The Gift of the Magpie: A Meg Langslow Mystery

Donna Andrews

Oct 2020 · Meg Langslow Mysteries Book 28 · Sold by Minotaur Books

About this ebook

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 book and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie is yet another wonderfully merry and funny book 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.

Ratings and reviews

good-works, family-dynamics, friendship, situational-humor, verbal-humor, law-enforcement, cozy-mystery, murder-investigation, hoarding, animal-welfare Warning! I liked it so much that I pre-ordered an audio copy! Come for the laughs and puns, stay for a good mystery, and perhaps to learn some things! Meg Langlow is a craft blacksmith/organizational wizard with a very large, impressive, and quirky family and she is the protagonist. Michael Waterston is her drama professor/former star of a cult sci-fi TV series husband. Dr. Langslow is her father/mystery geek/local Medical Examiner. And a cast of most of the town of Caerphilly, Virginia. It's the Christmas season and in the Good Works department is a community effort to help anyone with a need that can be filled with the help of volunteers, whether hauling manure, making a wheelchair ramp, or helping a man who is overcome by clutter. That last one is the man who needs Meg's persuasion to accept help and find creative answers to the fears he has. Add in some truly awful neighbors and some even worse cousins, and you can guess why Meg finds him nearly dead of blunt force trauma in his garage. Let the sleuthing begin! I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

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 the Private Investigators and Security Association. Andrews lives in Reston, Virginia. The Gift of the Magpie is the twenty-eighth book and seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series.