Staunton University. He had signed up for the ghost tour with Brooklyn, his much younger bride. Neither had been much pleased to be joined by other members of Staunton U’s staff and student body, all of whom seem to have strong and mostly negative feelings towards the renowned researcher. Rounding out the tour group are the aforementioned skeptical journalist, a pet psychic, and a pack of ghost hunters pretending they’re regular tourists instead of an honest-to-goodness television crew.

When it turns out that Simon’s death was due to foul play, it becomes clear that one of his fellow diners must have been responsible. Unless, that is, Poppy’s latest hire had something to do with it. Kenny Love has been acting even weirder than usual since Simon walked into Butterfly Wings.

Poppy has enough headaches running her B&B without also losing her new housekeeper. So when she’s pressured into helping the police with their investigation by joining the surviving members of the tour group on the rest of the stops, she can’t say no. Will she be able to figure out who wanted the famed parapsychologist dead before she finds herself in mortal peril too?

Every book in this series is so well layered with absorbing and hilarious subplots, and Mischief Nights Are Murder is no different. Whether dealing with murder suspects, fractious employees, her irrepressible aunt, or her boyfriend’s hateful mother, Poppy manages it all with a sense of humor and a strong work ethic. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to lose track of who’s who unless you’re a long-time series fan, but there’s no time like the present for getting started on this highly entertaining series.

There were seven recipes included here for dishes featured in the book, and I decided to try out this one:

Pecan Pie Muffins

Ingredients

1 ½ cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup gluten-free flour

3 cups chopped pecans

1 cup butter, softened

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon xanthan gum if not included in your flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease mini or regular muffin cups generously. Grease them well or they will stick. In medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, and pecans. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and eggs together. Add the vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients just until combined.

Spoon batter into muffin cups about ⅔ full. Bake for 15-17 minutes for regular-size muffins.

Run a knife around the edge of each muffin and pop it out.

While all of Libby Klein’s books feature gluten-free recipes, they’re super easy to adapt for those with gluten-full kitchens, like me. In this case, I just used regular flour and omitted the xanthan gum. These muffins were overall quite easy to put together. The end result is not too sweet and really does taste like a slice of pecan pie in (arguably more portable) muffin form. I’m not ordinarily a fan of nuts in baked goods, but this was a really excellent presentation that tastes both delicious and healthy.

Next week, we travel all over the world to check out different and deadly Halloween doings while baking up another tasty seasonal treat. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss