Stork Raving Mad: A Meg Langslow Mystery

I love Donna Andrews books. I love it when authors take a character, like Meg, and do a series with them. And Danna's Meg is a favorite of mine. In this book Meg is very pregnant and has a house full of people and then a murder. This book is about how she solves the murder before going into labor. It is a good romp!

Love all of these books. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

Just about every small town has one, a family that just seems to attract odd things. In the little Virginia college town of Caerphilly that family is beyond a doubt the Langslow-Waterson family. Meg seems to be normal enough even though she is an artist, a artist who makes wrought iron sculptures of all things. Michael teaches at the local college, in the drama department. Despite that they seem normal enough it is just that things do happen when they are around, things like dead bodies appearing. Of course what do you expect? Meg is one of those Langslows from the next county over, that huge family with all those....interesting people, and now that Meg and Michael have settled into quiet little Caerphilly it seems as though the whole family is spending more and more time visiting them. Well so much for Caerphilly's reputation as 'quiet' or 'sleepy'. As this 12th volume of this comic cozy series Meg and Michael are expecting twins. In fact they are expecting them at any time. They have gotten their huge Victorian farmhouse into a livable condition if not quite finished condition. Cousin Rose Noir has moved in help with the new arrivals, and of course there is the usual steady stream of Langslow relatives dropping by. All this Meg could take in stride, even while expecting twins and waiting to hear if Michael would finally be granted tenure. It all got to be just a bit much when the heating plant at the college went out and most of the theater students moved into the first floor of the farmhouse. Meg was still managing quite well when Michael asked to add another houseguest, a 90 year old Spanish playwright. The final straw came though when two college faculty members arrived threatening ruin for the drama department in general and Michael in particular. When one of them is discovered dead turning the farmhouse into a crime scene Meg realizes that her only hope for a little peace and quiet will be to solve the crime. This is a hilarious series of novels. Meg's extended family is so delightfully wacky that a search of her family tree is almost certain to turn up Bertie Wooster. The situations that befall Meg and Michael as they face the usual struggles of young marrieds start out so plausible and then begin to careen out of control as Meg valiantly attempts to restore order into their life. I cannot wait to see how she will cope with twins added to the mix.

It's the beginning of December, and Meg is due to give birth to twins any day. And her house is anything but restful. The heat has failed at nearby Caerphilly College where husband Michael teaches, and Meg and Michael are hosting a smattering of drama department students since they can't live in the dorms. One of these students, Ramon Soto, is days away from putting on a play as part of his doctoral thesis. That is until Dr. Jean Wright and Dr. Enrique Blanco arrive, saying Ramon never got the approval for his thesis. In the midst of the confusion this sets off, one of them is killed. Now a very pregnant Meg is caught between trying to rest while still finding important pieces of the puzzle. Can she solve this mystery before she gives birth? I've got to admit this wasn't the funniest book in the series, although I did laugh some at the usual antics of Meg's family and friends. However, I did enjoy the book. The mystery kept me confused until the end, and the characters, both returning and new, were great. I especially loved the character of Dr. Wright because she was so much fun to hate. Truly, that was an evil woman. You'll never go wrong reading a book in this great series, and the latest is no exception.

In the last few weeks of her pregnancy, Caerphilly College Meg Langslow is struggling with finding adequate housing for recently displaced students (due to a heating plant problem). This includes one of her husband associate professor Michael Waterston's grad students Ramon Soto. In fact their home is housing several students including Ramon Besides a housing issue, Ramon is upset after the English Department's nasty Dr. Jean Wright accompanied by admin services Dr. Enrique Blanco arrive to inform him his dissertation proposal a play is rejected. They explain his topic the performance of an obscure anti-Franco play is not acceptable as it contains offensive material. Soon afterward, someone kills Jean in the Langslow library. Meg investigates as only she can. Although carrying twins and about to give birth in two weeks, Meg waddles her way through an amusing investigation. The key to this jocular jaunt is the heroine as she works on two difficult issues: how many people can you fit into a room and who killed the odious Wright. Readers will enjoy the best pregnancy whodunit since Fargo. Harriet Klausner