Lovely fun. I really enjoy the holiday stories in this series.

family, family-dynamics, friendship, artist, curmudgeon, wombats, holiday-madness, law-enforcement, cozy-mystery, verbal-humor, situational-humor, Virginia, small-town, murder, murder-investigation*****

Welcome back to an addictive, funny cozy mystery series that is always a fun read even if you've never read any of the earlier ones. This time it's Christmas time in Virginia and there's a visiting Scrooge in the house with several angry people wanting to get him to pay what he owes. The Waterston household is bursting at the seams with visiting relatives, and a couple of clueless family members have decided to house a pair of juvenile wombats in the basement. Laugh your way through the suspects and red hairrings (not a typo).
Bernadette Dunne really knows how to add to a good story while narrating.
This cannot be an unbiased review because I reread some of them (the print copies walk away so now I have them in audio) and wait with bated breath for each new one. ( )

Another successful Christmas instalment of the Meg Langslow series. Finishing this, I’m now officially ready for the Christmas season.

In the last book, Murder Most Fowl, one of my complaints were that there was very little in the way of birds in the background – or really, any of the delightful menagerie of animals that have made appearances throughout the series. Andrews made up for it in spades with this book as we not only get 2 mockingbirds and 12 bluejays, but 2 wombats as well!

Meg’s family was back in force too, although it seems gone are the days when we could delight in the same level of eccentricities that were so amusing in earlier books. Still it’s always fun to read about the seemingly endless family and their ability to organise themselves and create massive buffet meals at the drop of a hat.

The murder mystery was mostly average; even thought the focus of the book was whodunnit, I imagine most readers will be more caught up in the holiday cheer and family togetherness that’s surrounding the murder. While it wasn’t a badly crafted murder plot, I think the narrow suspect pool just made it difficult to be really stumped, and if I wasn’t willing to commit 100% to who the murderer was, I was absolutely certain about the plot twist. Well, the second one anyway – I didn’t see the first one coming at all and I thought it was a very nice touch.

While I would never want Andrews to be the kind of author that phones it in for the sake of production, I have come to see these Christmas mysteries as an integral part of my personal season tradition, so as long as she has it in her to write them, I’ll continue to look forward to them. ( )

Another typically delightful Andrews cozy mystery, this one themed for the holidays. Once again Meg and Michael are host to a house full of relatives, gathered to celebrate the engagement of Meg's brother Rob and long time girlfriend, Delaney. The couple want to elope, but their mothers secretly plot to organize a huge elaborate wedding. Also, through an amusing series of events, an ornery artist has taken over their library where he's working on illustrations for Meg's grandfather's new book. And the subjects of these illustrations are Blue Jays, also in residence. The Blue Jays escape, a snow storm knocks out the electricity, the artist is murdered, and the suspects pile up. Meg gets drawn into the investigation, putting herself in danger. Lots of laughs in this fun who-done-it! ( )

Meg Langslow has an injured ankle which means she had to miss the ski trip with husband Michael and the boys. Instead, Meg is home with visiting relatives, grandfather’s temperamental wildlife artist occupying the library, wombats in the basement, mockingbirds loose in the house, and her mother secretly plotting a big wedding for Meg’s brother Rob and fiance Delaney despite their wishes for a small intimate New Year’s wedding. This is the rush that starts off Donna Andrew’s latest Langslow Christmas adventure, The Twelve Jays of Christmas.

The artist Meg’s grandfather has hired to paint birds as illustrations for his new book, Roderick Castlemayne, is demanding and disagreeable. His beleaguered assistant, Harris, does his best to run interference but he can’t entirely contain the cantankerous artist. Worse, when word gets out that Castlemayne is working at Meg’s house, a long list of people with grudges against him start showing up at Meg’s door, including some unhappy ex-wives. When a noise in the night awakens Meg and she discovers Castlemayne’s dead body, the list of suspects is a long one.

Meg’s curiosity and the fact that she lives at the scene of the crime, have her helping round up suspects for the chief to interview. A snowstorm and subsequent power outage also have her scrambling to feed a horde of hungry relatives. As usual, Meg’s ingenious family and a bunch of helpful Caerphilly locals make the task easier. Meg still manages to find herself in the killer’s crosshairs before justice is served just in time for everyone to have a merry Christmas.

The Twelve Jays of Christmas is another fun entry in this series that will delight existing fans and newcomers alike. If I were in a Twilight Zone episode and could step off a train into any world, I would get off in Caerphilly, Virginia, and live in the wonderful world Donna Andrews has created there. I love spending time with these characters and always look forward to my next visit.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. ( )