Beth Kennedy is a woman trying to do it all. She's the President of the Tarver Elementary School PTA, she's the owner of a children's bookstore, and she's a single mother of two active children. So it shouldn't be a shock when her best friend Marina decides to lead an intervention. All of Beth's friends band together and take some of Beth's duties away from her for six months. One of those duties is organising the PTA's eightieth-anniversary event, most of which Beth has already done, but she hands over the rest of the work.

The event itself goes off without a hitch and all signs point it being a success. However, a few days after the event, one of the featured speakers, Cookie Van Doorne suddenly dies. Beth was the last person to see her alive, so when it's discovered that Cookie may have murdered, Beth feels responsible for finding out who would have done such a thing. Beth's task is daunting, though, since she soon discovers that Cookie had few friends Beth can talk to about her life.

Quite unexpectedly, Beth receives a letter from Cookie. The letter explains that Beth would only be receiving this letter if Cookie is dead, and Beth should follow the clues to find the killer. Beth, understandable is quite taken aback by the letter, but she feels a mandate to follow the instructions. Not long after that, Beth receives a package from Cookie that contains various odds and ends, which Beth assumes are the clues referred to in Cookie's letter.

While Beth is trying to catch Cookie's killer, she's preoccupied by Marina's behaviour. Never before has her best friend kept a secret from her, but now Marina is actively dodging her and lying to her. Beth's kids are also keeping her busy. Jenna is finding out that she has competition for first-string goalie, and Ollie has a crush on the school vice principal. All this while Beth is trying to convince the PTA to accept additional funds from the Tarver Foundation.

The PTA Mystery Book series is one of my favourites, and POISON AT THE PTA is a prime example of why. Beth nearly single-handedly solves the mystery while juggling all of her other duties. She never purports to be the perfect person, and her imperfections shine through winningly, making her the perfect heroine. The subplots dove-tail quite well with the plot, and neither distract from the other. The mystery is well-written and well-paced, and the premise is ingenious. Overall, everything done in POISON AT THE PTA only proves why this series is will remain one of my favourites.

Book Summary

As the Tarver Elementary School PTA president, Beth Kennedy is always on the go—especially when someone puts murder on the agenda.

Beth has been running nonstop to be the best PTA president, bookstore owner, and single parent ever, which is why her friend Marina is staging an intervention. Beth needs to take a break—and that means letting someone else organize the PTA’s upcoming eightieth-anniversary event.

But when Cookie Van Doorne, one of the event speakers, dies of suspicious causes, Beth decides to make an intervention of her own to find out what happened. When she discovers that Cookie was poisoned, the next order of business is catching a killer whose break is almost over.

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