A Meg Langslow Mystery (Meg Langslow Mysteries) - The Good

Donna Andrews' stories never disappoint when I need to just relax and enjoy a good book! ...lots of fun characters...and interesting tidbits of knowledge! I've read all the books and eagerly await to see what's next!

no pun intended, mind you. I dearly love Donna Andrews stories and this one is no exception. it doesn't have the usual load of sniffles but it does introduce some fun new characters. I'm looking forward to the next one..

The characters and situations in this series continue to develop: Meg Langslow is maturing from the hysterically funny and therefore slightly hysterical young woman of "Murder with Peacocks" who was fearful of commitment and living as far from her family as possible to being now (a number of years later) the mother of growing twin boys who better understands and appreciates the dynamics of family and parenthood.

Andrew's plots have always been well crafted. They are becoming more serious now, literally bringing Meg's family together, with the serious healing that brings to her ever-less-dysfunctional family, As a result, Andrews is settling down to more realistic, less manic plots. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the "laugh a minute" style of the first books in the series, because that's who Meg was at the time, but all of the characters are gradually maturing, perhaps I would even say becoming more believable, and for that reason, what happens to them has also become much more important. We won't mind when Meg's hand gets better and we hear more about her iron-crafting, but this is the book that tells the story of her grandmother's joining the family, and at the same time, the ending seems to be paving the way for showcasing the entire family's creativity. Michael and the boys could not realistically have been center stage in this book: Grandmother Cordelia was a woman seriously frightened for her life, acting the part of an elderly recluse who could not have handled boisterous 4-year-old twins boys.

If you take a book like this seriously enough to read it more than once, you realize how much the author has put into it. Andrews is doing a great job juggling an enormous family and cast of characters. She doesn't focus on every person the same way in every book, and that keeps us looking for what will happen next, seeing that she eventually catches up with everyone.

I look forward to getting to know grandmother Cordelia better. Michael might well have more focus soon, too -- we're left with that bit of a cliff-hanger: Meg and her grandmother are kindred spirits, and it seems logical that Michael will be drawn to this newly-discovered relation just as he's dawn to his wife. I confess I don't see how the boys can be center stage with that yet, but Andrews is good at bridging the age gap, and I'm not just saying it -- I really am looking forward to seeing what she does with the next book!

Meg Langslow is my spirit animal and in The Good, the Bad, and the Emus, she's better than ever. A few years back, Meg's family connected with her paternal grandfather, Dr. Blake, after Dr. Blake saw a picture in a paper and was taken back by Meg's resemblance to a young women he dated in his early twenties. Meg's grandmother, Cordelia, made a hard decision and put Meg's father up for adoption when she didn't receive a response to her letters to ex-boyfriend Dr. Blake. It turns out that the letters got caught up at a foreign post office and Cordelia disappeared after the adoption, never telling Dr. Blake (apart from the letters) that he had a son.

Dr. Blake's private investigator (Stanley Denton) tracks down Cordelia, only to find out she's been living a little over an hour away from Meg's family for years! Unfortunately, Cordelia died recently, very mysteriously. Dr. Blake picks up Cordelia's feral emu crusade and the entire family, along with a hoard of volunteers all stay on the land near Cordelia's home, where long-lost cousin Annabel lives, to help move the emus to a safe location.
Under the guise of rescuing the emus, Meg begins investigating her grandmother's murder. Family history and secrets are revealed, along with a longstanding feud. The final twist is amazing!

I've never been impressed with authors who physically beat up their heroines. They usually do it for one of two reasons. Either they want to "prove" that their "girl" is "tough." or at least as tough as any man, or they are looking for the sympathy vote as they make their heroine a victim. For an author who strives to give her heroine as much smarts, strength and opportunities as any male, Donna Andrews has fallen far short of her goals in this book. As for the victim thing, she is outrageously out of date and out of style for the times. Meg Langslow spends the entire book hurt and getting further hurt and the last 30 pages were ruined for me as she does one stupid, inept, duh thing after another.

In "The Good, the Bad, and the Emus" Andrews proves once again that she doesn't handle action scenes very smoothly. It's as if she simply cannot imagine the action she is writing about. She takes a competent, strong, smart, imaginative woman and turns her into a total dunce in the last 30 pages.

I've read all of Andrews books. They are deliciously unique with memorable characters, lots of fun and plenty of excitement. But when it comes to action they each hold too many characters who fall apart or stand by idly. Michael is one of the most underwritten characters of all -- a temptingly sexy, viral, interesting man who spends all his time standing about or taking care of the kids. Meg talks more to aging P.I. Stanley than she does to her own husband. What is the point of Rose Noire? A rather fascinating character, she is used only to mention a fact or two, or to spell Meg from mother duties. Dad is a little boy who is always running to and from a scene of trauma. Rob seems to have no sense and so does senseless things or nothing at all. The only truly active character in the book is Spike the Dog, and he can be quite irritating. This book even has a do-nothing chief of police for the most part.

So, the last 30 pages. Would any sensible 90-year old woman head butt a Valkyrie? Not on your life? Read it and weep in this book. Would a 90-year old woman jump vigorously up and down on a metal cellar door? Nope. Andrews talks about "brittle bones," but apparently in a failure of imagination, she cannot visualize what that means. But Meg is so passive that even a 90-year old shows her up. She comes to on the floor, the killer leaves and what does she do? Try to get up? No. Crawl away? No. She chats with the woman beside her unraveling some of the mystery. Not the time! But wait, it gets even more laughable. There they are, Meg and the old woman, outside in the still night air with perhaps a hundred people close by who could help them. As they both get away temporarily from the killer they both worry about how to raise the alarm. Hello? Have neither of you vocal cords? A sudden scream would raise all hell at that time of night and be heard for miles, let alone just a 100 feet away! And don't tell me the emus knocked down the emu-proof fence, yet again! But of course they did, for we need to have yet another way to batter Meg. The dogs attack the killer who never thinks of shooting them? No, because for the sake of a laugh, if not common sense, we must be given a picture of a large dog sitting on the killer -- something it has done before in another book. Proving once again that Andrews can visualize doing nothing much better than doing something.

Andrews also is timid about emotions. Meg suffers through a whole host of them -- and rightly so -- but alas, no release for her or for us as she keeps them hidden inside. We do not see a crucial reunion -- the two go inside the house and shut the door. Again, no emotional release or full-circle moment. Mother shows up, an incidental character who is the high-hand who shuts off the two who are reconciling in private in a very clumsy way. But the biggest reunion falls flat. Grandfather, always a man of many words and damn the consequences comes face to face with a hugely important person from his past and all he can do is dither and squeak, "Morning," "Er . . . likewise," "Um, yes," his entire catalogue of emotional outpouring.

And, finally, not to be mean, I love kids, but I do not love Meg's kids. Andrews writes the boys as just another pained trial for Meg, who dips in and out of their lives just as they are either entering or leaving some horrible mischief. They have no manners and act like barbarians. They are always disagreeable and always seem to be competitive with each other in a 'boys will be boys' stereotype as odious as the 'female as victim' stereotype. Josh, upon seeing his mother (did Andrews forget what Meg looks like at this point in the plot?) filthy, bruised and bandaged, has his first words be that Daddy has brought you a doggie bag, can I have your bacon. Really? Can we make these boys a little more human?

Even though for me the last 30 pages were a bust, and the emus were explained and detailed far too much, still the book had a very good plot and I would lend it to someone to read, if asked, and smile while doing it.

Cozy, lighthearted mysteries are a nice thing, & maybe it's a bit unkind to carp on plausibility when entering a world that by definition is already quite distant from our own, but.... Even given the setting, there are a handful of implausibilities I'm having trouble with. The biggest is Meg's astonishingly free schedule. Part of the heroine's charm is her habit of ambling gently through a whole book having thoughts about the mystery & hunting for clues, but by now she is the mother of small, hyperactive twin boys, whom she sees every day--in the morning, & at night. In between the twins, the babysitter, the extra-cast-members-acting-as-baby-sitters, and her husband hustle the kids off-stage, all day, every day, giving Meg the freedom to amble as gently & cozily as she did when she was unmarried & unemployed--except for running errands for the large extended family. I have no objection to these, since they're there to give a pretext for most of the plot points, but once you have small children, shouldn't they cramp your style just a tiny bit? I don't know how the author can solve this problem, given the premises, but I don't really expect to feel comfortable on this point til the kids are in high school. Looking forward to numbers 30 & beyond in the series.....

Meg Lanslow - wife, mother of young twins, blacksmith, and amateur sleuth - gets pulled into a murder inquiry when she sets out to learn about the grandmother she never knew. Many years ago Granny Cordelia, an unwed mom, gave up Meg's dad for adoption. Now Meg's grandfather, Dr. Montgomery Blake (the unwed dad), has hired detective Stanley Denton to find Cordelia. While assisting Stanley with the search Meg meets Cordelia's agoraphobic sister Annabel, who says Cordelia was killed in a generator explosion. The authorities say this was an accident but Annabel believes that Cordelia was murdered by an ornery neighbor who lives across the fence. Annabel convinces Meg and Stanley to investigate the crime - promising to tell Meg all about Cordelia if she finds the killer.

It also happens that Annabel and Cordelia were actively involved in trying to rescue a flock of emus released from a failed emu farm. Meg gets her grandfather, Dr. Blake - an avid wildlife enthusiast - interested in the project and he soon arrives with a small army of volunteers and helpers. The emu rescuers and Meg's family all camp out on Annabel's property. The do-gooders plan to round up the emus and deliver them to a sanctuary while Meg plans to look into Cordelia's death. All this creates a kind of humorous madhouse atmosphere.

Soon enough a mysterious flagon of scotch and box of chocolates - both laced with deadly poison - make an appearance, apparently targeting Dr. Blake and Annabel. The need to guard and protect these two elderly people adds to the mayhem. As the story unfolds the reader is treated to vivid descriptions of the Virginia countryside, the emu hunt, delicious meals in the mess tent, and spy acivity on both sides of the fence. Much of the hectic goings on in the book are extraneous to the central mystery - which is eventually solved in a believable enough fashion. A fun light mystery to spend a few hours with.

Seventeenth in the too-funny Meg Langslow Mystery series. This one finds the family getting bigger and takes place outside of Caerphilly at Riverton.

My Take
Andrews continues with the fun, and I'm having a hankering for an emu egg for breakfast. Hmmm… Meg's manipulations of everyone to keep the peace, send them down the path she prefers, or to get what she wants are hilarious. Thank god she manipulates for good. I do love how well Meg knows her kids and how much time and attention she gives them.

Then there's Meg's so-practical side. She's an organizer, she understands people and their foibles, and she's okay with them. My favorite example is when she sees her grandfather having a late-night "coffee" and suggests a good alternative that won't bring unwanted advice, lol.

You can't help loving the wide range of characters in this story. Not all the core characters appear in this one, but you'll still love those who do. Dad doesn't have as big a role as he usually does; he adores diving into mysteries and always sets up a portable MASH unit wherever he goes, and he doesn't slack off in this one. We just don't see that much of him. Lordy, Andrews cracked me up with descriptions of Natalie's wardrobe! I especially loved Natalie's decking out her tent and pith helmet to match her preferences!

Yeah, it's lots of fun, and it is a sad one. The chance of finding a lost relative, the anger that it couldn't have been the other one to die, and then the resolution, the realization, that the living still have so much to give. I kind of wish that Andrews had pulled at our heartstrings more with Dad's reactions, but then I suppose that would cut into the humorous side of it. Meg and Annabel learn quite a bit about each other in this: Meg's investigative experience and Annabel's judicial knowledge. Both have an interest in mysteries. Seems to run in the family. Common sense seems to run in the family too, lol.
"A hunch is a deduction your subconscious has made from evidence you don't yet know you have … all you need to do is bring the evidence up into your conscious mind."

It's a good example of why you should give people a chance to talk And the value of an open mind! It would have relieved some of the frustration!

You can't help laughing (and being impressed!) by the turnout of Blake's Brigade. A mention at dinner and too early the next morning finds dozens of people milling around in Annabel Lee's back field. Sometimes I think it's worth reading just for Blake's "pronouncements" alone. He's too funny in his ego. It's even funnier when you have intelligent characters who enjoy laughing behind a raised hand and yet accept his egocentricities.

For a minute, I thought Meg wasn't going to tell Annabel about that candy! The poisoning certainly makes things more tense — and funnier. Those letter wars sound rather vicious. I wish Andrews had provided some examples…

Oh, yes! That imagery Meg comes up with of Annabel as a dragon with her hoard and her castle…too funny!

I am curious about that vicious storm that came through and took down power lines for at least half the state and took down cell towers, and there's never a mention of muddy ground. I want a storm like that. Seems a waste too of Jim Williams' problems. Just a mention that could have been taken into the dramatic arena, but isn't. And I think that bank should be investigated. Andrews never does provide the reason why Cordelia and Robert didn't have children. It's hinted that it was Cordelia's fault, but never what it was. Why didn't the cousins have a switch installed in the house? It doesn't make sense.

At last! We find out why Annabel is such a recluse and even talks of resorting to a veil!

Lots of rustling in bushes, wrangling through the forest, wending through camera crews, and dodging murderous intent. It's a sweet ending, exactly right, and yet it felt a bit flat. Ah well…

Saved by the emus!

The Story
Inattention puts paid to Meg’s initial plans for her summer vacation and works out beautifully for Stanley Denton. He needs to borrow Meg’s face for a few days for an investigation he’s doing for Dr. Blake.

It’s a trip that will have far-reaching consequences to the entire Langslow family, sad ones as Stanley found the target of his search six months too late. She’s dead. There is however a cousin who may part with memorabilia or at least let the family see it IF they solve Cordelia’s murder.

Rescuing the emus who were flushed out of the former Biscuit Mountain Ostrich and Emu Ranch years ago makes a good cover story.

The Characters
Meg Langslow normally works at a forge creating works of art in iron, but having twin rowdies has slowed that form of expression down. Her husband, Michael Waterston, is now a tenured professor of drama at Caerphilly College. The boys, Josh and Jamie, are four years old now and a hoot all over the place all the time with questions blasting out everywhere. Bodes well for their futures! Dr. James Langslow always claims he was found as a baby in the mystery section of the library, where the librarian adopted him. Rob is Meg's brother (he mostly just gets a mention), and he's brought his Irish Wolfhound, Tinkerbell, who's friends with Spike, the Waterstons' vicious purse dog. Rose Noire is Meg's cousin, who's heavily involved in the metaphysical. Mother also has a brief cameo. Natalie is Meg's seventeen-year-old niece, sister Pam's youngest, who bravely took on the role of summer babysitter.

Camp Emu
Dr. Montgomery Blake is the famous zoologist who keeps showing up on Animal Planet and National Geographic. He's also Dr. Langslow's no-longer-long lost daddy. SPOOR is the Society to Preserve Our Owls and Raptors, a local bird conservation and appreciation group that turns out to help Blake's endeavors. Caroline Willner is an old friend and runs the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary. She's Blake's second-in-command and has shown up in her new toy, a brightly painted gypsy caravan drawn by a placid Percheron.

Blake's Brigade is a blend of the paid and volunteers and has everything: RVs, camera crews, a mess tent with private caterers, a shower tent, port-a-potties, eccentric air support, wranglers from both ends of the movable sector, and more. The blonde Valkyrie, Sherry S. Smith, is the photo-release Nazi! Jim Williams is a new recruit. Seth Early is one of the Waterstons' neighbors, a sheep farmer, who has joined this expedition with his border collie, Lad. Thank god!! Meg reckons he's here to be close to Rose Noire… The unfortunate Fred who likes a bit of Scotch with his coffee is going to miss most of this. Evan is a lazy slug but good for sitting around and guarding gates. Dr. Clarence Rutledge is Dr. Blake's regular vet — the holistic biker one — and the leader of the Knights of the Iron Horse who will go up against the Knights of the Silver Spear led by Lady Joni of Langevoort. Millicent is knitting the ugliest sweaters, scarves, and leggings for the emus.

Riverton
Cordelia Mason was Dr. Blake's old college girlfriend whom he lost track of. Robert Mason is her late husband. Annabel Lee is the cousin who wants that murder solved. Uncle Moss and Aunt Morgana were Cordelia's parents. Weaver bought their house. Dr. Dwight Ffollett, a dentist, is a good friend of Mrs. Mason and Miss Lee. Thor Larsen owes a great debt to the cousins and works at Larsen's Auto Repair. He ends up helping quite a bit in this, and Dr. Blake takes quite the shine to the poor lad. Ann Murphy is the local librarian with a secret crush on Dr. Blake.

The nosy Theo Weaver is the nasty mean neighbor next door. You'll love that story of the mulberry tree, lol. Chief Heedles inherited the office from her daddy, who thought the world of Weaver. Virgil Eaton owned the Biscuit Mountain Ostrich and Emu Ranch until it passed to his son, Hosmer. Smedlock Mining is one of the bad mining companies who prefer to spend the money on fast cars than on environmental controls. The emus were lured to Pudding Mountain.

The emus
Liz is the boss emu. John Stuart Mill is being fought over. Frances Hodgson Burnett, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Zora Neale Hurston, Hans Christian Anderson, Claire Boothe Luce, Lucy Maud Montgomery, John Quincy Adams, John Wilkes Booth, Howard Phillps Lovecraft, Agnes de Mille, and Edwin Way Teale are excellent escape artists. Edward Everett Horton is the smallest and can't wait to go into captivity. It's safer!

Stanley Denton is a private investigator who moved to Caerphilly in, I think, Some Like It Hawk , 14.

The ER
Crystal is a friend of Meg's who's put her and the family in her "frequent flyer" group. Dr. Gridwell is the ER duty doctor, and Dad's opinion on him is still out. Bringing up Dad's name is a surefire way to get hurried through…!

The Toad Wars is how Blake's Brigade refers to one of their campaigns against a mining company to preserve a new species of toad. They weren't poisonous, so they were named Anaxyrus willneri.

The Cover
The cover is too funny with its yellow background and flying carpet of green grass with three dressy emus pacing out. The first emu is wearing what could be Millicent's pink scarf topped off with pink sunglasses and a hat (could be a pith helmet!) bedecked with a pink flower. The next emu in line is less fancy with a big pink bow over its eyes. But it’s that last emu that sums it up as he races by with some yellow crime scene tape, lol.

The title is a fun take-off on the Clint Eastwood movie, only justice will be found as Meg winnows through The Good, the Bad, and the Emus.

Definitely an improvement over the recent tendency to center all stories on how a small town mom ends up single handedly running a statewide festival in her spare time from solving crimes. I have long liked this series with its emphasis in quirky characters, and read all of them, but now that this dinky little town has the five biggest festivals in Virginia, all run by Meg while her husband and relatives take care of her children, is really a bit hard to follow. This book, although vaguely following the large grouping with Meg heavily involved theme, at least moves out of town, is much more believable, and introduces new interesting characters. Unfortunately, the coming attractions for the next book suggest that we are going back to the Meg running a festival theme. The place I have the most trouble suspending disbelief is that with Meg never working now, that the family can live on this huge homestead on the salary of a small Southern college drama professor.

Writing in first person, Donna Andrews, puts the reader into the quirky mysteries of Meg Langslow. Andrew's books provide entertainment in easy to read prose. Add humor, and the afternoon slips by within Meg's mystery.

I like that the main character is not morose. Wrapping the story around the antics of an emu round-up provides squiggle room to keep it light. Donna Andrews captures a niche mystery market with her Meg Langslow series with twenty-two books.

If you read (or heard) other Meg Langslow mysteries, you already know this series formula.

This novel reminds this reviewer of Joan Hess's The Claire Malloy Mysteries and The Maggody Mysteries without the homespunness. This novel is a lighthearted read, too lighthearted in its scope.The action scenes of this novel do not transfer well to an audio forum.

The one thing you cannot fault is the audio talent of Bernadette Dunne. She has a bag of vocal trick and voices to make an listener take notice. The problem is the raw material she has to work with.

The mystery does not seem sound as a dollar. Moreover, It seems the listener is short changed

Always entertaining, this one is a bit short on the humor we've come to expect. Some might see that as good; not as zany and over the top as some earlier outings.

Other than Meg, prominent characters have shifted this go 'round. Family members are on the periphery or absent altogether. But through 17 books and counting, we know so many extended members of the Langslow clan that it's impossible for all to appear in every book. Yet another branch of the family tree is introduced here. I look forward to seeing how they are woven into future books.

This is a cozy. With action left to the thriller genre, the author does a fine job of giving us excitement during the climatic sequence without crossing the line to uncomfortable. My only minor complaint would be Michael is in danger of being written into lapdog status and those twins are so ill behaved someone (maybe Meg's tell-it-like-it-is mom) should settle them down.

Fun cozy mystery with murder occurring as the emus are being rounded up. It made me think about the environment and how we abuse it and how we can save it. My biggest question was why did Blake and Cordelia never reunite? Easy to read as a standalone though it is part of a series. I liked the characters. The mystery was good. I did need the who but then could figure out the why. I look forward to finding more of this series and enjoying them also.

Donna Andrews gives 'The Good, the Bad, and the Emus' her usual fun spin. Feral emus are sighted in a neighboring county and Meg, her wonderful husband, her adorable and hyper-active twins, and her whole extended family with their usual madcap antics are off to save the world--or at least the next county, from the feral emus. Complicating matters, Meg needs to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the grandmother she never knew. A pleasure to read. Janice

I loved this! Genealogy, emus, wild characters, new characters, and a small town named Riverton! Couldn't get much better for this Front Royal gal---keep Cordelia coming! With her attitude she fits right in with the rest of the wacky, lovable crew (& go, MOTHER!). Can't wait for the Nightingale Before Xmas, and more read-aloud snippets that engender giggles, guffaws, and 'when did she see me do THAT?'

... But I think her character was more interesting before the kids came along as they seem to be an afterthought within the story. I did like the emu round-up though. I guess I missed several stories between the first one I read and this one. There is a lot of back story that I missed.