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When her old friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to mind him for a few hours. The next morning, when Karen is still MIA, Meg retraces her friend’s footsteps and starts to suspect that her disappearance is linked to at least one serious crime. Has Karen been killed or kidnapped? Is she on the run? What’s the story with her ex-husband Jasper? The police don’t seem to care…So now it’s up to Meg to crack the case—no small task when you consider she’s also dealing with a house full of reptilian guests courtesy of Dad and Grandpa, thinking about starting a family of her own with new husband Michael, and chasing after a two-year-old who doesn’t understand that the bad guys might be after him next. ...
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Poor Meg Langslow. She’s blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She’s a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg’s road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair.
There are Michael’s and Meg’s doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there’s the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing---which is why she’s tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother’s computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing---who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave---and Michael’s mother’s nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices.
In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he’s become the victim of someone who wasn’t joking at all. He’s been murdered for real.
Donna Andrews’s debut book, Murder with Peacocks, won the St. Martin’s Malice Domestic best first novel contest and reaped a harvest of other honors as well. This is the fourth book in the Meg Langslow series, which features the intrepid Meg and her cast of oddball relatives. Their capers are a lighthearted joy to read.
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Meg and Michael’s house is serving as the marshaling point for the annual Caerphilly holiday parade. The theme is “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and it features twelve drummers from the school marching band, eleven bagpipers, ten leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college drama department, and so on. There are also assorted floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the Three Wise Men on Caerphilly zoo camels, and Santa in a bright red horse-drawn sleigh. As organizer, Meg’s job is already hard enough. But when her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, “something’s wrong with Santa,” things take a tragic turn. Turns out the local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now it’s up to Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, to tackle a two-fold mission: Solving the murder and saving Christmas… ...
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yle="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">The brilliantly funny and talented Donna Andrews delivers another winner in the acclaimed avian-themed mystery series readers have come to love. yle="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"> yle="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">Meg Langslow’s eccentric parents have a new hobby: growing roses and entering them in highly competitive shows. Dad’s gardening skill and Mother’s gift for selecting and arranging the blossoms should make them an unbeatable team---and Meg is relieved they’ve taken up such a safe, gentle hobby. She even volunteers to help when the Caerphilly Garden Club sponsors its first annual rose show. But after a few hours of dealing with her parents’ competitors, Meg is worried. Rose growers are so eccentric that they make Meg’s family seem almost normal, and so competitive that they will do nearly anything to take home the show’s grand prize---making them prime suspects when Meg discovers that someone is attempting to kill the wealthy woman on whose estate the competition is being held. Of course, the intended victim had other enemies---her treatment of her farm animals had aroused the interest of several animal welfare activists, including Meg’s zoologist grandfather. Meg tries to leave the detecting to the local police and focus on protecting her parents’ chances to win the coveted Black Swan trophy, but she soon finds herself compelled to solve the crime before any more rose growers die. yle="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"> yle="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">It’s Swan for the Money, two for the show, three to get ready... now go, Meg, go! ...
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From ducks to penguins to peacocks to parrots, Donna Andrews knows her birds! And she’s channeled all her skill and winning humor into one of the most accomplished, entertaining cozy series around. It all began with Murder with Peacocks, which won the St. Martin’s Minotaur/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. Upon learning that her novel had won, Donna acquired a copy of the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds and settled herself down with her zany heroine, blacksmith Meg Langslow. The fun has not stopped since. Murder with Peacocks scooped up the Agatha, Anthony, and Barry Awards, along with the Romantic Times award for best first novel and the Lefty award for the funniest mystery. See how this stunning, laugh-out-loud series all began and meet Meg Langslow, one of the most dynamic and hilarious characters ever to grace the mystery shelves. ...
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A romantic getaway was what Meg Langslow had in mind when she and her boyfriend planned a trip to the tiny island of Monhegan off the coast of Maine. They would spend their days hiking the trails and their evenings by the fire. But in this remote place, birds of a feather flock together and Meg quickly learns that this vacation isn't going to go as planned. Although the puffins have already flown south for the winter, the island still harbors a flock of birdwatchers-and Meg's family...Discovering her parents, her brother, her aunt, and a nosey neighbor on the island is Meg's first surprise. Her second one comes when a body is found and her father is accused of murder. Now instead of quiet walks by the water, Meg finds herself scouring the island for clues. In the process, she uncovers more than she bargained for. Meg's only hope for finding the killer now rests on a wing and a prayer...AUTHORBIO: DONNA ANDREWS lives in Arlington, Virginia. Her first novel, Murder with Peacocks, received numerous awards, including the 1998 St. Martins Press/Malice Domestic Award for Best First Traditional Mystery....
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The hilly terrain next to the old Sprocket house that Meg Langslow and her fiancé, Michael, are refurbishing is the perfect location for an "extreme" croquet field--even the legs of cows and sheep are convenient extra wickets. A sport traditionally reserved for genteel society, croquet has become all the rage in Caerphilly…until it appears someone in town has taken the "rage" a bit too literally
AND KNOCK 'EM DEAD.
While stumbling down a steep bank after her ball, Meg encounters the body of a fresh female corpse with a mallet-sized dent in her head. If that isn't reason enough to call a time-out, it turns out that Michael knew the woman from years before. Ever curious, Meg decides that playing arm-chair sleuth is far more important than working on her game…and soon she finds herself in the perfect position to solve the murder mystery--or become the next victim...
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