Owl Be Home for Christmas

May 1, 2019

Meg's family is gathered at the Caerphilly Inn for her grandfather's scientific conference on owls, but it's right before Christmas, which surely means a guest-stranding blizzard. And that surely means there will be a murder.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2019
A freak storm buries Caerphilly, Virginia, in snow, knocking out all lines of transportation and communication, just in time for the holidays and the annual Owl Fest convention. Meg Langslow (Terns of Endearment, 2019, etc.) has agreed to help her grandfather Dr. J. Montgomery Blake with the logistics for this year's conference. The highlight, or lowlight, is a fierce battle between members of SPOOR, Stop Poisoning Our Owls and Raptors, who want to save the spotted owls threatened with extinction, and the champions of the barred owls who are muscling in on their turf. The leading partisan of the latter camp, Dr. Oliver Frogmore of Oregon's Buckthorn College, is whiny, selfish, and racist, and it's an unmitigated pleasure to watch him drop dead in the middle of a particularly self-serving public speech. Despite the awkwardly continued adulation of his lackey, Dr. Edward Czerny, Frogmore's death spotlights a wide range of old grievances against him, from African American graduate student volunteer Melissa McKendick's tale of her rejection to Buckthorn's program to Dr. Vera Craine's story of the hostility that drove her from Buckthorn to lowly Cornell. But nosing around for clues to the manner and author of Frogmore's death has to compete for Meg's time and energy with such mundane but suddenly urgent questions as what unflappable Caerphilly Inn manager Ekaterina Vorobyaninova should serve the snowbound guests for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Pancha Ganapati. The laughs come more slowly than usual, especially after hateful Frogmore's death, but the payoff is the climactic revelation of an unusually clever and deep-laid motive for this best of all possible murders. One of Andrews' most successful balancing acts between creating a brand-new whodunit and showcasing her zany regulars.

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Starred review from August 26, 2019
Bestseller Andrews’s exceptional 26th Meg Langslow mystery (after Terns of Endearment) offers a snowbound version of a locked room mystery. Shortly before Christmas in Caerphilly, Va.
, a blizzard traps everyone at the Caerphilly Inn, which is hosting Owl Fest 2019, a gathering of ornithologists from the academic community. The attendees are a rowdy bunch, given to an overabundance of owl hooting, arguing, and fistfights. Meg’s grandfather, J. Montgomery Blake, the event’s headliner, does his best to keep them under control with help from Meg and the rest of the extended family. A few guests are particularly obnoxious, and Meg has named argumentative Oliver Frogmore her least favorite by a mile followed by his toady minion, Edward Czerny. When a body turns up, Meg and local law enforcement are faced with a whodunit that takes plenty of twists and turns en route to the satisfying ending. As always, spending time with Meg and her wonderful family is a delight. Andrews reinforces her place at the top of the cozy subgenre. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary.

October 1, 2019
Along with various family members and a gaggle of ornithologists, Meg Lansglow finds herself snowed in at the upscale Caerphilly Inn, where she is running Owl Fest 2019 for her grandfather, Dr. J. Montgomery Blake. When the disruptive, roundly disliked Dr. Oliver Frogmore is poisoned, suspects abound, including practically everyone attending the conference. Meg's cousin Horace, an officer in the Caerphilly, Virginia, police department, leads the investigation into the murder, along with Meg's help. Meg casually questions suspects, inviting confidences from a scientist who was denied tenure, a student who failed to get into Frogmore's college, and several other ornithologists, including Meg's own grandfather. Framed by the upcoming December holidays, owl facts and lore, and the realities of attending a scientific conference and running a high-end hotel, Andrews' latest delivers humor, plot twists, and the familiar cast of eccentric family and friends who encircle the intrepid Meg. An enjoyable holiday entry in the long-running series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)