Murder with Peacocks
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 1 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow's summer is not going swimmingly. In her small Virginia hometown, she's the maid of honor at the nuptials of three loved ones‚ each of whom has dumped the planning in her hands. One bride is set on including a Native American herbal purification ceremony while another wants live peacocks on the lawn. Only help from the town's drop-dead gorgeous hunk keeps Meg afloat in a sea of relatives and outrageous neighbors. But when an offensive newcomer who hints at skeletons in the guests' closets is found dead under suspicious circumstances, level-headed Meg's to-do list extends from flower arrangements and bridal registries to catching a killer‚ before the next event is her own funeral.
Murder with Puffins
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 2 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow and her boyfriend, Michael, are searching for some romantic alone time. She knows the perfect place for a private getaway: her aunt's cottage on the tiny island of Monhegan. But when a series of events leads to the couple being trapped in the cottage with her entire family, their private getaway vacation slowly turns into a disaster. Meg doesn't think anything more could go wrong until a resident of the island with close ties to her mother is murdered. When her father becomes the chief suspect, she knows she can no longer sit by the cozy fireplace. In a dash to save her father and her weekend, Meg finds herself knee deep in murder once again.
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 3 of the Meg Langslow series
Yorktown, Virginia is reliving its role in the Revolutionary War by celebrating the anniversary of the British surrender in 1781. This year, plans include a re-enactment of the battle and a craft fair. Meg Langslow has returned to her home town for the festivities-and to sell her wrought-iron flamingos. Meg's also trying to keep her father from scaring too many tourists with his impersonation of an 18th-century physician-not to mention saving her brother from the clutches of a con-man who might steal the computer game he's invented. It's a tough job-until the swindler is found dead, slain in Meg's booth with one of her wrought-iron creations. Now Meg must add another item to her to-do list: Don't forget to solve the murder!
Owls Well That Ends Well
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 6 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow was actually looking forward to renovating the old Victorian mansion she and her boyfriend Michael bought. But she wasn't thrilled by the lifetime of junk accumulated by the house's eccentric previous owner, Edwina Sprocket. The easiest solution: hold the end-all and be-all of gigantic yard sales. But when the event attracts the late Miss Sprocket's money-hungry heirs, the over-enthusiastic supporters of some endangered barn owls, and customers willing to go to any lengths to uncover a hidden treasure, Meg suspects things have gotten a little out of hand. Then an antiques dealer is found stuffed in a trunk with his head bashed in-and the yard sale turns into a day's-long media circus.
No Nest for the Wicket
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 7 of the Meg Langslow series
The hilly terrain next to the old Sprocket house that Meg Langslow and her fiancé, Michael, are refurbishing is the perfect location for an extreme croquet field?even the legs of cows and sheep are convenient extra wickets. Croquet has become all the rage in Caerphilly…until it appears someone in town has taken the rage a bit too literally. While stumbling down a steep bank after her ball, Meg encounters the body of a fresh female corpse with a mallet-sized dent in her head. If that isn't reason enough to call a time-out, it turns out that Michael knew the woman from years before. Ever curious, Meg decides that playing arm-chair sleuth is far more important than working on her game.
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 8 of the Meg Langslow series
Maybe there are people in Antarctica with penguins in their basements, but in Virginia? Finding a body down there is somewhat more likely for Meg. Explaining the penguins' presence is easy; Meg's dad volunteered to take care of the birds until the future of the bankrupt local zoo could be determined. But identifying the body in the basement proves a harder task. Meg and Michael have been planning to elope to avoid the elaborate wedding their mothers have begun to organize; a plan that's threatened by both the murder investigation and the carnival of animals. The only way to set things right, Meg decides, is to identify both their uninvited visitor and the killer who put him in their basement.
Cockatiels at Seven
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 9 of the Meg Langslow series
When her old friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit. But when night falls, the toddler is still in residence, and Karen isn't answering her phone. Concerned, Meg spends the next morning retracing her friend's steps-and what she discovers makes her begin to suspect that Karen has either been killed, kidnapped, or is on the run. Since the police don't seem to care, Meg once again plays sleuth-this time with a toddler in tow and with her extended family, as usual, complicating everything. In this outrageous book of feathered fun, Donna Andrews once again proves her skill as one of the funniest, most entertaining mystery authors around.
Six Geese A-Slaying
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 10 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow and Michael's house is serving as the marshalling point for the annual Caerphilly holiday parade. The theme is The Twelve Days of Christmas, and it features twelve drummers from the school's marching band, eleven bagpipers, ten leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college's drama department, and so on. There are also assorted floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the three wise men on Caerphilly Zoo camels, and Santa in a bright-red horse-drawn sleigh. As the organizer, Meg's job is already hard enough, but when her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers Something's wrong with Santa..., things take a tragic turn. It turns out that the local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now it's up to Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, to tackle a two-fold mission: solve the murder and save Christmas.
Swan for the Money
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 11 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow's eccentric parents have a new hobby: growing roses and entering them in highly competitive shows. Dad's gardening skill and Mother's gift for selecting and arranging the blossoms should make them an unbeatable team? And Meg is relieved they've taken up such a safe, gentle hobby. She even volunteers to help when the Caerphilly Garden Club sponsors its first annual rose show. But after a few hours of dealing with her parents' competitors, Meg sees trouble... Rose growers are so cutthroat that they will do nearly anything to win the Black Swan trophy - making them all prime suspects when Meg discovers that someone is attempting to kill the wealthy woman on whose estate the competition is being held. Meg tries to leave the detecting to the local police and focus on the competition, but she just can't help getting her hands dirty when lives are at stake...
Stork Raving Mad
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 12 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow is pregnant with twins when Michael asks if she wouldn't mind having a houseguest. One of his doctoral students is directing his new translation of a play by a minor Spanish playwright, who has agreed to come to town for the production. Surely they can spare some room for such an important academic cause? Senor Mendoza turns out to be a partygoer who loves to spend raucous evenings among adoring students...at Casa Langslow. Into this chaos arrives the dean of the English department, who insists the play be canceled. Then the unthinkable happens: the dean is found murdered, and Meg's house has become a crime scene. Now it's up to Meg to help Chief Burke solve the murders, rescue the student's dissertation, make sure Michael doesn't lose tenure, and, while she's at it, give birth to twins. Encore! Encore!
The Real Macaw
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 13 of the Meg Langslow series
During an early-morning feeding for her four-month-old twins, Meg Langslow hears an odd noise and goes downstairs to find her living room filled with dozens of animals-cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs, and a stunningly foul-mouthed macaw. She soon learns that financial woes have caused the local animal shelter to repeal its no-kill policy. Her kind-hearted father, her zoologist grandfather, and other like-minded citizens have stolen all the shelter animals, both as a gesture of protest and to protect them until the hated policy can be repealed. But the volunteer who was transporting animals to new homes has been murdered. Was it the victim's tangled love life that drove someone to murder? Or the dark secrets behind local politics? And will Meg ever succeed in finding homes for all the animals that have landed in her life?
Some Like it Hawk
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 14 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow is plying her blacksmith's trade at Caerphilly Days. The lender has foreclosed on all Caerphilly's public buildings, and all employees have evacuated - except one. Phineas Throckmorton, town clerk, has been barricaded in the courthouse basement for over a year. But the lender seems increasingly determined to evict him, and may succeed after one of its executives is found shot, apparently from inside the basement.
The Hen of the Baskervilles
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 15 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow is helping organize the Virginia Un-Fair, Caerphilly's entry in the race to replace the old state fair. While patrolling the fairgrounds, Meg runs into her friend Molly. Molly is terrified that she may lose her farm because her idle husband has left her for a rich hobby winemaker and is demanding his half of the land. Meg enlists Mother's help to find Molly a divorce lawyer, which Mother is all the more willing to do because the unfaithful husband's new girlfriend is the bete noire of the wine pavilion. She is so universally disliked that Meg begins to worry about her safety. But it's the unfaithful husband whose murdered body she and Michael find that night.
Duck the Halls
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 16 of the Meg Langslow series
A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, despite the protests of Mr. Vess, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen - only to turn up later during the concert slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens. It's clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Vess is discovered dead.
The Good, the Bad, and the Emus
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 17 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg's paternal grandfather has hired Stanley Denton to find her grandmother Cordelia. He convinces Meg to come with him to meet her, but unfortunately, the woman they meet is Cordelia's cousin; Cordelia died several years ago, and the cousin suspects she was murdered by her longtime neighbor. Stanley and Meg agree to help track down the killer. But then the neighbor is murdered, and not only Cordelia's cousin but also the entire contingent of emu-rescuers are suspects.
The Nightingale Before Christmas
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 18 of the Meg Langslow series
As the holidays draw near in Caerphilly, Mother volunteers to take part in a big Christmas-themed decorator show house - each room of a temporarily untenanted house is decorated to the hilt by a different decorator for the public to tour. Of course, Mother insists that Meg pitch in with the organization, and she finds herself surrounded by flamboyant personalities with massive egos clashing and feeling their professional reputations are at stake. Then the rooms start to be sabotaged, and an unfortunate designer turns up dead - making Mother a prime suspect. Can Meg catch the real killer in time to save Mother the indignity of arrest?
Lord of the Wings
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 19 of the Meg Langslow series
It's another holiday and Mayor Randall Shiffley has turned Caerphilly, Virginia, into Spooky City, USA. The residents are covering every window with cobwebs and roaming the streets in costume to entertain the tourists, and Meg's grandfather is opening a new 'Creatures of the Night' exhibit in the zoo. When a real body at the zoo and a suspicious fire at the Haunted House threaten to mar the town's creepy fun, it's up to Meg Langslow to save Halloween.
Die Like an Eagle
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 20 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg is Team Mom and Michael is coach of their twin sons' youth baseball team, the Caerphilly Eagles. Meg tangles with Biff Brown, the petty, vindictive league head. On opening day, Biff's lookalike brother is found dead in the porta-potty at the ball field. So many people think Biff's scum that it would be easy to blame him, but he has an alibi--and Meg suspects he may actually have been the intended victim. With Die Like an Eagle, readers can look forward to another zany Meg Langslow mystery--this one filled with the spirit of America's pastime and Donna's eagle eye.
Gone Gull
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 21 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow is spending the summer at the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, helping her grandmother Cordelia run the studios. But someone is committing acts of vandalism, which threaten to ruin the newly opened center's reputation. Is it the work of a rival center? Have the developers who want to build a resort atop Biscuit Mountain found a new tactic to pressure Cordelia into selling? Or is the real target Meg's grandfather, who points out that any number of environmentally irresponsible people and organizations could have it in for him? While Meg is trying to track down the vandal, her grandfather is more interested in locating a rare gull. Their missions collide when a body is found in one of the classrooms. Can Meg identify the vandal and the murderer in time to save the center's name (and also help her grandfather track down and rescue his beloved gull)?
How the Finch Stole Christmas!
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 22 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg's husband has decided to escalate his one-man show of Dickens's A Christmas Carol into a full-scale production with a large cast including their sons Jamie and Josh as Tiny Tim and young Scrooge and Meg helping as stage manager. When a famous, although slightly over-the-hill, actor comes to town to play the starring role of Scrooge, no one expects that he's bringing a lot of baggage and enemies with him. Like Andrews' previous Christmas books Six Geese a-Slaying, Duck the Halls, and The Nightingale Before Christmas, How the Finch Stole Christmas! is guaranteed to put the ho ho hos into the holidays of cozy lovers everywhere with its gut-bustingly funny mystery.
Toucan Keep a Secret
by Donna Andrews
read by Donna Andrews
Part 23 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg Langslow is at Trinity Episcopal locking up after an event and checking on the toucan that Rev. Robyn Smith is fostering in her office. After hearing a hammering in the crypt, Meg finds an elderly parishioner lying dead on the floor. Several niches have been chiseled open, several urns knocked out, and amid the spilled ashes is a gold ring with a huge red stone. The curmudgeonly victim had become disgruntled with the church and ranted all over town about taking back his wife's ashes. Did someone who had it in for him follow him? Or was the motive grave robbery? Or did he see someone breaking in and investigate? Why was the ruby left behind? While Chief Burke investigates the murder, Robyn recruits Meg to contact the families of the people whose ashes were disturbed. During this task, Meg discovers clues that indicate that a thief broke into the church to steal the toucan the night of the murder, so Meg decides to set a trap for the would-be toucan thief...who might also be the killer.
Lark! The Herald Angels Sing
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 24 of the Meg Langslow series
It's Christmas time in Caerphilly, and the town is preparing for their live nativity. During rehearsals, Meg discovers a real baby in the manger, with a note attached that says the mother is leaving the baby girl there so that her father can take care of her, and the wording of the note implicates Meg's brother, Rob, as the father. Rob protests that he can't possibly be the father, but the town's suspicion creates a rift between him and his new girlfriend. Rob asks Meg to investigate on his behalf‚ to clear his name and to find the real parents of the baby. But every day that passes without answers is another day that spoils everyone's enjoyment of the holiday and drives the wedge between Rob and his girlfriend deeper. As Meg gets further into her investigation, she discovers the found baby is connected to something much bigger, a crime that will need to be stopped by Meg and her motley crew to save the holidays for everyone.
Terns of Endearment
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 25 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg's grandfather has been booked to give lectures on a cruise as part of the education/entertainment itinerary, and he's arranged for a passel of family members to join him. The passengers' vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they wake up to find themselves broken down and in need of repairs. Things get even worse when a crew member announces to all that a woman has jumped overboard, leaving behind her shoes, shawl, and a note. The note reveals she's a disliked member of a writers' group onboard for a retreat, and the group is split on whether this is in-character for her. The captain decides not to investigate, saying he'll notify American authorities when they reach their destination. But Meg's father decides they need to look into whether there was possible foul play while the prime suspects are all stuck on board. It'll be a race against the clock to solve this mystery before they make the necessary repairs and return to shore.
Owl Be Home For Christmas
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 26 of the Meg Langslow series
It's a few days before Christmas, and Meg's grandfather is hosting a scientific conference on owls at the Caerphilly Inn. Most of the family are there, helping out in one capacity or another, including Meg's grandmother, Cordelia-invited by Grandfather in a rare gesture of peace-making, to share her expertise on rehabilitating large birds, including owls. An unexpectedly severe snow storm traps the conference-goers in the hotel, and one of the visiting ornithologists is murdered. Even if Caerphilly is able to clear the roads in time, Chief Burke doesn't want the various suspects to scatter to half a dozen continents before he identifies the killer, so there's a very real possibility that none of them will make it home for Christmas...at least not unless Meg comes to the rescue.
The Falcon Always Wings Twice
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 27 of the Meg Langslow series
A new side-splitting Meg Langslow mystery from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Terns of Endearment.
When Meg's grandmother Cordelia hosts a Renaissance Faire at her craft center, the whole family is put to work: Meg handles the blacksmithing, Michael and the boys will be performing, and no one misses the opportunity to dress up in full regalia.
More exciting to Grandfather is the pair of rare falcons he discovers breeding at the fairgrounds. Concerned for their well-being amid all the activity, he appoints himself their protector.
When one of the actors performing at the fair is found dead—an actor suspected of mistreating one of the falcons, among other sins—Grandfather is a prime suspect.
Donna Andrews’s long-running Meg Langslow series continues to be beloved by its fans, who loyally listen to every new installment. The Falcon Always Wings Twice is a perfect new addition, full of laughter, adventure, and Andrews's wonderful cast of wacky characters.
The Gift of the Magpie
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 28 of the Meg Langslow series
New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews returns with another Meg Langslow mystery written "firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie's Christmas books" (Toronto Globe and Mail).
The 28th audiobook and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie is yet another wonderfully merry and funny audiobook from New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews.
Meg's running Caerphilly's Helping Hands for the Holidays project, in which neighbors help each other with things they can't do and can't afford to have done. Her hopes for a relatively peaceful (if busy) Christmas vanish when someone murders Harvey the Hoarder, whose house the Helping Hands were decluttering. Was there any truth to the rumor that he had something valuable hidden beneath all his junk? Was one of his friends, neighbors, or relatives greedy enough to murder him for the rumored treasure? And what about the magpie that has been bringing her family bits of tinsel and costume jewelry—does the bird's latest gift hold a clue to solving the crime?
Full of intrigue, this Christmas mystery will take readers home to Caerphilly, where the suspense falls as thick as the snow.
Murder Most Fowl
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 29 of the Meg Langslow series
A Shakespearean twist on the long-running Meg Langslow mystery series in the latest installment from award-winning, bestselling author of The Falcon Always Wings Twice.
Meg Langslow’s in for a busy summer. Her husband is directing a production of Macbeth, and most of the cast and crew are occupying spare bedrooms in their house. She also has to keep an eye on Camp Birnam, where a group of medieval reenactors are commemorating the real-life Macbeth by setting up what they fondly believe is an authentic medieval Scottish military camp.
And then there’s Damien Goodwin, a filmmaker who has been hanging around, trying to document the production. When Goodwin hosts a showing of some of the footage he’s taken, he manages to embarrass or offend just about everyone. The next morning Meg isn’t exactly surprised to find that someone has murdered him.
But who? Some people’s motives were obvious from the footage: the couple whose affair was revealed . . . the bombastic leader of the reenactors, who could be facing years in prison if the evidence from the video helps convict him of sheep stealing . . . the actress who’s desperately trying to downplay a health issue that could cost her the role of her life. Other motives are only hinted at—did the filmmaker have other footage that would reveal why one of the actors is behaving so furtively?
Unfortunately, whoever murdered Goodwin also destroyed all the electronic devices on which his video was stored. So Caerphilly’s chief of police—and Meg—must rediscover the same secrets the filmmaker did if they want to catch a killer.
The Twelve Jays of Christmas
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 30 of the Meg Langslow series
The cast of Donna Andrews' New York Times bestselling Meg Langslow mystery series is back for an unforgettable holiday story in The Twelve Jays of Christmas...
Round Up the Usual Peacocks
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 31 of the Meg Langslow series
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 woman who disappeared on her own wedding day and hasn't been seen since?
Dashing Through the Snowbirds
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 32 of the Meg Langslow series
Dashing Through the Snowbirds is the next merry installment of Donna Andrews's New York Times bestselling Meg Langslow mystery series.
Christmas in Caerphilly is wonderful! Unless you're a Canadian whose inconsiderate boss is forcing you to spend the holiday there, far from family and friends, with only a slim chance of a white Christmas. Meg already has her hands full, trying to make the season festive for the dozen programmers who are staying with her and Michael while working on a rush project with her brother's software company. At least it's an interesting project, since the Canadian company is doing cutting-edge forensic genealogy and DNA analysis.
When the inconsiderate boss is found murdered, there are too many suspects. Even before their Christmas in exile, his own employees had plenty of motives, and the growing number of people suing the company for faulty DNA analysis and invasion of their genetic privacy include at least one notorious murderer. Can Meg crack the case in time to keep the Yuletide bright?
Birder, She Wrote
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 33 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg is relaxing in the hammock, taste-testing Michael's latest batch of Arnold Palmers and watching the hummingbirds at their feeders when her hopes for a relaxing early summer morning are dashed.
First her father recruits her to help him install a new batch of bees in the hive in her backyard. Then Mayor Shiffley recruits her to placate the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard), as she calls them—a group of newcomers to Caerphilly who have built McMansions next door to working farms and then do their best to make life miserable for the farmers. And finally, Meg's grandmother, shows up, trailed by a nosy reporter who is writing a feature on her for a genteel Southern ladies' magazine.
Cordelia drafts Meg to accompany her and Deacon Washington of the New Life Baptist Church—and the reporter, alas—in their search for a long-lost African-American cemetery. Unfortunately, what they discover is not an ancient cemetery but a fresh corpse. Can Meg protect her grandmother—and Caerphilly—from the reporter who seems to see the worst in everything... and help crack the case before the killer finds another victim?
Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 34 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg has been roped into participating in a weaponsmithing competition, a Forged in Fire wannabe organized by a blacksmith friend. Meg originally turned down an invitation to participate, but the night before the filming starts, someone attacks Faulk, her blacksmithing mentor, breaking his arm and eliminating him from the contest before it begins. Meg agrees to step in as his replacement to keep the project from failing. She's not thrilled that the filming will take place during December—Christmas is already a crazy time for her. Since the competition is taking place on Ragnarshjem, the picturesque estate that her friend Ragnar, the retired heavy metal drummer, is turning into a Goth castle, Meg won't have to spend Christmas alone and gets to bring Michael and her twin sons with her.
So, Meg joins the cast, to the dismay of several old-school blacksmiths who think women have no place in the profession anyway. And if the show's producers were hoping for drama, they're in luck. The blacksmithing world is a small one, and some of the contestants arrived already laden with grudges and feuds.
It's a high-stakes, cutthroat competition between people who wield large hammers and make swords and have forges full of fire at their disposal. What could possibly go wrong?
Between a Flock and a Hard Place
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 35 of the Meg Langslow series
Meg's neighbors, the Smetkamps', have won a makeover for their old home from Marvelous Mansions, a flashy, yet dubious company, focused on making historic homes more "modern." The company is already several days into its makeover of the Smetkamps' house, and tensions are running high-not only between the officious, demanding Mrs. Smetkamp and her neighbors, but also between her and the renovation crew. Meg, who is trying to keep the peace and prevent the makeover crew from trampling on every clause of the county's building code, arrives at the Smetkamps to find that Caerphilly's resident flock of feral turkeys has moved into their yard-or been relocated there by someone who wanted to cause them trouble. The turkeys are huge, territorial, cranky and aggressive-and impossible to move! Meg does what she can to calm down the irate neighbors and help the makeover crew make progress in spite of the turkeys. She comes up with a plan to gather a group of turkey wranglers to snatch them early in the morning. But when they arrive, they find the body of Mrs. Smetkamp in her backyard. Someone stabbed her, and then tried to make it look as if she was attacked by one of the turkeys, but Meg, the Chief, and the Sheriff are not fooled. Together, they must figure out what really happened to Mrs. Smetkamp...and what to do with all these turkeys!
Rockin' Around the Chickadee
by Donna Andrews
read by Bernadette Dunne
Part 36 of the Meg Langslow series
Bells are ringing and alarms are sounding in Donna Andrews' latest cheery addition in the New York Times bestselling “Meg Langslow” series.
Meg's sister-in-law, Delaney is pregnant. Since her due date is on or around Christmas Day, this is putting a bit of a damper on the usual holiday festivities. Meg and Michael are NOT hosting the usual house full of relatives and parties. Instead, Meg, along with her mother, her grandmother, her cousin Rose Noire, and her good friend Caroline, are militantly doing everything they can think of to keep Delaney quiet and healthy. All the relatives are farmed out to friends and neighbors; all the parties are being held somewhere else, and while Delaney is bored and mutinous, she's doing well, and they're managing to maintain a serene, peaceful environment for her... until a body is found in Meg and Michael's yard. Can Meg still keep Delaney calm in the middle of a murder investigation, all while trying to catch the killer?
Full of her usual twists and turns, paired with relatable family holiday drama and Caerphilly's traditional Christmas merriment, Donna Andrews brings readers another joyful classic.