The Good, the Bad, and the Emus

A Meg Langslow Mystery, Book 17

By: Donna Andrews

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Meg's paternal grandfather has hired Stanley Denton to find her grandmother Cordelia. Stanley has found a trail to his long-lost love in a small town a short drive away. He convinces Meg to come with him to meet her, but unfortunately, the woman they meet is Cordelia's cousin. Cordelia died several years ago, and the cousin suspects she was murdered by her long-time neighbor.

Stanley and Meg agree to help track down the killer. Grandfather even has perfect cover: He, along with most of Meg's family and friends in Caerphilly, will stage a rescue of the feral emus and ostriches that infest this town. But then the neighbor is murdered, and not only Cordelia's cousin but also the entire contingent of emu-rescuers are suspects.

©2014 Donna Andrews (P)2014 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Who really was the first corpse?

friendship, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, verbal-humor, situational-humor

The first body was murdered six months ago and seems to be Dr. Langslow's long lost mother in a town not all that far away. Then Meg spots an emu in the wild and tells Grandfather and the circus begins. Dr Blake calls out his whole entourage, Dad calls out SPOOR, and a campground is taken over so that the emus can be rescued and relocated. Later, one of the volunteers is poisoned, another body turns up and the real sleuthing begins! Less family madness but no fewer laughs in general. Loved it!
Bernadette really has this series as a winner!

Another great book by Donna Andrews

I wish more of the Meg Langslow books were available on Audible. Great stories. Lots of fun.

amusing entry to the series

fast read and enjoyable. Meg and grandpa save wild emus while we readers learn about them.

Good story

This was one of my favorite books of the series! A very rewarding read. Enjoy!

My favorite so far in the series!

This was my favorite so far. Good mystery, good story line, I loved the touching end. Always humorous and good matured fun to read.

One os Donna Andrews two best

I love Donna Andrews’ books. This was about my favorite - comparable for me with Some Like it Hawk. I was surprised by most of the ending and and always entertained but the story and humor. Meg’s grandfather recruit and army of devotees to rescue emus from an area around a small town. These is a secondary motivation to learned about Meg’s grandmother life and who in the town. As always, Bernadette Dunn is excellent.

Another strong plot, setting, and characters!

In <strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Emus</strong> by Donna Andrews, Meg Langslow gets approached by PI Stanley Denton, who wants to "borrow Meg's face." He has been hired by Dr. Montgomery Blake, Meg's highly famous zoologist grandfather, who didn't realize until recently that he had a long-lost son, Dr. Langslow, Meg's father. Upon seeing Meg's photo in the newspaper learning that her father was found in a library while as a newborn, Dr. Blake realized that his grad school girlfriend must have been pregnant when he left for two years of research on the Galapagos Islands. He never found the girlfriend upon returning to the States, but now he has hired Denton to find Meg's grandmother. Denton has done so, but six months too late, as Cordelia has recently died, leaving behind a complete recluse cousin, Annabel. Since Annabelle refuses to see Denton, he wants to get Meg, who is the spitting image of her grandmother, to help him gain entrance.

With the help of Meg's face, getting into Annabelle's house is not a major problem, but getting information out of Cordelia's cousin does not prove so easy. Annabelle believes that someone murdered her cousin by causing an explosion of their generator, which was written off by the local sheriff as an accident. But Annabelle is certain that Cordelia was murdered by her enemy neighbor and refuses to divulge more information about Cordelia's life unless Denton provides the proof.

Presenting the case to Dr. Blake in front of the whole family to make it harder for him to say no to the request, Meg and Denton convince the biologist to act, and he reacts with characteristic enthusiasm and on the large scale. Dr. Blake recalls being notified earlier by Annabelle on behalf of Cordelia about a feral emu problem, created when the bank foreclosed upon an emu ranch a couple years earlier. So he summons the Blake's Brigade, which consists of environmental activists who help Dr. Blake in his crusades on behalf of endangered animals that get featured on television regularly. So the next day a few dozen volunteers descend upon Annabelle's large empty plot of land to camp out and round up the emus to take to the Wilner Animal Sanctuary, so Meg and her husband, Michael, take their 4- year- old twins, Josh and Jamie, to go camping and help look for emus, a trip fraught with danger, with a killer on the loose.

<strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Emus</strong> is another fun addition to the Meg Langslow series. As usual, I found the mystery plot, along with the book's setting, to be highly creative. The steps they take to solve the mystery are clever, with the conclusion's being especially of interest. I always find myself impressed by the way Andrews manages to incorporate a different type of bird into both the pun in her titles and the content of her books. I learned more about emus than I had ever known before the first time I listened to this book.

This book kept me laughing throughout the whole time I was listening. I especially enjoyed the scene where the horsemen and bikers who have come to help round up the emus have challenged each other to a joust. In the midst, Meg's dogs start doing crazy, alerting her to the fact that someone has opened up the door to the emu pen and let the birds loose. The solution to the problem especially made me laugh.

The characters in <strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Emus</strong> are as fun as always, and I really enjoyed getting to spend more time with Dr. Blake. I missed getting to see much of Meg's mother or her brother, though. Further, I did not find the portrayal of the 4-year-old twins to be at all realistic of boys that age, especially in their speech, which was uneven in its maturity, shifting from simple words to sentences and back.

The audio edition of this book is performed very ably by Bernadette Dunne, who makes the book seem very lively and highly enjoyable. With unique voices for each character, Dunne makes the audiobook delightful and a real pleasure to listen to.

As with all of Andrews's books, <strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Emus</strong> is a great addition to the Meg Langslow series. I liked this book more than some of the others in the series, with its great sense of humor and amusing setting. I give this book 5 stars!

Great story

I have come to love all these books. Can’t wait to start the next one.

These stories just keep getting Better

First the narrator is excellent! You always know who is speaking.
Second the stories are great fun and serious. Ms. Andrews is able to weave complex story lines into easy to understand histories and narratives. How does she manage to bring the birds in the titles, emus in this case, into the heart of the story??

One of the best yet

plots not just one more than one. this book will keep you on your toes and if you have a heart at all it will make you tear up. if you have ever listen to or read any of these books do not pass this one up