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
Rockin' Around the Chickadee
by
Donna Andrews
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on October 15, 2024 and has 282 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
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, 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!
Thirty-sixth in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series revolving around an amateur sleuth who is a blacksmith and works for the mayor in Caerphilly, Virginia. The focus is on a legal conference regarding wrongful criminal convictions.
My Take
Oh my. Not only is Delaney very pregnant, but they’re actually looking for a house — they’ve put a bid on a house they don’t really want.
Rockin’ Around the Chickadee is mostly character-driven and there is some action, although most of it is a combination of talk and action, all of which we learn from Andrews using first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg’s perspective.
Ya gotta appreciate a cop who acknowledges that there are some bad hats in the police force. Andrews comes up with a slew of reasons why the cops don’t do a good job, and some of them are good reasons. But, as a cop, you have to go with the facts and not preconceived ideas or prejudices.
You know, it ticks me off when people publish the addresses and contact info on people. I don’t care which side of the issue a person is on, it’s not right.
I just love the Meg Langslow series with its extended family and townsfolk who sincerely enjoy helping others. Ya can’t help but mellow out as you laugh and read. It gave me the warm fuzzies how everyone accepts Ezekiel.
Andrews makes a good point about the Internet. It is easy to get your story out there, but others can twist it around and people will believe it. Which only makes it harder.
That Gadfly is a real scum bucket, and I do enjoy the various put-downs he gets. Then there are those who jump to object to “Christmas” and try to make a big fuss. That bit where the Gadfly claims to be a pagan and Cordelia reads off a long list of pagan groups in the area provided plenty of laughter. Called that sucker on it, lol. It’s not the only place the Gadfly tries to make trouble — and it’s darned lucky that the cops know Meg so well and that Josh and Jamie are observant.
It seems that Grandfather and Gran-gran are working on their character arcs and attempting to get along. I wonder how long that’ll last, lol.
I’m not sure if it’s a character arc or a family one, but I do appreciate how Meg and Michael are brining up Josh and Jamie. That assignment the boys get to suss out escape routes is too much fun. If a bit nerve wracking.
Grandfather’s talk on DNA was enlightening, although Josh and Jamie are annoyed that Mom and Dad didn’t produce them as identical twins. I will say that the story is an easy way to understand some of the legal terms used.
I do enjoy these Christmas-themed releases, if only to see how crazy Mother gets with the decorations. Grandfather has also gone all out in Rockin’ Around the Chickadee. Ya know, if you are at all interested in the environment, family, or animals, you really want to read Meg Langslow.
Oh, boy. Andrews makes good use of the deterioration brought on by old age with Iris’ crazy complaints. It makes it so hard at that last event she claims she saw.
I do like Iris’ description of what Christmas decorating should be like:
”Christmas decorations . . . should be as if joy threw up all over your house.”
Go, Iris!! She may be old, but she can wield that iPhone just fine.
Yep, Dad. That guy just loves being considered a suspect, quite contrary to what most of us would prefer.
And a new romance is brewing . . .
The Story
Poor Delaney. It’s doctor’s orders so she has no choice but to stay on bed rest.
There are, however, only so many activities the family can keep Delaney from. There are the fun ones . . . and then there’s that body behind the barn.
The Characters
Meg Langslow is a nosy blacksmith who spends more time organizing everyone.
Her husband, Dr Michael Waterston, is a drama professor at the local college. Josh and Jamie are their almost-teenage twins. Skulk and Lurk are their barn cats. More animals include the Welsummer hens and the llamas.
Delaney is the very pregnant wife of Rob Langslow, who owns Mutant Wizards. Tinkerbell is Rob’s Irish wolfhound. Holly McKenna is Delaney’s mom. Rose Noire is the cousin who lives with Meg and Michael and is deep into the metaphysical. Dad, Dr James Langslow, is the local medical examiner — he does love mysteries. Mother can organize people and put together dinner parties for a hundred at a moment’s notice. Just don’t ask her to clean.
Kevin McReady is one of Meg’s nephews and is a computer genius. Widget is his Pomeranian. He lives in their basement with his computers and goes crazy with security cameras. I wonder if he’d stop by my place? He’s still going strong with his true-crime podcast, Virginia Crime Time. Casey is his podcasting partner. Pam is Meg and Rob’s sister who married an Australian architect, and they live in Sydney. Cousin Julian, a cop, is only a cousin-by-marriage. Thank god. Caroline Willner is a friend of Dr Blake’s, and she runs the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Conference is . . .
. . . all about exoneration for those wrongfully convicted and is taking place at the Caerphilly Inn. Ekaterina is the manager of the inn and a friend of Meg’s. Enrique is the bell captain. Becky is the desk clerk. Jiro is a porter.
Cordelia, a.k.a. Gran-gran, is Meg’s paternal grandmother and Dad’s mom. She’s putting on the conference. Grandfather, a.k.a. Great to his great-grandchildren and Dr J Montgomery Blake to the world, is a word-famous zoologist who is passionate about animal welfare and an environmentalist who owns the Caerphilly Zoo just outside town. He’ll be giving a talk on “DNA for Non-Scientists”, a.k.a. the “ABCs of DNA” or “DNA for Dummies”. Stanley Denton is a private investigator in Caerphilly who talks about investigative tools. Aida does a talk. Kevin explains a lot of technical topics. Cousin Festus Holllingsworth is an excellent lawyer who champions exonerations and fiercely enjoys helping the helpless. Ophelia is helping at the registration desk.
Attendees include Ezekiel Blaine who is one of the exonorees and is training Ruth to be a PTSD support dog — she’s also a hero; Amber Smith, a.k.a. the Black Widow, is another exonoree who was aided by William Morgan of Mason, Morgan and Friedman; Ginny Maynard and Janet Pollard, a.k.a. the Keepers, are trying to free Jim, a high school friend; and, Madelaine Taylor and Aunt Ellen Mays are trying to help Madelaine’s mother, Mary Campbell.
Godfrey “the Gadfly” Norton, a.k.a. Gustave Niedernstatter, is a very vocal, insulting contrarian. His YouTube channel and main Facebook group are named Godfrey for Justice. The Real Scooperino is run by another contrarian but the two manage to be enemies.
Seth Early, a sheep farmer; the Washingtons — one of the Washingtons is a deacon at New Life Baptist church; Mother and Dad; and, Iris Rafferty, who lives on the family farm and is becoming increasingly absent-minded, are neighbors. Joe had been Iris’ husband. Merrilee is Iris’ worried granddaughter. Ben Shiffley runs an organic farm, leasing Iris’ land. Dr Steiner is Iris’ doctor.
Henry Burke is the chief of police in Caerphilly (and the deputy sheriff of Caerphilly county). His deputies include cousin Horace Hollingsworth who does their CSI work (Watson is his Pomeranian); Vern Shiffley is his chief deputy who has memorized the Code of Virginia; Aida Butler; and, Sammy. Debbie Ann is the police dispatcher. George is the civilian desk clerk.
Minerva Burke is the chief’s wife who is also the director of the famous New Life Baptist Choir. They are raising their three orphaned grandchildren — Adam, the youngest, is Josh and Jamie’s best friend. Kayla Burke is Aida’s daughter and a popular soloist in the choir. Ezekiel does a duet with Joyce Grossman, Rabbi Grossman’s wife.
Dr Clarence Rutledge is the town veterinarian. Lucas is his assistant. Father Donnelly is the rector at St Byblig. Danny Shiffley is a FedEx driver. Jeanine Shiffley is a real estate agent. Robyn Smith is the rector of Trinity Episcopal. Judge Jane Shiffley has a very reliable weather knee. Great-uncle Jasper’s shoulder is almost as reliable. Beau and Osgood Shiffley run the snowplows in Caerphilly. Dr Waldron is Delaney’s doctor. Samantha had been Rob’s first fiancée (Murder with Peacocks, 1).
Caerphilly Assisted Living has a good reputation. Westlake is a very snooty neighborhood in Caerphilly. Things That Go Boom is a Shiffley part-time business that manufactures fireworks.The Shack is a Shiffley barbecue joint. The Spare Attic is a converted textile factory-turned-self-storage. The Haven is the motel that Rob bought and converted into cheap apartments. Luigi’s is a great Italian restaurant. Muriel owns the diner. Caerphilly Cares is a social service organization along with the Ladies’ Interfaith Council.
A Brady violation is a failure of the prosecution to turn over evidence to the defense attorney. If you have land that you’re worried about, consider a conservation easement. Edmond Locard was the Sherlock Holmes of France who came up with the exchange principle.
The Cover and Title
The cover is filled with Christmas cheer with its slowly gradating grass green background from slightly darker at the top to lighter in the middle and much darker in the bottom quarter as the snow falls quietly. At the very top is an info blurb in white. Below that is the author’s name in a pale green with the last three letters in her last name getting tipsy. To the right of the Christmas tree with its colorful ornaments is the series info in white. The title is at the very bottom in a pale yellow faintly striped in pale green. In the middle is the comic graphic with a snow-covered red birdhouse with chimney and black fishing line “holding” it up. The roof is outlined in multi-colored Christmas lights — with one end swaying beneath the house. Three blue-winged white-bodied chickadees wearing red Santa hats and are all over the house. The left one is alight on the roof while the right one is busy pulling a red strip of garland at the top of the Christmas tree. A garland that wraps the tree and is hung about the house platform. The chickadee in the middle is in front of the lit-up round opening and tugging at the garland as well. Icicles depend from the platform, drawing your eye to the beheaded snowman.
The title refers to one of Delaney’s few joys as she’s Rockin’ Around the Chickadees.
