How the Finch Stole Christmas!

August 21, 2017
Agatha-winner Andrews’s pleasing 22nd Meg Langslow mystery (after Gone Gull) finds Meg serving as the assistant director of her husband Michael’s staging of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol for the Caerphilly, Va., winter festival. Michael has brought in Malcolm Haver, an aging, once-popular actor, to play Scrooge, but Malcolm’s drinking threatens the production. When Malcolm sneaks off, Meg follows him in her car to an isolated farmhouse, where she spots him buying liquor from a bootlegger. She also discovers a nearby barn filled with animals, including golden retriever puppies, dozens of cats, and a chimp. Later, the bootlegger turns up dead with two bullet holes in his forehead—and Malcolm disappears. Rescuing the animals—which becomes a community effort—and ensuring that the show goes on matter more than finding Malcolm or solving the bootlegger’s murder. Andrews manages her large cast with dexterity and drops clues to the culprits’ identity, but the ending will catch most readers by surprise. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

August 15, 2017
The Yuletide festivities in Caerphilly, Virginia, are threatened by an inebriated actor, a slight case of murder, and 23 Gouldian finches.It looks like so much work for professor Michael Waterston to both direct and star in the community/college production of A Christmas Carol that's grown out of his well-received one-man show that the board hires Malcolm Haver to play Scrooge instead, figuring that the increased box-office take Haver's name guarantees will more than offset the visitor's salary. That turns out to be a decision only the Grinch could endorse. Haver's only sort of a name, only sort of an improvement on Michael even when he's sober, and only sort of sober even on his best days. So Michael's wife and assistant director, Meg Langslow, adds wrangling the star to her extensive resume (Gone Gull, 2017). Even though Meg gets help from her mother; Mayor Randall Shiffley; and the usual suspects, it's a tall order, partly because once Randall gets Haver cut off from legitimate sources of alcohol, the sozzled thespian finds an obliging bootlegger, and partly because Meg has other problems on her mind: an unidentified corpse found in a local stream; a persistent fan of Haver's who's pressing the Rev. Robyn Smith to mount a celebration of Weaseltide, whatever that is; a collection of finches Meg's endlessly resourceful grandfather has added to his menagerie; and eventually a murdered bootlegger. Will this last development keep the headliner sober long enough to tread the boards come Christmas Eve? A mildly curdled take on the most wonderful time of the year that won't offend the most devout celebrants. Spoiler alert: the finch doesn't steal Christmas, and the tale ends with a celebration of Weaseltide and the triumphant premiere of A Christmas Carol. Whew.

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October 1, 2017
It's almost Christmas in Caerphilly, Virginia, and Meg Langslow's husband, Michael, is directing a charity benefit production of A Christmas Carol, starring Malcolm Haver, a has-been actor who is under contract to play Scrooge. Haver, a disagreeable drunk, keeps everyone in Caerphilly on a mission to keep liquor away from him, but when Haver's secret liquor supplier, John Willimer, is found murdered, Haver is one of the suspects, leaving everyone wondering if the show will go on. Complicating matters, Meg must deal with a group of exotic animals, a plethora of puppies, and dozens of cats, all of whom need homes. Then there are also Haver's persistent super fan, a dangerous animal smuggling operation, and Meg's need to determine how Weaseltide is celebrated. The always-busy, efficient Meg solves the murders while keeping order among family and friends; all the usual, wonderfully drawn, quirky characters are present in this satisfying, humorous entry in the long-running series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2017

Visiting Caerphilly, VA, especially at Christmastime, doesn't get old in this 22nd series entry (after Gone Gull). Meg's husband is directing a full-scale production of A Christmas Carol and has his hands full with a famous aging actor playing Scrooge. Meg and most of the town have been enlisted to keep the actor sober enough to get through the play, but one night, when tailing him, Meg stumbles upon a barn full of exotic animals and designer dogs. Then a raid on the property leads to an even more disturbing discovery--a human corpse. VERDICT With her trademark wit and resourcefulness, Meg continues to thwart crime in an entertaining fashion. [See Prepub Alert, 4/17/17.]

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017

Here's another Christmas mystery from the laugh-inducing, multi-award-winning, .New York Times. best-selling Andrews (Six Geese a-Slaying). Meg's husband is turning his one-man show of Dickens's A Christmas Carol into a big, splashy production, with a famed if fading actor brought in to play Scrooge. Alas, the man has enemies.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.