Audiobook Review: The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews

The Gift of the Magpie
Author: Donna Andrews
Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
Series: Meg Langslow Mysteries (Book 28)
Publication: Macmillan Audio (October 20, 2020)
Length: 9 hours and 30 minutes

Description: New York Times best-selling author Donna Andrews returns with another Meg Langslow mystery crafted "firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie's Christmas books" (Toronto Globe and Mail).

The 28th audiobook and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie is yet another wonderfully merry and funny book from New York Times best-selling author Donna Andrews.

Meg’s running Caerphilly’s Helping Hands for the Holidays project, in which neighbors help each other with things they can’t do and can’t afford to have done. Her hopes for a relatively peaceful (if busy) Christmas vanish when someone murders Harvey the Hoarder, whose house the Helping Hands were decluttering. Was there any truth to the rumor that he had something valuable hidden beneath all his junk? Was one of his friends, neighbors, or relatives greedy enough to murder him for the rumored treasure? And what about the magpie that has been bringing her family bits of tinsel and costume jewelry - does the bird’s latest gift hold a clue to solving the crime?

Full of intrigue, this Christmas mystery will take listeners home to Caerphilly, where the suspense falls as thick as the snow.

My Thoughts: Meg Langslow is running the Helping Hands for the Holidays program this Christmas season. Her biggest project is for Harvey the Hoarder who has a house and yard filled with clutter. His neighbors and relatives are threatening to sic Adult Protective Services on him.  

Having convinced Harvey to let them move everything to a closed furniture store so that other workers can do needed repairs on his house and let them have room to spread out his belongings to make it easier to sort them, the packing and moving begins. There are boxes and boxes of papers that range in importance from expired coupons to wills. 

Harvey goes home to spend the night after a day of sorting only to be attacked in his garage and left for dead. In fact, Doctor Langslow and the Chief of Police do announce that Harvey is dead. There are lots of suspects including his avaricious second cousins and the neighbors who have been keeping a very close eye on his house. But before Meg can figure out who wanted Harvey dead, she has to figure out why this shy, reclusive man would be anyone's target. 

This was another engaging episode in the long-running Meg Langslow mystery series. I enjoy the combination of mystery and humor in the series. 

I bought this one December 7, 2025. You can buy your copy here.