This installment of the Meg Langslow mysteries takes place at the county fair. Caerfilly is graciously sharing the fair with their neighboring county and they are splitting the proceeds. Unfortunately, this complicates everything and while Meg and her family are there to show their llamas in the llama competition a terrible murder takes place. Meg is on the case! One of her friends is charged with the murder, and Meg's investigation is deadly serious. Of course, there are riotous scenes and laughter galore as she methodically unmasks the murderer. In the final scene, however, her own life is put at risk and provides a wonderful conclusion to this excellent read.
I heartily recommend this series to anyone who likes lighthearted humor and interesting mysteries. I got this this morning and 5 hours later I just finished it. Another funny mystery with a good plot and interesting characters. Meg's family members didn't have as large a role as in previous titles, but most of them were still there--and still fun--in a smaller capacity.
Already pre-ordered the next book in the series because all the titles are an automatic order for me. This series of Meg Lanslow Mysteries always grabs me with first the Title, then the Cover,and finally just knowing that I adore the story plots enclosed in each novel.
Meg and family are fully invested in the 'Unfair' County fair that was created when the Caerphilly County heard the official Virginia State Fair might close. To make their fair different, the organizers decided to show 'heritage' breeds of live stock. Such as the zillions of varieties of chickens The fair is busy and everyone is having a great time, including Meg's husband Michael, and their twin boys who are busy getting ready for the Llama events.
There is one snag Well, I suppose the fact that the person was cheating, lying, stealing, and more No one is too sad to see the last of the victim, including the newest wealthy love interest and suspected stealer of chickens and wines! Meg, of course, is responsible for making the fair run smoothly and that includes trying to solve the murder in order to save the cheese farm.
What can I say about this series that I haven't before? I've told you that Ms. Andrews writes a tight, humorous, suspenseful, twisty turns mystery. I have written that I adore the characters and would love to be friends with them. The dialog makes me laugh out loud and wish the book was three times as long. The main thing I can tell you is that after fifteen novels Now, I hear there is a Christmas one coming out With the Virginia State Fair in crisis, Caerphilly has stepped in to host their own, and Meg is acting as the assistant director.
It's got all the animals and exhibits you'd expect at a fair, including some rare ones. These "heritage" breeds are specialties that farmers are hoping begin to make a come back. But before the fair even opens, a series of thefts occurs, including some of the heritage hens that are supposed to be on display and in one of the competitions. Then one of the wineries starts making waves in the Winery Pavilion. Meg has her hands full trying to keep peace when a murder happens. How is it all tied together? I have not regularly attended a fair in years, but this book has made me want to go visit one.
It's filled with the fun and nostalgia these events always bring to mind. At times, the book does seem to get a bit too distracted by all the heritage breeds, but it quickly gets back on track. The plot is actually fairly strong overall, and I was always wanting to read a few more pages.
The normal assortment of characters are funny and charming like always, and the new characters are just as strong. Honestly, I wouldn't say this is the funniest book in the series, but I did laugh and chuckle at a few parts. Meg's twins absolutely stole the show, and the scenes they are in are some of the best of the book. Fans of the series will enjoy this entry in the series. One person found this helpful. See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.
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Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Jul 09, FangirlNation rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In The Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews, Caerphilly is hosting its un-fair, with a special focus on rare breeds of animals and strains of grown food. As the fair gets ready to open the first day, Meg Langslow, who has acted as organizer of the un-fair, gets a call that a pair of Russian orlaf chickens has been stolen.
Then, more vandalism takes place throughout the un-fair. Read the rest of this review and other fun, geeky articles at Fangirl Nation Jan 10, Teri-K rated it really liked it Shelves: I liked this a book lot better than the previous one. Meg is in charge of the local county "Un-Fair" - a small fair featuring heritage animals and plants. The trouble starts with stolen exotic chickens and smashed giant pumpkins but soon moves on to murder. Since the dead body straddles two counties they have to share jurisdiction with the corrupt neighboring force and that causes even more trouble.
I really enjoyed this fun mix of county fair, exotic animals and murder. Who knew there was such I liked this a book lot better than the previous one. Who knew there was such a thing as llama obedience trials??? Dec 19, Tari rated it it was amazing. Actually I listened to this. It's the first audio book I've ever tried, borrowed from Overdrive, and it definitely won't be my last. I was told by someone who is a big audio book fan that Donna Andrews' Meg Lanslow series is great on audio and I decided to try it out, randomly picking this one. I was really surprised and entertained with this audio book!
Even though I had never read or listened to any other book from this series, it took literally no time to get to know Meg, Michael, their twins Actually I listened to this. Even though I had never read or listened to any other book from this series, it took literally no time to get to know Meg, Michael, their twins Josh and Jamie along with the various law enforcement officials and random friends.
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It was really a good stand alone. It does help with the interested in the story factor that I'm somewhat familiar with the workings of a fair since my daughter was in 4-H and FFA from the time she was years old so I attended plenty of fairs. I didn't even realize there was such a thing as heritage animals though. It was interesting to hear about them but in some places I did get a little bit uninterested in hearing about the various breeds.
There are some various thefts and acts of vandalism going on then eventually a murder that points to one of Meg's friends. Even before the murder though, Meg was determined to find out the person or persons involved in possibly trying to wreck their little fair. I like that at least by this book she seems to have the full support of the local police and sheriff as far as investigating goes and that for the most part, she did it along with her husband or someone else. The mystery kept me on the edge of my seat at times.
I found myself making comments and going "oh no, keep running" just like I would if I was watching a mystery show on TV. There were plenty of suspects and great twists. To me it was a very carefully constructed plot which I totally enjoyed. I didn't guess the killer until the author chose to reveal it either. I would love to start reading this series from the beginning and catching up on the various cases Meg has probably helped with.
Nov 17, Mary rated it it was ok. I saw good reviews about this book so decided to have a read. This isn't the type of book I usually read, altho I do read the occasional Cat Cozy-mystery which I like a lot more than I did this particular book. Unlike other reviewers and the book's own jacket notes, I didn't find this at all funny. Especially the hectic, sleepless life of Meg wasn't my idea of a soothing, good-time story. Did my last sentence seem incomplete? Several times I found sentences that seemed incomplete or poorly construc I saw good reviews about this book so decided to have a read.
Example from page I understand this isn't Dickens, but it just doesn't work for me. I won't be reading books by this author again. They're not "bad" per se, there's just so many better things to read. Dec 09, Kathy Davie rated it it was amazing Shelves: Fifteenth in the Meg Langslow funny mystery series revolving around Meg and family in their small town of Caerphilly, Virginia.
It's cozy, homey, and downright hilarious with its small-town life and obvious villain. Add in the focused pride of individual participants in their particular plants, animals, and crafts, and its humanity in spades. I hadn't really thought of Fifteenth in the Meg Langslow funny mystery series revolving around Meg and family in their small town of Caerphilly, Virginia. I hadn't really thought of how much work was involved in raising that pumpkin, and I love that Andrews took the opportunity to explain.
This really is an excellent and too-funny story, one that's made even better with Andrews' promotion of heritage breeds and heirloom plants.
Donna Andrews (author) - Wikipedia
The emphasis is more on the animals, but I do love how she explains the breeders' hopes and dreams for their animals. I could wish she'd done an equal opportunity for the crops and produce, but perhaps Andrews felt that organic produce and cheeses and such have received more publicity than the critters. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hen! We are searching for the Hen of the Baskervilles. Oh man, anyone putting on events would love Meg's database with its matching map!
Actually, they might want to read The Hen of the Baskervilles for reasons they can use to explain why a good judge is worth the price! The Cutest Dog Contest is so sweet!
Hen of the Baskervilles
Jesus, listening to Plunkett and Vern argue about who has jurisdiction over the body was just ridiculous. Sure made me laugh until the sheriff horrified me with his crime scene techniques. I loved Meg's solution, LOL. Actually, Meg has all sorts of solutions that'll mire the Clay County deputies in deep ca-ca.
Geez, that Genette is a piece of work. Everything and everyone is supposed to revolve around her? You'll enjoy hearing how Meg plans to take her for as much as possible. Why wouldn't Meg simply email a link to what she found to the police? Okay, besides printing out the picture?
Can't wait to read the next in line, Duck the Halls. The Story It has all the security a laid-back, easygoing town will provide, so it's no surprise when acts of vandalism and theft destroy the efforts of some of the fair's participants. Then again, it is a surprise that anyone would actually do such things until Meg learns of one fair entrant everyone is willing to blame.
The Characters Meg Langslow , blacksmith and mom, is too inquisitive for words and always getting roped in to helping with events. This turn around she's the deputy director for the Un-fair. Michael Waterston is Meg's husband, a drama professor at the local college, and llama enthusiast. Josh and Jamie are their two-year-old twin sons.
Harpo , Zeppo , Gummo , Groucho , and Chico are their pet llamas; Spike is their vicious little dog with Tinkerbelle , Rob's dog, his faithful companion. Horace Hollingsworth is Meg's cousin and a veteran crime scene analyst. Rose Noire is another cousin deeply into organic anything who sells herbal products. Langslow is Meg's dad and volunteered to be the medical officer for the fair; Meg gets her inability to resist meddling from him. Mother is in charge of the winery pavilion, and it's beautiful. I suspect she'll be running a lot more next year. Rob is Meg's brother who owns a computer game company.
Fair participants With no one knowing if the Virginia State Fair would be able to go on, Caerphilly decided to stage its own Un-fair , a statewide agricultural exposition focusing on heritage animals and heirloom crops. Bill Dauber is the not-quite-competent chicken tent volunteer. Rosalie has lost a beautiful Baltimore Album quilt. Molly Riordan is a friend of Meg's and makes the most delicious artisan cheeses.
Meg Langslow Series
Too bad she's so miserably unhappy. Dorcas is one of the winery participants. Genette Sedgewick , another winery participant, is the Other Woman, and a right bitch who believes she is entitled to anything she covets. Jim-Bob , a American Mammoth Jackstock donkey, will play a vital role. Betsy is a Jack Mule breeder and enthusiast.
The Baskerv-, oops, I mean Bonnevilles are in mourning for that first known loss. Mason Shiffley is mortified when his sheep are hit. Paul Morot is a wish-he'd-been. As a Genette victim, he's missing his vineyard terribly. Brett Riordan is Molly's roving husband. Doesn't sound like much of a loss.
Debbie Ann is the police dispatcher. Chief Burke is the police chief as well as a sheriff's deputy. Aida is a deputy with EMT training. Randall Shiffley is the mayor, Vern's cousin, runs a popular construction company, and he's the fair's director. Stanley Denton is a private investigator who recently moved to Caerphilly—he's infatuated with Muriel Slattery 's pies, and maybe Muriel she runs the local diner. Daphne can clean anything. Cousin Norbert Shiffley is about to have a bonanza weekend.
Uncle Hiram has moved his moonshine operation over into Clay County to keep from embarrassing Randall if he gets busted. Those are the polite terms I'm choosing Sheriff Dingle makes Plunkett look right smart. Reely is another relative. The Cover The cover is too typically Meg Langslow with a gradient of lilac that is dark around the edges and lightens up in the center to focus on the cartoony depiction of a midway game of Shoot-the-Chicken even as The Hen of the Baskervilles waves her wing to reveal all. A cute chick, she's wearing a green vest with collar revealing a white button-down with tie, a magnifying glass in her vest pocket, a meerschaum betwixt beaks, and a green deerstalker to match.
It's definitely enough to let you know you're entering the Fun House! Aug 17, Chaitra rated it really liked it Shelves: I know what I like about these books. It is to some extent Meg and her crazy family, the Shiffleys and the chief. But mostly I love the animals. The previous entry had a little less of the animals, but this one is set in a fair and starts off with the theft of a pair of chicken.
I also really like the way the series keeps moving forward. Oct 26, Connie rated it it was amazing. May 07, Darkand rated it really liked it Shelves: This book is my first foray into the world of Meg Langslow but it won't be my last. This was a fun and entertaining little mystery and even though I have not read any of her previous titles in this series this book being 15 I was able to follow along quite well. I found Meg to be clever and smart and incredibly organized so it was easy to see how she was able to find the clues that she did - it didn't seemed forced like some of the scenarios for cozy mystery sleuths.
I did wonder how she and This book is my first foray into the world of Meg Langslow but it won't be my last. I loved the quirky secondary characters and again, I'm betting I would love them even more if I had read the previous 14 books but, I'll get to them soon enough. The twists and turns in the plot had me guessing almost to the end which is always a plus in my book - I hate being able to figure a mystery out too soon.
My one major complaint has to do with the ending. I felt like this book went the way of a roller coaster. You started out slow with the chickens, going up that giant hill, then you barrel down the rails screaming with glee when the murderer strikes, then the rest of the ride is filled with bumps, twists, and turns mirroring the mystery and finally, you coast into the "depot" for lack of a better word with the crime's wrap up.
My problem is with that final screech of the brakes that slams you home and then lets you out of the ride. The ending was very abrupt. I kept looking for a few more pages, maybe something to wrap up the wrap up - IDK - just something that didn't feel like somebody saying goodbye and then shutting the door in your face. My feelings about the abrupt ending aside, I enjoyed this intelligent and interesting mystery and I will definitely want to visit with Meg and her family again soon. I won a copy of this book through the GoodReads First Reads program. No compensation for my review was given.
View all 8 comments. Feb 09, Carly rated it really liked it Shelves: Another enjoyable adventure with Meg Langslow. In this episode, Meg is in charge of the logistics for the Caerphilly UnFair, which is in danger of destruction by theft and vandalism. A quilt has gone missing, a pumpkin has been smashed, and animals, including some heritage chickens, are disappearing from the fair grounds. The game is afoot--or possibly awing--and Meg is determined to get to the bottom of the shenanigans.
As always, I have issues with some of the cozy mystery tropes that Andrews e Another enjoyable adventure with Meg Langslow. As always, I have issues with some of the cozy mystery tropes that Andrews employs. This is one of those series that I wish could content itself with being a mystery rather than a murder mystery.
But to me, murder always has a certain weight and tragedy that is a poor fit for Andrews' ebullient style. Even so, these books are like candy, and the pros far outweigh the cons. I love Meg as a character. She is a ridiculously good-natured person, to the point that one of the series' ongoing jokes is how many people end up enlisting her aid, but her practicality and sense of humour make her appealing rather than saccharine.
Nov 08, Mary Ann rated it it was amazing Shelves: It is the second year of the UnFair and Meg is the Deputy Director and she and her volunteers are sleeping in the tents for the animals and she is woken up to the shock that someone has stolen some Heritage Chickens.
As the fair is progressing many people are causing problems, Janette is hassling people to sell her their heritage animals, someone is destroying other people's entries into the different categories pumpkin, quilt, etc and Janette is trying to make Meg let her play her music so lo It is the second year of the UnFair and Meg is the Deputy Director and she and her volunteers are sleeping in the tents for the animals and she is woken up to the shock that someone has stolen some Heritage Chickens. As the fair is progressing many people are causing problems, Janette is hassling people to sell her their heritage animals, someone is destroying other people's entries into the different categories pumpkin, quilt, etc and Janette is trying to make Meg let her play her music so loud that people run from them.
The other winemakers band together to get Janette out of the tent, because of her behavior and her bad ways with others. New rules are created to deal with certain problems, others are strictly enforced, but then the next night, her married boyfriend ends up being shot in the parking lot and the Clay County Sheriff and the Caerphilly Chief come to an agreement where one of the Clay County Deputies is to help with the work, but the Caerphilly Department can take the lead, but the deputy assigned has rubbed many the wrong way.
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As they continue to search to find who murdered the man and who is stealing chickens and destroying property. My kids were chuckling over some of the things that happened in the story and it was a fun story. So improbable, but fun. Aug 01, Mark Baker rated it it was amazing Shelves: Meg is the assistant direct at the Un-fair, a local alternative to the state fair. The first morning things get off to a rough start with some vandalism and theft, including two heritage chickens from the chicken tent.
Throw in tension in the wine pavilion and things are hoping before the dead body shows up. While I didn't find this one as laugh out loud funny as some of the previous entries, I did really enjoy it. The plot was good and the characters - new and old - were fun. Meg's twins stole e Meg is the assistant direct at the Un-fair, a local alternative to the state fair. Meg's twins stole every scene they were in, too. Fans of the series or lighter cozies in general will love it.
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Read my full review at Carstairs Considers. Jun 07, Pamela Freeman rated it liked it Shelves: I love this series but I think this one is not quite up to the five-star oepning novel, Murder with Peacocks. Andrews has the problem of all long-standing series: On the other hand, any book which features Meg Langlow's mother is okay with me - a character who has become more nuanced as the series has progressed.
I wo I love this series but I think this one is not quite up to the five-star oepning novel, Murder with Peacocks. I would love Andrews to write a short story from Meg's mother's point of view! Nov 30, Kellene rated it liked it. What a fun book. I listened to this on CD, and had several laugh out loud moments. This was my introduction to the series, and I have to say that I will definitely go back and read what I have missed. I adore Meg and her family, and look forward to catching up with how they got to the point where I met them. The whole un-fair concept, the chicken thieving, the pumpkin smashing, and the cattiness of the wine tent amused me to no end.
I had a decent idea about the resolution just before I got ther What a fun book. I had a decent idea about the resolution just before I got there, but it was still a very satisfying experience. Donna Andrews Meg Langslow series is such fun, and I felt the need for a light, funny mystery that I knew would end up with justice served. And this book filled the bill admirably.