Round Up the Usual Peacocks
A Meg Langslow Mystery
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews first introduced us to Meg Langslow as a crime-solving bridesmaid. In her 31st mystery, Round Up the Usual Peacocks, Meg returns to her roots, juggling cold cases and wedding guests.
Kevin, Meg's cyber-savvy nephew who lives in the basement, comes to her with a problem. He's become involved as the techie for a true-crime podcast, one that focuses on Virginia cold cases and unsolved crimes. And he thinks their podcast has hit a nerve with someone . . . one of the podcast team has had a brush with death that Kevin thinks was an attempted murder, not an accident.
Kevin rather sheepishly asks for Meg's help in checking out the people involved in a couple of the cases. "Given your ability to find out stuff online, why do you need MY help?" she asks. "Um . . . because I've already done everything I can online. This'll take going around and TALKING to people," he exclaims, with visible horror. "In person!" Not his thing. And no, it can't wait until after the wedding, because he's afraid whoever's after them might take advantage of the chaos of the wedding at Trinity or the reception at Meg and Michael's house to strike again.
So on top of everything she's doing to round up vendors and supplies and take care of demanding out-of-town guests, Meg must hunt down the surviving suspects from three relatively local cold cases so she can figure out if they have it in for the podcasters. Could there be a connection to a musician on the brink of stardom who disappeared two decades ago and hasn't been seen since?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Andrews's enjoyable 31st Meg Langslow mystery (after 2021's The Twelve Jays of Christmas) finds blacksmith Meg, a bridesmaid at her brother Rob's upcoming wedding, tasked with, among many other things, obtaining nonmolting peacocks to grace the reception. Meg's relieved to delegate bridal chores when she gets the opportunity to revert to her amateur sleuth role and focus on why a Virginia Crime Time podcaster was almost the victim of a hit-and-run after discussing two local cold cases: a 26-year-old cheating scandal at Caerphilly College's business school that led to a professor's death by suicide and a talented singer's decades-old disappearance. Unsure which case triggered the attack, Meg investigates both. It soon becomes clear that someone doesn't want Meg snooping about in the past, but is it the B-school blackmailer or the person who silenced the singer? Meg must rely on her wits; her Caerphilly, Va., work connections; and a multitude of relatives to unravel the twisted web of lies surrounding each mystery. Quirky characters match the madcap plot. Readers seeking whopping good escapism will be satisfied.