Die Like an Eagle

June 27, 2016
In Agatha-winner Andrews’s charming 20th Meg Langslow mystery (after 2015’s Lord of the Wings), tenacious Meg must tangle with the dictatorial Summerball Youth Baseball League president and town contractor, Biff Brown. As special assistant to the mayor of Caerphilly, Va., Meg has had the job of hounding dodgy Biff about his unfulfilled government contracts. He’s clearly responsible for the dilapidated baseball field, where one day before a game the umpire, who happens to be Biff’s half-brother, is found dead of a gunshot wound inside the ball field’s lone portable toilet. Was Biff the culprit? Since plenty of people around the league (and the town, and the county), including family members, have a beef with Biff, Meg suspects that the bullet that hit his look-alike half-brother was really meant for him. As always, Meg turns sleuth and jumps to the rescue when needed. With its well-spun plots and distinctive characters, Andrews’s amusing avian-named series shows no signs of growing stale. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

When Michael and Meg's twin sons join the youth baseball team, he coaches the team, and she becomes team mom even though, as the town mayor's assistant, she doesn't get along with league president, Biff Brown. When Meg discovers Biff's look alike brother dead in the portable toilet, she suspects the intended victim was Biff in this comical, avian-themed murder mystery. Narrator Bernadette Dunne uses diverse rhythms, pitch, tone, and pace to portray an assortment of entertaining characters and wacky family members who are caught up in sports fever, parental passions, and comical baseball politics. Her nuanced descriptions of Biff's bullying tactics and Meg's inquiry into Biff's construction company's possible shadiness are convincing in this newest addition to the Meg Langslow mystery series. G.D.W. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine