Six Geese A-Slaying (Meg Langslow Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Donna Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Series: Meg Langslow Mysteries | Publication Date: November 3, 2009

Meg and Michael’s house is serving as the marshaling point for the annual Caerphilly holiday parade. The theme is “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and it features twelve drummers from the school marching band, eleven bagpipers, ten leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college drama department, and so on. There are also assorted floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the Three Wise Men on Caerphilly zoo camels, and Santa in a bright red horse-drawn sleigh. As organizer, Meg’s job is already hard enough. But when her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, “something’s wrong with Santa,” things take a tragic turn. Turns out the local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now it’s up to Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, to tackle a two-fold mission: Solving the murder and saving Christmas…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bah, humbug! In the 10th entry in Andrews's fine-feathered cozy series (Cockatiels at Seven, etc.), Meg Langslow is having a tough enough time trying to organize the Christmas parade, with its Twelve Days of Christmas theme, in Caerphilly, Va. Then someone drives a stake through the heart of Santa, played by grouchy Ralph Doleson, who hates children and animals (and no, he's not a vampire). Finding the killer who could totally spoil Christmas becomes number one priority for perky amateur sleuth Meg. Suspects include protesting members of SPOOR (Stop Poisoning Our Owls and Raptors), six of whose members are playing geese in the parade, a local woman whom Doleson may have been blackmailing and a nosy Washington Tribune reporter. Though Andrews strains for humorous effect at times and the revelation of whodunit may strike some readers as far-fetched, fans will enjoy catching up with old friends among the regular cast of characters. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Fans of comic cozies who have never read Andrews’ Meg Langslow mysteries have a real treat in store. This tenth book in the award-winning series takes place in Meg’s rural home-town, Caerphilly, Virginia. In fact, it takes place primarily in Meg’s backyard, the mustering point for the annual holiday parade. The theme this year is “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (hence the six geese), but tribute is also paid to other holidays, including the Hindu Festival of Lights. All seems to be going as well as can be expected, given Meg’s zany family, friends, and assorted animals, when her young nephew whispers, “Something’s wrong with Santa.” Indeed, something is very wrong, and it’s up to parade organizer Meg and police chief Burke (who was one of the camel-riding wise men) to figure out who murdered the old curmudgeon. It seems that while Ralph Doleson may have looked like Santa, his personality led to far more enemies than friends. Lots of silly but infectious humor and just enough mystery. --Judy Coon --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312536119
• ISBN-13: 978-0312536114
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #495,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing since I learned to print, but didn't get published until Murder with Peacocks won the Malice Domestic/St. Martins Press Best First Traditional Mystery contest in spring 1998. Since then I've written six more comic mysteries books featuring ornamental blacksmith Meg Langslow: Murder with Puffins (2000), Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos (2001), Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (2003), We'll Always Have Parrots (2004), Owls Well That Ends Well (2005), and No Nest for the Wicket (August 2006). I've also started another series in with the sleuth, Turing Hopper, is an artificial intelligence personality living inside a corporate computer: You've Got Murder (2002), Click Here for Murder (2003), Access Denied (2004), and Delete All Suspects (2005).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Meg is back., October 30, 2008

By 

Barbara J. Carges "Barb Carges" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Six Geese A-Slaying (Meg Langslow Mysteries) (Hardcover)

"Six Geese A-Slaying" is Donna Andrews' tenth book in the Meg Langslow series. This time Meg has been talked into being Caerphilly County's `Mistress of the Revels' or in other words the person responsible for organizing the Christmas, excuse me, Holiday Parade. Ordinarily Meg would never have accepted the job but when the person asking her to do it is the chairman of the committee that will decide whether or not her professor husband gets tenure, saying yes seems like a good idea. As she stands in her front yard, clip board in hand, directing the arriving floats, bands, animals and handlers and other assorted participants to their staging areas her two biggest worries are the approaching snow storm and getting the Twelve Days of Christmas tableaus lined up in the right order. Her nephew, Eric, is about to hand her an even bigger problem. It seems that someone has killed Santa.



As with all the books in this series, "Six Geese A-Slaying" will keep you snickering, giggling and laughing out loud from beginning to end. You may or may not figure out early on who the killer is, but that doesn't matter. The fun of these books has always been watching Meg deal with the chaos around her while trying to catch the killer. On a scale of 1 to 10 this book is definitely a 8.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good one, November 7, 2008

By 

Cozymysterycrazy (living in a dream world) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Six Geese A-Slaying (Meg Langslow Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Hooray! Donna Andrews is back on form! A really funny book with the Christmas/Holiday parade full of hilarious detail and mad characters.

Only 4 stars because, once again, the murderer was just too obvious from the start (and the plot a straight rehash of an earlier book, too). There are simply not enough alternative suspects and they don't get enough attention to make it a mystery. Also, she made little kids discover the grisly murder scene (why?) without the adults being in the least concerned about their reactions (apparently because they didn't have any). I did find that weirdly distracting, even though this series is so fluffy that the reader just can't take it seriously...

It doesn't matter, though, because the pleasure is really all in the merry mayhem that swirls around the weak plot.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, fluffy fun!, November 10, 2008

By 

PatKG (St. Cloud, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Six Geese A-Slaying (Meg Langslow Mysteries) (Hardcover)

You will probably figure out who the killer is WAY too early in the story. That's the problem with small-town, amateur sleuth mystery series. There's only so many suspects in town, and really, how many murders can there be in one smallish college town. But, if you've liked the other mysteries in the series, you'll like this one, too. Meg and her family are a HOOT. (yes, pun intended!) The series hasn't jumped the shark yet. If you're looking for a read something like Evanovich, give this series a try.