The Gift Of The Magpie
Meg Langslow, Book #28
By Donna Andrews
ISBN13: 9781250760128
Author Website: donnaandrews(.)com
Brought to you by jerjen
Synopsis:
The 28th book and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie is yet another wonderfully merry and funny book from New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews.
Meg’s running Caerphilly’s Helping Hands for the Holidays project, in which neighbors help each other with things they can’t do and can’t afford to have done. Her hopes for a relatively peaceful (if busy) Christmas vanish when someone murders Harvey the Hoarder, whose house the Helping Hands were decluttering. Was there any truth to the rumor that he had something valuable hidden beneath all his junk? Was one of his friends, neighbors, or relatives greedy enough to murder him for the rumored treasure? And what about the magpie that has been bringing her family bits of tinsel and costume jewelry—does the bird’s latest gift hold a clue to solving the crime?
Full of intrigue, this Christmas mystery will take readers home to Caerphilly, where the suspense falls as thick as the snow. (Goodreads)
Review:
Meg Langslow is busy this holiday season, helping the Helping Hands program. The idea is to help anyone that asks for help. Whatever they may need. They will find quilters to finish a project and they will find fresh organic manure for rose bushes. They will even help a hoarder try to clear things up and get organized. This project is a lot harder than most but they will give it their best shot.
With the help of her friends and family, they will start cleaning up Harvey’s house. While her grandmother, Cordelia and her cousin, Rose Noire, work with Harvey to begin clearing out the debris, she has volunteers begin packing all of his stuff to an old warehouse where he can begin to look through it. Stuff that he has accumulated have sentimental value so they cannot just throw it away. There are also repairmen waiting to come in and work, whenever they get the go ahead. But just as things look promising, Harvey is found lying in the garage, a pool of blood around his head. Now, instead of decluttering, Meg has to look for a killer. Instead of Helping Hands, she will need Sleuthing Eyes.
The characters are well rounded and well developed. The characters are quirky but loving, unorthodox but caring, and offbeat but close-knit. The characters we were supposed to like were warmhearted and warm. Those that we were supposed to dislike were disagreeable and unpleasant. The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning. The mystery was real plotted and there were enough clues to sift through and suspects to consider. There were a lot of red herrings and the ending will surprise you.
I would recommend this book to all those who enjoy a well crafted cozy mystery. This book has great characters, an intriguing mystery and lots of holiday cheer.
