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The Twelve Jays of Christmas
by
Donna Andrews
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on October 19, 2021 and has 314 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Real Macaw, Some Like It Hawk, The Hen of the Baskervilles, Duck the Halls, The Good, the Bad, and the Emus, Lord of the Wings, The Nightingale Before Christmas, Die Like an Eagle, Gone Gull, How the Finch Stole Christmas!, Toucan Keep a Secret, Lark! The Herald Angels Sing, The Falcon Always Wings Twice, The Gift of the Magpie, Murder with Peacocks, Murder with Puffins, Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos, Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, We’ll Always Have Parrots, Owls Well That Ends Well, Terns of Endearment, Between a Flock and a Hard Place, No Nest for the Wicket, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, Cockatiels at Seven, Six Geese A-Slaying, Stork Raving Mad, Owl Be Home for Christmas, Murder Most Fowl, Round Up the Usual Peacocks, Dashing Through the Snowbirds, Birder, She Wrote, Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!, Rockin' Around the Chickadee
Thirtieth in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series and revolving around Meg, a blacksmith. The focus is on that so-very-irritating wildlife artist.
My Take
Andrews uses first person point-of-view from Meg’s perspective so we know everything she’s thinking, feeling, and doing. And as usual it’s chaos at the Langslow-Waterston house. Christmas festivities are looming and family is descending. Meanwhile those unexpected wombats . . . ! It does crack me up how the family takes advantage of Meg and Michael’s good nature to insert anything into their lives. Of course, there’s also the cousins and more who move in and stay.
Look at all the reasons the Pomeranian owners have for dropping their pups f(off at Meg’s, lol. That Spike is behaving weirdly. He’s actually allowing Meg to pick him up when he’s usually too busy biting her.
Castlemayne is the biggest pain and so very selfish and demanding. Meg is too easy on the man, what with his smoking in the library and general idiocy. He’s also a deadbeat!
Ya gotta love the women in Caerphilly. They’re always getting up some committee or other to help people. Ya gotta love Meg’s family too. They’re always willing to help out, bring casseroles, and par-tay! The town itself (mostly its mayor) has been coming up with all sorts of events that help the town’s economy. The red-headed lineup! Even here the ladies in town are so eager to help! To be fair, the men aren’t slackers. They figure out ways to help people as well, taking their pride into account.
There’s a fascinating bit in here about what exactly “freedom of the press” entails! Having lawyers in the family is definitely helpful.
Mother is a force of nature and an excellent decorator. I love her collaboration with Ekaterina in doing up the Inn for Christmas, and of course the cops know she’s a fount of information *snicker*
It’s a cozy story in a great series in which I love to surround myself. There are characters(!) — think of multiple QUIRKY family members and plenty of crazy and sometimes scary action.
There’s a laugh around every corner — those Monty Python quotes spouted by the parrots were pretty good, lol.
And yep, there’s internal family blackmailing going on . . .
The Story
That sprained ankle is slowing Meg down as the days before Christmas pass. There’s so much to do and so many guests to put up. It doesn’t help that that demanding artist is taking up the library with his work. Nor that his enemies — and ex-wives — keep trying to get in the house!
Even worse, Castlemayne insisted on letting the birds loose . . . so everyone is wearing hats in the house!
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith, is married to Professor Michael Waterston who teaches drama and is the assistant dean at Caerphilly College in Caerphilly (a.k.a. Yorktown). They have two children, twins, Josh and Jamie, along with Spike the Small Evil One, who adores the twins.
Meg has a HUGE family that includes her dad, Dr. James Langslow, who’s the local medical examiner and just adores mysteries. Rob, her brother, is a rich ne’er-do-well with a computer gaming company, Mutant Wizards. Delaney is his fiancée who’s the head of game development. The loquacious and nice Holly McKenna is Delaney’s mom. Tinkerbell is Rob’s Irish wolfhound. Pam is an older sister about whom we never hear much. Kevin is the tech-savvy nephew living in their basement and who works for Mutant Wizards. Rose Noire is the metaphysical cousin enthralled with herbals and succeeding in her small business. Festus Hollingsworth is a very competent lawyer and cousin. Aunt Esme.
Dr J Montgomery Blake, a famous and wealthy naturalist and environmentalist who owns the local zoo, is her eccentric grandfather — the twins call him “Great“. Manoj is Grandfather’s right-hand man at the zoo. Baptiste is Grandfather’s staff photographer. Cordelia is Meg’s grandmother and Dr Blake’s old girlfriend.
The seven eight-month-old Pomeranians are a treat. Widget belongs to Kevin; Watson is Horace’s puppy; Adam has Willie Mays; Aida’s is Whatever — she’s thinking of getting another one and naming it As If; Ms Ellie, the local librarian, has Teddy Who; the Reverend Robyn Smyth at Grace Episcopal has Whatsit; and, Rose Noire’s is Winter Solstice.
Caroline Willner, a family friend — who seems to be the only able to control Blake, owns the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary. Millard Fillmore is the thirteenth bald eagle at the Sanctuary. James K Polk turned out to be female and now has Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren fighting over her. Other bald eagles include William Henry Harrison and John Quincy Adams.
The “self-centered, narcissistic, misogynistic jerk” Roderick Castlemayne is the wildlife artist doing portraits of birds for Blake’s book. (Abelard Hezekiah) Harris, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, is Castlemayne’s much put-upon assistant. His ex-wives include the blonde Madeleine and Iris Hazlitt Castlemayne.
Critters
Ian and Bruce are the glow-in-the-dark wombats.
Caerphilly
Ekaterina Vorobyaninova runs the Caerphilly Inn in town and is a friend of Meg’s. Enrique is part of Ekaterina’s staff. Curly is the entirety of Caerphilly’s homeless problem, who always seems to get arrested when he need shelter from bad weather. Muriel runs the popular diner. Dr Clarence Rutledge, a biker by night, is the veterinarian at the Caerphilly Animal Hospital. Clarence is a special deputy due to his size and calming manner Seth Early is a sheep farmer and neighbor of Meg and Michael’s whose sheep are always escaping the pasture. Deacon Washington is another neighbor. Angel and Ruth own the Caerphilly Beauty Salon
Chief Henry Burke, a former Baltimore City homicide detective, is the head of the police department. His wife, Minerva, is busy with the much-admired New Life Baptist Choir. Adam Burke is their grandson and friends with Josh and Jamie. His deputies include Cousin Horace Hollingsworth, Aida Butler, Sammy Wendell, and Vern Shiffley. Debbie Ann is the always-on dispatcher who’s gotten used to Meg’s 9-1-1 phone calls. George is the civilian who runs the desk during business hours.
Aida has a daughter, Kayla, who used to say “whatever” and has now adopted “as if” — at least until Aida gets another puppy, lol.
The Shiffleys include Randall who runs a construction company and is always available to fix things — he’s also the mayor of Caerphilly. Beau and Osgood both run the county’s snowplows. Uncle Vermeer‘s rheumatism has gotten worse.
Justin Vreeland is a reporter from the Washington Star-Tribune, who won’t take no for an answer. Maudie Morton is the manager of the local funeral home. The Cheerful Gnome is a local B&B. Ms Bridget Westmoreland of Mechanicsville, Virginia, is even more persistent than Vreeland. The Frilled Pheasant does a nice tea. J Eustance Monkton is an idiot lawyer who needs a lot more experience about life. The Clarion is the local weekly.
Clay County is . . .
. . . a rival of Caerphilly. Sheriff Dingell is with the Clay County police department. The Clay County Motor Lodge is notorious for bugs. The Tidewater Tattler in Clay County was very similar.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a gradation of a brief and pretty turquoise-y blue into white for most of the cover and then ends in the same band of blue at the bottom. In the center is a graphic of four blue jays on a sled with a decorated Christmas tree behind them. Three of them are wearing scarves and the fourth has a Santa hat. And they’re a’flappin’ and having fun. All the text is in red and at the top is the author’s name followed by an info blurb. Below the sled is the title. In a round badge set between the back of the sled and the title in white text on red is the series info.
The title is a play on the bluejays that escape in the house with The Twelve Jays of Christmas, er, days of Christmas ahead.
