Author: Donna Andrews
Series: Meg Langslow Mysteries (Book 40)
Publication: Minotaur Books (October 13, 2026)
Description: There's merry mischief aplenty in Donna Andrews' latest avian-themed Christmas mystery!
The Christmas season is underway in Caerphilly. The members of the Hollingsworth clan, Meg’s mother’s family, are beginning to arrive in force, and Mother has several special projects underway this year. One is the playhouse she’s having built for Brynn, her two-year-old granddaughter. Brynn is a bright, lively child who loves animals, especially a wounded jay that she and Meg are trying to rehabilitate. She’s also hoping to play matchmaker and set up her cousin with an old friend of hers who was recently widowed.
But all is not going smoothly in Caerphilly. Someone vandalizes the playhouse and sets a dangerous trap that injures and could have killed Mother. She reveals that she has been getting nasty anonymous letters, and it’s obvious that someone is targeting her. Meg realizes she has to do something to figure out who could possibly have it in for her mom.
Meg juggles holiday preparations and celebrations while investigating these potential enemies – not to mention helping repair the damaged playhouse, taking her turn at nursing the wounded jay, and trying to coax Mother’s elderly cousin into a reunion with his long-lost love. When one of Meg’s suspects is found dead under suspicious circumstances, the family rejoices that Mother is out of danger. But Meg isn’t quite sure they’re out of the woods just yet.
My Thoughts: Christmas is coming again in the 40th Meg Langslow mystery. Michael is away supervising a trip to Broadway and way off Broadway while Meg is at home helping with the annual design house, sneaking abused women out of town, and helping her two-year-old niece Brynn babysit an injured blue jay.
Meg gets a call from her mother telling her that her granddaughter Brynn's Christmas present - an elaborate playhouse - has been vandalized only to hear her mother attacked. Someone had boobytrapped the playhouse which almost kills Mother. Luckily, she was bending down to pick up a stray feather when the pendulum suspended cosh fell. Now, Meg has to determine who might have wanted her mother dead.
There are multiple suspects including a rival designer at the show house, the husband of one of the women being spirited out of Caerphilly to a new home, and a jealous rival from the gardening club. Mother does mention that she has been getting threatening emails, but only after her "accident."
The story was filled with the usual hijinks including mother's attempt to do some matchmaking between a cousin and the woman who was almost his fiancée and a bridesmaid at her mother's wedding. It is always fun to visit Caerphilly at Christmas time. This story was no exception.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
Sounds like a good book that I might add to my TBR list
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