Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

Although this book certainly can stand on its own, you should really start this series at the beginning, with Murder With Peacocks. This book is definitely the laugh-out-loud funniest of the series thus far. (The weakest--in my opinion--is the second book, Murder with Puffins.) Some people will find this book a tad on the "too outrageous" side. The stereotypical programmers and psychiatrists are funny because they're *meant* to be funny; if you are expecting a serious character study, you won't find it here. Meg remains the only finely-drawn individual, but that's okay because the rest of the characters are just that: characters. To get a sense of what happens in this book and the general level of bizarre humor, here's the basic hook: Meg takes a job at her brother's software company. They have an electronic mail cart that one of the office jokers like to ride around on playing dead. Because of this ghoulish habit, it takes a while for anyone to realize that he really *is* dead when the mail cart makes its final run. And the "affirmation bear"...that alone is worth the price of admission.

This was my first book by this author and I have to say I enjoyed it enough that I went out and bought the rest of her books. The plot, the characters and how it all played out was very enjoyable with lots of laughs along the way. I especially enjoyed the ending, which played out like Laurel and Hardy do crime! A unique and fun twist on a mystery.

You shouldn't read this book anyplace where you will be embarrassed to burst out laughing. The Affirmation Bears are side-splittingly funny, in my opinion, and the author has such a funny way of stating things and such funny situations. Imagine what she does with a computer game company (the hero-detective's brother's) sharing office space with therapists -- she manages to poke gentle fun that is nevertheless laugh out loud funny at both groups. The description of the computer people (almost all men) painstakingly picking vegetables off their pizza or the competing ideologies of the therapists (one, for example, is a weight-acceptance therapist, whereas another specializes in eating disorder) are examples of the humor that will make people in these professions laugh at themselves.The plot takes a lot of suspension of disbelief, but is still well-done. Basically, there's something very odd going on in this new computer game company ("Lawyers from Hell" is the game) and Meg has been asked by her brother to try to figure out what's going on. She has to take a break from blacksmithing because she injured her hand, so she's trying to manage the wacky office. Not far into the story, one of the computer folk is murdered, and her brother is suspected of the crime -- so she must find out enough to get her brother off the hook. I highly recommend this book -- it's one of the funniest mysteries I've read, and I can hardly wait to read the next in the series. I might even buy the hardback...

Meg's brother Rob has been trying to make money off the role playing game he invented for years. He's finally formed Mutant Wizards and released it as a computer game, to great success. Now he's hard at work on the sequel in a new, larger office.But something is going on just below the surface. Rob is worried, so he asks Meg to investigate. Since she's just hurt her hand and can't work as a blacksmith, she agrees. After two weeks, she's done nothing but fill in for the receptionist and help them move into the new office space they share with a group of therapists. But then Ted, the office practical joker, turns up dead on the mail cart. He was a pain, but he was harmless, right? When Rob is hauled off for the crime, Meg leaps into action to give the police other suspects, turning up quite a few secrets in the process.This is the fourth adventure for Meg. This one didn't feel quite as funny to me as the others, possibly because many of the supporting players from the first three weren't here for the main action. There were still many amusing things along the way, however. For example, the "affirmation bear" had me laughing every time it showed up. The mystery plot is stronger here then others in the series, with quite a few unexpected revelations and a very nice twist at the end. A couple personal sub-plots keep things interesting as well. Everything comes together for a great climax that had me laughing and turning pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next.While those looking for the continued hijinks of Meg's eccentric family will be slightly disappointed with this book, there is still much to recommend it. I enjoyed every page and found the book over all too fast. Here's to many more entertaining adventures with Meg and her family and friends.

A blacksmith cannot work with only one hand so when Rob Langslow asks his sister to take on the job as office manager, Meg can't think of a reason to refuse although she wishes she could. Being office manager at Mutant Wizards is a cross between being a den mother at a college dorm or perhaps an older sister to a pack of brilliant eccentric adult children. Rob thinks something is wrong at the company and he wants Meg to find out what it is.With all the craziness going on at the company Meg doesn't have a clue what is going on until someone is murdered on the automated mail cart and everyone in the company has a reason to want to see him dead. Meg finds a list showing the victim is trying to blackmail many of the workers at the company and once she breaks the code she's sure she will find the perpetrator. Unfortunately, the killer doesn't give Meg time to decipher the data before the culprit makes another move.One of the reasons this series is so successful is that Donna Andrews keeps moving the heroine into a different environment with each new novel. This ensures the story line remains fresh and original as Meg leaps into new arenas. CROUCHING BUZZARD, LEAPING LOON is a humorous amateur sleuth novel that will have the audience chuckling out loud at some of the events that take place in various portions of the novel especially in the office space. The support cast is so loony that they manage to make the lead champion look like a levelheaded, down-to-earth changeling sort of like Marilyn Munster.Harriet Klausner