Blood Honey

by Poppy Koval

Mims Walsh’s fledgling journalism career is on the ropes. Hustling as a writer for free weeklies and covering past-their-prime celebrities was not in her plan. With a shrinking bank account and an inability to keep up with her successful friends, there’s nowhere Mims won’t seek out a career-boosting story—even if it means diving into local community squabbles for a scoop. Between mind-numbing arguments about zoning and liquor licenses, a random complaint that the city’s bees are suddenly making red honey may be the opportunity she needs. Mims will have to unravel every tangled lead to get to the truth—from the absurd to the absurdly dangerous.

Teddy Beasley wasn’t naturally fit as heir to his family’s maraschino cherry business. Drowning in debt from his terrible business decisions and too embarrassed to ask for help, he forms a dangerous partnership that he can’t escape. Paranoid, alone, and bumbling through a series of botched romances, the bees he’s been seeing everywhere might be trying to tell him something—that is, if they are even there at all.

Setting these two terminal screwups on a collision course packed with comedy, adventure, and New York neuroticism, Blood Honey will leave readers rooting for Mims, flaws and all, and waiting for more from Poppy Koval.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2022

About the author

Brooklyn author Poppy Koval writes quirky, character-driven crime fiction that explores social & economic class, dating mishaps, friendship, and empathy. Her short stories have been published in various literary journals. Blood Honey is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Brooklyn, New York, Beasley Cherries is facing challenging times. Teddy Beasley has tried his best to revitalize the maraschino cherry business by investing in organic operations and new lines. However, his business decisions haven't been entirely successful, and he gets caught up in some illegal dealings putting Made in Vermont labels on smuggled Chinese honey as a means of trying to pay off company debt. Now there is an increase in bee activity around the factory, and Teddy is positive that the local bees know what he is up to! Meanwhile, across town, Mims Walsh is also facing an uphill battle as she tries to become a successful freelance writer. Her journalism classmates seem to be all passing her by in their careers. It's not so much about fame and fortune at the moment as getting enough writing jobs to put food on the table.

In her search for the next big story, Mims stumbles upon a local beekeeper who appeals for help from the town council. She meets with Charlie to see firsthand the blood honey his bees are producing and then commits to narrowing down the search for what the bees might be eating based on the locations of the other affected hives in the city. As Teddy struggles to get out of the illegal honey smuggling racket, Mims narrows in on Beasley Cherries as a possible epicentre and sets off a collision course.

Right off the bat, I was attracted by the fact that the story revolved around bees, so I was delighted when this book ended up being such a smooth read right from page one! I quickly fell into the story and didn't want to stop reading. It is well balanced between humour and seriousness. Poppy Koval has also done an excellent job in building relatable characters that the reader ends up caring for. I appreciated how each was integral to the storyline and wasn't just taking up space on the page. It's a must-read!

Thanks to Reedsy and the author for the e-ARC of this novel.

[Cristian · Rating 5 out of 5]

well-crafted, fun, fast read

I got an ARC of Blood Honey from a friend and really enjoyed it.
The characters are realistic and well-drawn. The author really gets into their motivations and conflicted relationships as they progress through the investigation (Mims) and the crime (Teddy).

Pleasant little unexpected shift happens halfway through - the second half has more action than the first.

[Jan Miklaszewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. The plotting is solid and the premise is original, but most impressive of all are the characters. They're so well drawn, Mims and Teddy in particular (not to mention the villain), and the author does a great job exploring their behaviours and motivations, black, white, and grey. As a bonus, I also learned a fair bit about New York City, the less glamorous side of journalism, and, of course, honey. Highly recommended.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding debut novel by Poppy Koval. Having some familiarity with her short fiction, I was expecting Blood Honey to be good, but it exceeded even those expectations. It was excellent.

Chock-full of fully realized, flawed, characters who you will root for in spite of their messy shortcomings.

I was so sad when it ended, I wanted more time with these fascinating people. A perfect fall read that keep me turning pages.

[Zeena]

DNF..this wasn't for me.
Too much talk of bees. I am not the right audience for this.

[Tim Werenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced and insightful. Absolutely nails the sense of NY early career struggle. Well crafted with a great cast of quirky characters. A wonderful debut! Can’t wait for more from Ms. Koval.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart & Funny! Blood Honey has the perfect ratio of character development-to-action. (For me, a person who loves books where you *know* the main characters well enough to really care what happens to them if the plot doesn’t go their way.)

Mims Walsh is desperate to not let her journalism career entirely fizzle out, even though it never took off in the first place. She’s feeling firmly late 20s as all of her friends are becoming successful and she’s 100% not. Faced with either committing to tabloid writing or taking on an investigation into why NYC’s rooftop bee hives are making red honey, she decides to give the career she loves one more shot.

Teddy Beasley has a similar problem - he’s in his mid-late-twenties and has just inherited his family’s company. He got the company into a lot of debt and then turned to **NO SPOILERS** a pretty funny yet also illegal way of getting cash on the side.

As Mims investigates the bees, she gets closer to inadvertently also figuring out what Teddy is up to. It’s great watching their collision course unfold.

Oh also they are both terrible at dating.

The book is fun and funny but still realistic. The tone is darker maybe than a cozy (it’s not a mystery - more general “crime fiction”), but because of the funny parts it balances out the danger and the quarter life crisis angst.

[Jennifer Peer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sucked me in right from the start. I loved the characters. They were so varied and the descriptions of the settings, not only New York City with all of its neighborhoods, but the factory itself. It was obvious that they author did a lot of research. This book has everything.
Mims Walsh is a fully developed character and I found myself as invested in her making it as a journalist as she was since her aspirations seemed to be out of reach. Teddy was equally as flawed and trying to redeem himself after several failures.
Take two people in a city like New York and plop them into an unusual plotline with some humor, great dialogue and a twisty crime to unravel. Highly recommend as I couldn't put it down.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very well-done for cozy crime-fiction. I enjoyed the first half a little more than the second, in part because I wanted a little bit more out of the bees and the honey story. But I loved that the novel touched on some serious social topics without taking itself too seriously. The characters were well developed and the plot was fun! Very promising debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

This author gifted me an e-ARC of her book, and I probably wouldn’t have read this if she hadn’t. Boy am I so glad she did—as this book was not on my radar! The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[Marcia Dove · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable read from beginning to end.

I love books that revolve around less-than-perfect people. The world is full of them, and Koval does a great job developing her characters' sad and often comical flaws. I was intrigued by the plot and was locked in early in the book, wanting to learn more about the journalist, the factory owner, his sister, and his former girlfriend. I never thought I would get caught up in a story about bees, honey, cherries, and factories in New York. As the story evolved, I gained respect for Koval's attention to detail
.
Marcia Dove, author of Fatal Field Trip and Campus Casualty

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Character development was very throughly thought out and every page brought a new surprise. Truly a page turning mystery. Loved it.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts were very interesting. Learned about rooftop beekeeping in New York City

[Zoey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Nothing to run home about. But light easy read. I enjoyed having simultaneous POVs

[StivitTheBlivit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skipped to the end after chapter 11. There was a time I might have found the protagonists quirky & fun to read about. At this point in my life, they're irritating & I don't care for them.

[J.B. Velasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the honey in New York is turning red! What’s up with these bees? Mims is a fledgling journalist, trying to find her next big story when she hears about this red honey. Her investigations lead her to

Teddy Beasley who inherited a maraschino cherry factory he seems to be running into the ground. He’s gotten himself into some trouble with a Chinese honey gangster and Mims finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What I like about this book is the writing itself. Her characters are deeply flawed, neurotic, and also quite believable as real people.