I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Six Geese A-Slaying
by
Donna Andrews
amateur sleuth in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on January 1, 2008 and has 290 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, The Twelve Jays of Christmas, 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, Stork Raving Mad, Owl Be Home for Christmas
Tenth in the Meg Langslow amateur sleuth cozy mystery series and revolving around a woman blacksmith in Virginia. The focus is on Caerphilly’s Christmas parade themed as “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. It’s been six months since Cockatiels at Seven, 9.
My Take
I love it. There’s something about that Christmas carol that always grabs me. Now we get to watch as Meg Langslow pulls it all together — and keeps it together when Santa is suddenly murdered!
Not that he’ll be missed . . .
Andrews’ description of the various sets for the parade was a treat, especially as she pulls in the characters to personalize the concept of their costumes. So many townspeople are involved — the kids dressed as elves sound delightful. Of course, it does help that Dr Blake owns the local zoo and loves for his animals to participate in everything! As for Dad, he loves being involved in murders, autopsies, bird-watching, parades . . .
That squabble over the six geese a-laying was a hoot. Only Meg could fall into that one! It’s that first person protagonist point-of-view, from Meg’s perspective, that really brings it home. Then there’s the “practicality” of who will be the Virgin Mary, roflmao.
Caerphilly is all about being inclusive, so Christmas is not just Santa who brings presents and other religions are included. Then, of course, there are the elephants who came when Jesus was born . . . Oozie is the proper term for an elephant handler.
The support and giving nature of Caerphilly (and the Langslows) is amazing. And I do have to wonder how the county can afford it all. I love it. Don’t get me wrong, but I am curious. Of course, this is a novel, and anything can happen in fiction *grin*. More of that Langslow-Waterston hospitality is in all the groups that Meg and Michael host at their place. Sleep-overs, potlucks, camp-outs for such a variety of people.
Aww, Michael calls it “insufficiently developed understanding of the concept of private property”. Mother calls it “a little problem”. Most of us consider it kleptomania.
Ooh, it seems Meg and Michael missed the big brouhaha over the summer about the destruction of a bald eagle nest. They may also miss being at home for Christmas with that blizzard, but they’ll enact their own nativity scene *more laughter*.
For all that Andrews pokes fun at Rose Noire’s passions, she does keep an open mind about some of it.
Lololol, there is some nudity before the parade . . .those geese suits can be quite warm.
Then there’s the dirt Heather dishes on ol’ Werzel. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Oh, sweet! It seems Dad likes to leave “proof” of Santa having been and gone, and it’s a brilliant idea to use that boom lift. What it is to have friends in the construction business. It doesn’t hurt that Ernest and Cousin are so protective, either, lol.
The Story
Poor Meg. She thought being the Mistress of the Revels for Caerphilly County was an honorary title. Now, she’s ticked at the major problem someone has dumped on her!
Then there’s that unexpected robbery by two culprits who no one would have ever suspected. And a nasty set of truths comes out.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith with a skill for organization, is married to Dr Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College. Spike is their eight-and-a-half-pound Small Evil One. Ernest is the llama Meg gave Michael for Christmas.
Rob Langslow is Meg’s brother who owns the successful Mutant Wizards, a gaming company where Jorge Soto is an employee. Rosemary Keenan, a.k.a. Rose Noire, is a cousin with a New Age passion who lives with Meg and Michael. Cousin is the name of the donkey Rose Noire adopted. Mother is quite proper and loves decorating — ANYthing. Pam McReady is Meg’s sister and has six kids: the youngest is Eric — he recruited the local Boy Scout troop, who’ll be earning badges. They’d been calling themselves the Dung Fu Fighters, *grin*. Cousin Alice. Aunt Penelope is an obstetrician. Good thing! Cousin Heather is a reporter for an alternative paper, busy writing exposés.
Dr Montgomery Blake, a world-famous conservationist and animal welfare activist, is their newly discovered grandfather, Dad’s father. Larry, Moe, and Curly are the camels joining the parade. Caroline Willner runs the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary and is a good friend to Blake.
SPOOR members are battling over the geese. Mrs Markland who died last year, keeps popping up. Dad is the current president.
Caerphilly, Virginia, is . . .
. . . where Meg and Michael live and where the college is located. The very tall be-chained Dr Clarence Rutledge is the town and zoo holistic veterinarian and animal behavior therapist — he’s working on Spike. Seth Early is the Langslow-Waterston’s neighbor with the adventurous sheep. Ellie Draper is the town librarian.
The Shiffleys populate better than half the county and own the Shiffley Construction Company run by Randall Shiffley — he’s also a scoutmaster. Rufus Shiffley is Wilfred’s youngest.
The Pruitts are the corrupt half of the county. Norris Pruitt is light-fingered.
Henry Burke is the chief of police after having been a homicide detective in Baltimore. Minerva is his amazing wife who sings with the New Life Baptist Church choir. (Lucas Hawes is their half-decent baritone.) Calvin Ripken Burke, a six-year-old, is one of three grandsons whom they’re raising after their parents’ deaths. Sammy is one of his deputies. Debbie Ann is the police dispatcher. Dr Smoot is the acting medical examiner, with issues. Sheriff Price is the county sheriff, and he, long ago, appointed Chief Burke as the assistant sheriff and wisely leaves it to him.Ya gotta love Price’s campaign platform: “if elected, he’ll reappoint Chief Burke as assistant sheriff and stay out of his way.” Yep, Price keeps getting re-elected.
Horace Hollingsworth, a cousin on Mother’s side of the family, is a crime scene technician with the Yorktown sheriff’s department. They frequently loan Horace out to other law enforcement agencies who are too small to have their own CSI.
We’re stuck with Ralph Doleson, a total grouch, for Santa. He owns the Spare Attic, a storage facility, and the Whispering Pines, that had been a hot sheets motel and is now a grungy garden apartment building. Technically, it’s where Rob lives. Previous Santas had been Wilmer Pruitt who was also a little too light-fingered. Orville Shiffley had been too fond of the drink.
The Reverend Pratt. Noel Grace is the newborn. Dr Edith Braintree is the chair of the tenure committee.
The Caerphilly Clarion is the local newspaper. The ambitious J Ainsley Werzel is a reporter for The Washington Tribune. He gives journalists a bad name. Emerson Drood is the article that caught everyone’s attention.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a snowflake-scattered central gradation with a royal blue at top and bottom gradating to a snowy center with six geese in red scarves and Santa hats. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name directly below in red outlined in white. Below the graphic is the title on a slant in the same red with a white outline. Below that towards the right is a red ornament with the series info scripted on it in white.
The title is way too accurate, at least for one of the Six Geese A-Slaying.
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