Round Up the Usual Peacocks (Meg Langslow Series #31)

by Donna Andrews

Overview

New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews first introduced us to Meg Langslow as a crime-solving bridesmaid. In her 31st mystery, Round Up the Usual Peacocks, Meg returns to her roots, juggling cold cases and wedding guests.

Kevin, Meg's cyber-savvy nephew who lives in the basement, comes to her with a problem. He's become involved as the techie for a true-crime podcast, one that focuses on Virginia cold cases and unsolved crimes. And he thinks their podcast has hit a nerve with someone . . . one of the podcast team has had a brush with death that Kevin thinks was an attempted murder, not an accident.

Kevin rather sheepishly asks for Meg's help in checking out the people involved in a couple of the cases. "Given your ability to find out stuff online, why do you need MY help?" she asks. "Um . . . because I've already done everything I can online. This'll take going around and TALKING to people," he exclaims, with visible horror. "In person!" Not his thing. And no, it can't wait until after the wedding, because he's afraid whoever's after them might take advantage of the chaos of the wedding at Trinity or the reception at Meg and Michael's house to strike again.

So on top of everything she's doing to round up vendors and supplies and take care of demanding out-of-town guests, Meg must hunt down the surviving suspects from three relatively local cold cases so she can figure out if they have it in for the podcasters. Could there be a connection to a musician on the brink of stardom who disappeared two decades ago and hasn't been seen since?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250760203
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/02/2022
Series:	Meg Langslow Series , #31
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	269,252
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

DONNA ANDREWS has won the Agatha, Anthony, and Barry Awards, an RT Book Reviews Award for best first novel, and four Lefty and two Toby Bromberg Awards for funniest mystery. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Novelists, Inc. Andrews lives in Reston, Virginia. Round Up the Usual Peacocks is the 31st book in the Meg Langslow mystery series.

Editorial Reviews

06/06/2022

Bestseller Andrews’s enjoyable 31st Meg Langslow mystery (after 2021’s The Twelve Jays of Christmas) finds blacksmith Meg, a bridesmaid at her brother Rob’s upcoming wedding, tasked with, among many other things, obtaining nonmolting peacocks to grace the reception. Meg’s relieved to delegate bridal chores when she gets the opportunity to revert to her amateur sleuth role and focus on why a Virginia Crime Time podcaster was almost the victim of a hit-and-run after discussing two local cold cases: a 26-year-old cheating scandal at Caerphilly College’s business school that led to a professor’s death by suicide and a talented singer’s decades-old disappearance. Unsure which case triggered the attack, Meg investigates both. It soon becomes clear that someone doesn’t want Meg snooping about in the past, but is it the B-school blackmailer or the person who silenced the singer? Meg must rely on her wits; her Caerphilly, Va., work connections; and a multitude of relatives to unravel the twisted web of lies surrounding each mystery. Quirky characters match the madcap plot. Readers seeking whopping good escapism will be satisfied. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Donna Andrews:

"Fans of previous books will be amused by the humor; those new to the series will most likely want to check out other chapters in the Langslow life. Donna still has the touch! " — Reviewing the Evidence on Round Up the Usual Peacocks

"Enjoyable... Andrews has shaped Meg as an intelligent, insightful sleuth...Round Up the Usual Peacocks moves at a brisk clip as the plot settles in with an enjoyable visit with Meg... Andrews punctuates the story with just the right amount of humor..." — Oline Cogdill in the South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Meg Langslow is on hand to . . . overcome the curse of the Scottish play, sift through layers and layers of mischief, and choose from among all these zanies the perpetrators of a surprisingly expansive flock of actual crimes. Fans will appreciate the helpful final chapter, which indicates exactly which malefactors have earned which legal punishment." —Kirkus on Murder Most Fowl

"If you long for more fun mysteries, a la Janet Evanovich, you'll love Donna Andrews's Meg Langslow series." —Charlotte Observer

"This quirky, long-running cozy series shows no signs of losing steam." —Publishers Weekly

"Andrews deftly juggles franchise characters, newbies, red herrings, Renaissance tidbits, and murder most welcome." —Kirkus Reviews on The Falcon Always Wings Twice

"A long-running series that gets better all the time. A fine blend of academic satire, screwball comedy, and murder." —Booklist

“Meg grows more endearing with each book.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Exceptional....[with] plenty of twists and turns en route to the satisfying ending. As always, spending time with Meg and her wonderful family is a delight. Andrews reinforces her place at the top of the cozy subgenre." —Publishers Weekly on Owl Be Home for Christmas

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

From the multi-award-winning Andrews, past master of laugh-out-loud avian titling, Round Up the Usual Peacocks puts Meg Langslow on the trail of three separate cold cases when a member of her techie nephew's true-crime podcast team has an unfortunate accident that could have been attempted murder (40,000-copy first printing). In the New York Times best-selling Childs's A Dark and Stormy Tea, tea maven Theodosia Browning is approaching St. Philips Graveyard one rain-wrought night when she witnesses the murder of a friend's daughter and immediately starts investigating—never mind the serial killer loose in Charleston. In the Edgar Award-winning Krueger's Fox Creek, Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux protects a stranger named Dolores Morriseau who had sought his guidance but now finds herself pursued by hunters, with Cork O'Connor hot on their trail; his wife, Meloux's great-niece, is with the endangered Dolores (150,000-copy first printing). Author of the "Hugo Marston" mystery series, English journalist-turned-Texas prosecutor Pryor launches a new series with Die Around Sundown, set in World War II Paris, where Det. Henri Lefort has just a few days to solve the murder of a German major at the Louvre Museum (40,000-copy first printing). In Bark to the Future, latest in Quinn's doggedly funny New York Times best-selling series, PI Bernie Little and his devoted canine, Chet, try to figure out what happened to the woman who reigned as prom queen of Bernie's high school class and now seems to have vanished (75,000-copy first printing). With Quarter to Midnight, the New York Times best-selling Rose takes us to New Orleans, where police officer-turned-private eye Molly Sutton is tasked with helping a steamy-hot young chef prove that his NOPD dad's death was not suicide. Former director of the Wollongong Writers Festival, Scrivenor delivers the booming-big debut Dirt Creek, in which D.S. Sarah Michaels investigates the disappearance of 12-year-old Esther as she walked home from her rural Australian school even as Esther's classmates offer their own insights (150,000-copy first printing). In Schaffhausen's Long Gone, Det. Annalisa Vega recoups from having turned in her ex-cop father for murder by investigating a detective's suspicious death, which leads her to a slick car salesman trying to charm her best friend (40,000-copy first printing). Walker's popular hero, Bruno, chief of police in the Dordogne village of St. Denis, faces Spanish nationalists with plans To Kill a Troubadour after release of "Song for Catalonia" by a local folk music group.

Library Journal