Rockin' Around the Chickadee

Meg Langslow Mysteries, Book 36

By: Donna Andrews

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

"Listening to Bernadette Dunne perform the Meg Langslow audiobooks gives listeners a sense of coming home to a beloved family."—AudioFile on The Falcon Always Wings Twice (Earphones Award winner)

Bells are ringing and alarms are sounding in Donna Andrews' latest cheery addition in the New York Times bestselling Meg Langslow series.

Meg's sister-in-law, Delaney, is pregnant. Since her due date is on or around Christmas Day, this is putting a bit of a damper on the usual holiday festivities. Meg and Michael are NOT hosting the usual house full of relatives and parties. Instead, Meg, along with her mother, her grandmother, her cousin Rose Noire, and her good friend Caroline, are militantly doing everything they can think of to keep Delaney quiet and healthy. All the relatives are farmed out to friends and neighbors; all the parties are being held somewhere else; and while Delaney is bored and mutinous, she's doing well, and they're managing to maintain a serene, peaceful environment for her . . . until a body is found in Meg and Michael's yard.

The body turns out to be an attendee at Presumed Innocent, a nearby conference that Meg’s grandmother has organized. Some of the attendees want to learn how to exonerate a friend or family members who has been unjustly convicted, while the rest are avid true crime aficionados. And since the dead guy has been very vocal about his belief that most actual and would-be exonerees are guilty, guilty GUILTY!, nearly everyone at the conference dislikes him. But would any of them hate him enough to kill him? And can Meg still keep Delaney calm in the middle of a murder investigation, all while trying to catch the killer?

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2024 Donna Andrews (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

The characters are wonderfully written.

I always love these books, and Bernadette does a phenomenal job reading. I'm ready for the next book.

incredibly well-written

applaud Donna Andrews for another fun family Christmas murder mystery. I look forward to the Christmas book every year! Never disappointed.
Also, happy to see she recongnizes to at least mention her sister Pam. it just seems strange ti have a sister early on but who no longer visits. The best books are with the family clan.
The last few have been more Meg centric, it was a little strange she was becoming an absent parent but Donna Andrews has remedy the problem the last few books.

Family Freinds

Reading one of this series is like coming home for Christmas from college. While I attended college, I really liked coming home during Christmas, Thanksgiving and summer breaks because I could read what I liked. These books are wonderful and start at the beginning of the series and listen again.

Another winner

Donna Andrews has created another amazing addition to the Meg Langslow Mystery Series. It’s full of all the characters we’ve grown to know and love, all the laugh out loud moments and a great mystery as well. I’ve loved each book in the series and am never disappointed.

Bernadette Dunne as always gave a standout performance as she breathed life into the storyline and gave each character their own distinct voice.

I highly recommend this book/audiobook to cozy mystery fans and can’t wait for the next installment.

One of Donna’s Best!!

Delightful narration as always. So funny and touching!

Focusing on the Innocence Project was very topical and touching.

Podcasts and Christmas and snow, oh my!

unpleasant-victims, pet-dog, amateur-sleuth, cozy-mystery, Virginia, situational-humor, verbal-humor, local-law-enforcement, families, relationships, relatives, friends, friendship, frustration, murder, murder-investigation, conference*****

September 11, 2024
This is not an unbiased review because I have loved nearly all of the books in this series, and this one does not disappoint. Meg Langslow is a blacksmith, wife of professor/TV actor Michael Waterston, mother of twin boys, assistant to the mayor, and a member of the far flung quirky Hollingsworth family, and a great amateur sleuth. Any book in this series gives enough info on past books that the reader is never lost.
It's Christmas season and Meg's grandmother is hosting a conference highlighting the Presumed Innocent organization at the local posh resort for those who want to learn how to exonerate a friend or family member who has been unjustly convicted and later proven innocent as well as a number of true crime devotees.
The rotten fruit here is a despicable internet troll/podcaster who appears to believe that anyone who is arrested is guilty and must serve the entire sentence imposed. Of course, this is the guy who turns up dead. And in Meg's back yard no less! There are more than enough people who hated the guy enough to do the deed, but that makes for a ton of suspects and a whole lot of due diligence. Plan to get the audio when it comes out!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Without much hope of winning my preferred venue, I also requested and received an audio copy from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley! Oct 1, 2024
Also got my preordered audio performed by the incomparable Bernadette Dunne on Oct 15, 2024!
#MegLangslowMysteriesBk36

Loved The Mystery

I thought the mystery was great. I love her family. I wish I had her family

"Cheery" my foot!

I love most of the "Meg Langslow" books, I love Bernadette Dunne. I own all the audible books. Having said that, this is the most depressing "Yuletide" story since "The Little Match Girl." I was completely bummed when I finished it. It has some of the nastiest characters since "Die Like an Eagle," and I saw several plot points by the middle of the book. Also, this is the second pregnancy to conceal the sex of the child(ren) by ending the book on the way to the hospital! Shame on you, Donna!!

More of the crime podcast within the series

Another convention this time with the prime podcast theme that was shown in a few of the other books lately and lots more of the family.

True crime style

I don’t like true crime novels. Sorry this reads like one. Where are the funny characters Ms Andrews use to put in her books?