I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
We’ll Always Have Parrots
by
Donna Andrews
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Minotaur Books on November 12, 2003 and has 352 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, Owls Well That Ends Well, Terns of Endearment
Fifth in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series and revolving around a blacksmith who’s an amateur sleuth in Caerphilly, Virginia. The focus is on a convention for the TV show in which Michael acts.
My Take
This tale of contracts, egos, and complexes is a riot from beginning to end . . . I may have to re-read We’ll Always Have Parrots this afternoon . . .
Michael and Meg are an interesting couple. Meg is practical and very organized while Michael is susceptible to the superstitions and health notions of actors. I will say that he is amazingly supportive of Meg’s sleuthing. And that’s from Meg’s perspective, as Andrews uses a first person protagonist point-of-view.
It’s a Jungles of Amblyopia convention — Michael had agreed to attend χ number of these. The decor at the hotel certainly sounds like a jungle. It’s also got Monty Python popping in and out — those African Grey parrots . . .
Meg continues to grow as a blacksmith — Faulk has been mentoring her in weapons, and she loves her sword! And she’s selling some of her wares at the convention. Dad does crack me up with his fascination for interesting diseases or injuries.
Nice bit of back history that explains how Michael got taken onto the show. I also like getting Meg’s professional assessment of swords and their making. A fascinating bit of back history is what we learn about the, ahem, original Ichabod Dilley. Whoa . . . It’s amazing reading what a great artist Ichabod was. And sad to see how low he fell when he had such a future ahead of him. As for the truth of that sale of rights. Jesus. That Ichabod was a naive idiot.
More back history arises in how Dilley first saw his “Porfiria” and how he saw her later. Oh. Boy.
Oh, lord, that hotel! . . . even the bellhops get lost! Adding to the fun are all the wild animals inhabiting its halls, lol. Jerry got in trouble for speaking in front of the parrots. As for the animal round-up, it’s a disaster with sympathetic culprits.
Meg’s entire family is a crack-up; they’ll put on costumes at the drop of a hat.
Omigod! Crack me up!! Meg lets slip how Ichabod chose names for the story. That arch-enemy’s name is so appropriate *snicker*. Then there’s the possible Queen Eczema the First, lol.
Conflicts, conflicts, conflicts. The health department is threatening to close the hotel. The QB is an absolute bitch! Everyone is terrified of approaching her. For anything. The college is getting testy about how much time Michael takes off to perform, and it could affect his getting tenure. The QB is worse than testy about Michael being as available as she wants. Walker wants Michael’s life.
Andrews has some fun trotting out the “usual suspects” of a mystery, even if one of those memes actually is a critical clue.
Well, that’s different. I can definitely see the fun of writing slash fan fic.
It’s a character-driven plot with plenty of action from both humans and animals while the pace varies. Talk about a blessing in the end result with that nice epitaph: She knew how to make the most of what she could do.
Just so you know, she owns you!
The Story
Meg Langslow knew the fan convention for her actor-boyfriend’s hit television series was going to be the ultimate in weird. But she came along because she figured Michael could use an occasional dose of sanity — and because it was an inspired place to sell her hand-crafted weapons. And so far, she was dealing pretty well with the costumed fans camped outside, the batch of escaped parrots and monkeys frolicking throughout the hotel . . . and the minefield of egos lurking behind the show’s success.
But soon after Meg goes head-to-head with egomaniacal series star Tamerlaine Wynncliffe-Jones, the “Queen B” turns up brutally murdered. Now, with Michael in the running as prime suspect, Meg will go up against an all-star cast of not-even-innocent parties, hidden identities, and buried motives. And she’ll cross swords with a deviously obsessed murderer determined to write her out of this picture for good.
The Characters
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith, renowned for her ability to get things done and organizing anything. Dr. Michael Waterston is her gorgeous actor/professor husband, who teaches at Caerphilly College. Spike is their, ahem, “foster dog”. Michael’s mom supposedly owns the dog, but she’s testing out an allergy theory.
The Family
Fifteen-year-old Kevin, Meg’s nephew, runs Michael’s official fan site. Eric is another nephew and Kevin’s brother. Mother and Dad, Margaret and Dr James Langslow, show up in costume. Great-aunt Zelda is what Dad refers to as the family time machine.
The Jungles of Amblyopia
Porfiria, Queen of the Jungle is/was the cheesy TV series in which Michael had had a part (and that helped pay for their “new” house!) Mephisto is Michael’s character. Francis is Michael’s disastrous agent.
Tamerlaine Wyncliffe-Jones, a.k.a. Queen Bee, QB, an aging, B-movie actress who plays Porfiria, owns the production company. Typhani is the QB’s personal assistant who has managed to survive for six whole weeks! Ichabod Dilley is the original author of the comic series. Walker Morris is an old friend of Michael’s and a fellow soap opera star. He plays the arch-enemy, the Duke of Urushiol. Maggie West is one of the actors, and she also runs an animal sanctuary, Jungle West. Alopecia is the QB’s maid on the show. Sebacea is the “comely mermaid queen”.
Nate, a recreational complainer, is the show’s chief scriptwriter — and he deigns to recognize Meg! Karen is a costumer, the thirteenth one. Todd chairs the program committee. Sandra, the diminutive Amazon, takes on all that.
Alaric Steele is another swordsmith at the convention. Chris Blair, the show’s blademaster and Walker’s stunt double, owns Blazing Sabers. Andrea is one of his employees as well as his girlfriend. Harry is another employee. And who is Concubine Aimee?
Cordelia sells used and rare books at the Dreamscape Booksellers counter. She’s, um, wearing antlers. Amy Goldman. Undiscovered Treasures is another booth, specializing in “parrot-sols”. Salome is a full grown tiger who gets rented out by the Willner Sanctuary, which is owned by Mrs Willner. Brad is Salome’s keeper.
The hotel is . . .
. . . losing employees fast. Jen and her newlywed husband are discombobulated.
Loudoun County PD
Detective Foley is with Homicide. Fortunately, Loudoun County Animal Control shows up.
The Pasadena Pair were student radicals in 1970 who didn’t burn a local draft board.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a bright blue. Starting at the top is a pale, pale yellow info blurb with the author’s name immediately below it in white. The author’s name is at the bottom, also in white with the series info below that in the pale, pale yellow. In between is an orange parrot in full flight — I’m guessing it’s a metaphor for the African Greys. To the right of the parrot’s wing is a bright fuchsia serrated badge with a sales price in white — go get it! Below the wing and the badge is a testimonial in yellow with a fluff of feather floating.
I suspect the title is a memory for Meg and Michael, in that We’ll Always Have Parrots.
