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A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, despite the protests of Mr. Vess, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen - only to turn up later during the show more concert slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens. It's clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Vess is discovered dead. show lessTags
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I love every single one of Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow mystery series books because in addition to having a great mystery to figure out, they always have something absolutely WACKY going on that is so laugh out loud funny, you just can’t help but wonder how she comes up with this stuff. In DUCK THE HALLS, I’m going into it thinking we’re going to get Christmas and ducks, but we start off with skunks who have been dropped off in a church. Like a whole cage of skunks. And then it’s chapters and chapters of information about skunks and skunk removal and you’d think that would be too much information about skunks, but it’s just so darn funny (and actually quite interesting) and I just love these books. And then we learn a show more snake has gone missing, and I’m in stitches just waiting to see what will happen with the ducks from the title. Meg and Michael have twin boys, who are trying to find their mother an appropriate non-hamster Christmas present while Meg tries to help organize the church performances and prevent further church vandalism. Meg has her usual relatives about being somewhat helpful and extremely funny. I struggled a little with how to rate this one. I was enjoying this so much… but there was an element of the plot that was introduced that was harmful towards people with invisible illness, chronic illness, and disability. And then it came up again. And again. Ultimately, I enjoyed most of the book. But I wished this one element had been left out. show less
I fell in love with Meg Langslow and her family of whack-jobs when I first picked up Murder with Peacocks lo those many years ago. This is one of those series I went out of my way to 'upgrade' to a complete hardcover collection. They're light, funny, really well-written and almost always well plotted. Even if one of the plots isn't completely up to snuff, I'm having so much fun with the characters, I find myself not caring.
I've been saving Duck the Halls to read during the Christmas season, since I have been really struggling to feel the season since moving to the Southern Hemisphere. I didn't quite realise how much my Christmas cheer was tied to shorter, colder days (even in Florida - it's all relative). Here, I'm just getting stuck show more into Spring, gardening, long, warm days and then someone comes up and says "so, what are you guys doing for Christmas next week?" and I suddenly feel like Schrödinger's Cat - except it's summer and winter (holidays) at the same time.
So this year I've been saving up my Christmas books to read the two weeks before the holiday. I'm not sure if it's working, but I've read some great books and this one is the very best one! I can't recommend it enough and if I could give it the sixth star, I would. This book made me nostalgic for church!!!
It all begins with a surfeit of skunks released in the Baptist Church 4 days before Christmas. Meg is roped into rearranging the schedules of all the churches and the synagogue to make room for all the events the Baptist Church can't have because of the need to de-skunk. This becomes a sisyphean task as more pranks are played on neighbouring churches, culminating in a dead body.
The mystery isn't the hardest or most surprising, but well done just the same. Quite a few suspects, some false leads, a red herring or two.
But the best part of this book wasn't the mystery, it was the characters and the holiday. Donna Andrews does a fantastic job of showing what religion should be about. People pulling together and working together. Plus, the fantabulous animal pranks and how animals play a large part to the story. I loved the ending of this book. There's a scene towards the end that involves a living nativity that had me simultaneously wanting to giggle and get weepy at the same time - the imagery was vivid and touching, while at the same time being a bit absurd. Pure Gold.
I'll end this review by coming back around to what else I struggle with during the Southern Hemisphere Holiday Season. By virtue of it being summer, the traditional Christmas dinner here is not my idea of a traditional dinner. Not bad, just different. There was a great parallel to this in the book and I love the way Meg and Michael resolve it. It brings the book to a perfect, Christmas, wrapped-in-a-bow ending. Perfect.
Thank you to Donna Andrews for giving me some Christmas Spirit. show less
I've been saving Duck the Halls to read during the Christmas season, since I have been really struggling to feel the season since moving to the Southern Hemisphere. I didn't quite realise how much my Christmas cheer was tied to shorter, colder days (even in Florida - it's all relative). Here, I'm just getting stuck show more into Spring, gardening, long, warm days and then someone comes up and says "so, what are you guys doing for Christmas next week?" and I suddenly feel like Schrödinger's Cat - except it's summer and winter (holidays) at the same time.
So this year I've been saving up my Christmas books to read the two weeks before the holiday. I'm not sure if it's working, but I've read some great books and this one is the very best one! I can't recommend it enough and if I could give it the sixth star, I would. This book made me nostalgic for church!!!
It all begins with a surfeit of skunks released in the Baptist Church 4 days before Christmas. Meg is roped into rearranging the schedules of all the churches and the synagogue to make room for all the events the Baptist Church can't have because of the need to de-skunk. This becomes a sisyphean task as more pranks are played on neighbouring churches, culminating in a dead body.
The mystery isn't the hardest or most surprising, but well done just the same. Quite a few suspects, some false leads, a red herring or two.
But the best part of this book wasn't the mystery, it was the characters and the holiday. Donna Andrews does a fantastic job of showing what religion should be about. People pulling together and working together. Plus, the fantabulous animal pranks and how animals play a large part to the story. I loved the ending of this book. There's a scene towards the end that involves a living nativity that had me simultaneously wanting to giggle and get weepy at the same time - the imagery was vivid and touching, while at the same time being a bit absurd. Pure Gold.
I'll end this review by coming back around to what else I struggle with during the Southern Hemisphere Holiday Season. By virtue of it being summer, the traditional Christmas dinner here is not my idea of a traditional dinner. Not bad, just different. There was a great parallel to this in the book and I love the way Meg and Michael resolve it. It brings the book to a perfect, Christmas, wrapped-in-a-bow ending. Perfect.
Thank you to Donna Andrews for giving me some Christmas Spirit. show less
Meg's organizational skills are really put to the test in the days leading up to Christmas. When skunks - thirteen of them - are found in the choir loft of the New Life Baptist Church just before their highly anticipated Christmas Choir Concert demand a new location be found for the concert, Meg is busy helping sort out spaces in other churches and public places to hold the concert, rehearsals and all the other events scheduled for New Life Baptist.
Some of the events spill over at Meg's Episcopalian Church which really irritates Mr. Vess who is a member of the church council and famous for watching every penny the church spends. Also, the church storage areas are already packed with the belongings of a recent parishioner who left show more everything to the church.
But skunks are only the first prank, next comes the theft of a boa from Meg's grandfather's zoo which makes its next appearance in the branches of an evergreen at the concert. And then there are ducks, hundreds of ducks, let loose in the local Catholic Church.
As the Chief tries to find the pranksters and Meg tries to rearrange all the holiday events, a murderer is lurking. Mr. Vess's body is found in the church basement which throws the schedules in disorder again and adds even more stress to the holiday season. Everyone, including Meg and the new rector, has had recent arguments with Mr. Vess.
I enjoyed this holiday entry into the Meg Langslow series. I liked all the different events from concerts to live nativity scenes. I liked seeing some of them through eyes of Meg and Michael's now-three-year-old twins. I liked the dueling mothers-in-law each trying to plan the more spectacular Christmas dinners and Meg and Michael's determination to do something quieter. show less
Some of the events spill over at Meg's Episcopalian Church which really irritates Mr. Vess who is a member of the church council and famous for watching every penny the church spends. Also, the church storage areas are already packed with the belongings of a recent parishioner who left show more everything to the church.
But skunks are only the first prank, next comes the theft of a boa from Meg's grandfather's zoo which makes its next appearance in the branches of an evergreen at the concert. And then there are ducks, hundreds of ducks, let loose in the local Catholic Church.
As the Chief tries to find the pranksters and Meg tries to rearrange all the holiday events, a murderer is lurking. Mr. Vess's body is found in the church basement which throws the schedules in disorder again and adds even more stress to the holiday season. Everyone, including Meg and the new rector, has had recent arguments with Mr. Vess.
I enjoyed this holiday entry into the Meg Langslow series. I liked all the different events from concerts to live nativity scenes. I liked seeing some of them through eyes of Meg and Michael's now-three-year-old twins. I liked the dueling mothers-in-law each trying to plan the more spectacular Christmas dinners and Meg and Michael's determination to do something quieter. show less
Meg and Michael's twins, Jamie and Josh, are four years old now, so it's no suprise that Meg's mother's age is left vaguely in her sixties and Grandfather Montgomery Blake's age is also left vague -- in his nineties. Spike, the Small Evil One, is still with them. I enjoyed his reaction to the dog cushions Mrs. Langslow bought for Meg's living room. Good thing that Tinkerbell, the Irish Wolfhound belonging to Meg's brother, Rob, is so sweet. Yes, Rob and cousin Rose Noire are still living on the third floor of Meg and Michael's Victorian farmhouse.
It's Christmas time again and the town parade that was the big problem in Six Geese a-Slaying is safely past. This year someone is playing pranks on Caerphilly's houses of worship, one show more involving a theft from Dr. Blake's zoo. Two of the pranks are bad enough to temporarily close their respective churches. This forces those churches to relocate their pre-Christmas events. Guess who gets stuck with the job of juggling the various schedules as the local Jewish temple and Christian churches rally to help out the victims?
There's a very nasty-tempered choir director and a penny-pinching vestry member to make pests of themselves. I didn't read about them for long before hoping that one or both of them would be this book's murder victim. There's also a church secretary who is almost as bad. When it looks as if the living nativity will be minus its animals, she naturally dumps the problem in Meg's lap. (Loved Dr. Blake's personal choice for the nativity scene, as well as his reason why it would be appropriate.)
There are plenty of references to earlier books. Meg learns what cousin Sylvia does to retaliate if she finds out that her handmade hideous Christmas sweaters aren't appreciated. We get to see that the time Judge Jane Shiffley had to hold court in her barn has had a permanent effect on her. Meg looking at photos in her Christmas cards gives us many updates on lesser-used characters (see chapter 28). Perhaps it was mentioned and I missed it, but I can't help wondering why older sister Pam and her family didn't come to Caerphilly for Christmas since the rest of the main members of their family are there. Meg and Michael's mothers are even holding competing dinners at the Langslows' farmhouse and the Waterston-Langslow Victorian. (As in my family, the mother's mom is 'Grandma' well, 'Gamma,' for the twins, while the father's mom is 'Granny'.)
I loved this entry! I've read the last chapter three times in less than a week and I've been dipping into favorite scenes!.
By the way, there really was a St. Byblig. He was a 5th century Welshman also known as known as 'Biblig,' 'Peblig,' 'Peglig,' 'Piblig,' and 'Publicius'. (I think Ms. Andrews picked the best spelling.) show less
It's Christmas time again and the town parade that was the big problem in Six Geese a-Slaying is safely past. This year someone is playing pranks on Caerphilly's houses of worship, one show more involving a theft from Dr. Blake's zoo. Two of the pranks are bad enough to temporarily close their respective churches. This forces those churches to relocate their pre-Christmas events. Guess who gets stuck with the job of juggling the various schedules as the local Jewish temple and Christian churches rally to help out the victims?
There's a very nasty-tempered choir director and a penny-pinching vestry member to make pests of themselves. I didn't read about them for long before hoping that one or both of them would be this book's murder victim. There's also a church secretary who is almost as bad. When it looks as if the living nativity will be minus its animals, she naturally dumps the problem in Meg's lap. (Loved Dr. Blake's personal choice for the nativity scene, as well as his reason why it would be appropriate.)
There are plenty of references to earlier books. Meg learns what cousin Sylvia does to retaliate if she finds out that her handmade hideous Christmas sweaters aren't appreciated. We get to see that the time Judge Jane Shiffley had to hold court in her barn has had a permanent effect on her. Meg looking at photos in her Christmas cards gives us many updates on lesser-used characters (see chapter 28). Perhaps it was mentioned and I missed it, but I can't help wondering why older sister Pam and her family didn't come to Caerphilly for Christmas since the rest of the main members of their family are there. Meg and Michael's mothers are even holding competing dinners at the Langslows' farmhouse and the Waterston-Langslow Victorian. (As in my family, the mother's mom is 'Grandma' well, 'Gamma,' for the twins, while the father's mom is 'Granny'.)
I loved this entry! I've read the last chapter three times in less than a week and I've been dipping into favorite scenes!.
By the way, there really was a St. Byblig. He was a 5th century Welshman also known as known as 'Biblig,' 'Peblig,' 'Peglig,' 'Piblig,' and 'Publicius'. (I think Ms. Andrews picked the best spelling.) show less
Nothing like reading a Christmas themed novel during a heatwave.
Reread May 2020 - not quite a heatwave but t-shirt weather all day and thunderstorm all evening. I watch A Christmas Carol every Christmas...a ritual..with Alastair Sim. This past Christmas I watched every production of it I could find..Muppets et al. After reading this book I have decided that this year I will READ THE BOOK.
Nothing like reading a Christmas themed novel during a heatwave.
Reread October 2023-getting an early start on Christmas...I do love DA's versions of Christmas.
A new side-splitting Meg Langslow mystery from award–winning, New York Times bestselling author of Six Geese A Slaying, just in time for the holidays
The brilliantly funny and talented Donna show more Andrews delivers another winner in the acclaimed avian-themed series that mystery readers have come to love. A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, where Mother insists the show must go on, despite the budget-related protests of Mr. Otis, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen—only to turn up later during the concert slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens.
It’s clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Otis is discovered dead. Could this be a bit of nasty revenge from the now deposed Pruitt family? Or harassment from the Evil Lender? As Meg searches for answers she also races to finish all of her Christmas shopping, wrapping, cooking, caroling, and decorating in time to make the season jolly for Michael and the twins.
Guaranteed to put the "ho ho hos" into the holidays of cozy lovers everywhere, Duck the Halls is a gut-bustingly funny mystery, the latest from the award-winning Donna Andrews. show less
Reread May 2020 - not quite a heatwave but t-shirt weather all day and thunderstorm all evening. I watch A Christmas Carol every Christmas...a ritual..with Alastair Sim. This past Christmas I watched every production of it I could find..Muppets et al. After reading this book I have decided that this year I will READ THE BOOK.
Nothing like reading a Christmas themed novel during a heatwave.
Reread October 2023-getting an early start on Christmas...I do love DA's versions of Christmas.
A new side-splitting Meg Langslow mystery from award–winning, New York Times bestselling author of Six Geese A Slaying, just in time for the holidays
The brilliantly funny and talented Donna show more Andrews delivers another winner in the acclaimed avian-themed series that mystery readers have come to love. A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, where Mother insists the show must go on, despite the budget-related protests of Mr. Otis, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen—only to turn up later during the concert slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens.
It’s clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Otis is discovered dead. Could this be a bit of nasty revenge from the now deposed Pruitt family? Or harassment from the Evil Lender? As Meg searches for answers she also races to finish all of her Christmas shopping, wrapping, cooking, caroling, and decorating in time to make the season jolly for Michael and the twins.
Guaranteed to put the "ho ho hos" into the holidays of cozy lovers everywhere, Duck the Halls is a gut-bustingly funny mystery, the latest from the award-winning Donna Andrews. show less
A very cute, very light holiday mystery that starts with a series of silly pranks where a person or persons unknown are filling various places of worship with animals – skunks, snakes, ducks, etc – that eventually turns dark, and then someone is dead and it’s not a joke to anyone. Our protagonist isn’t a professional detective or sleuth for hire. As far as I can tell, she’s just an unashamedly nosy mom. But then, this is book #16 in the Meg Langslow series and there is probably a whole lot more to this character and her history than I was able to grasp in this one short book. Certainly there is a whole history to her extended family dynamics, which come into play throughout the story and bring us a really adorable holiday show more scene at the conclusion. This does work okay as a standalone, but I suspect the pleasure in it would be enhanced for readers who are already familiar with the series.
Many thanks to Themis-Athena and Murder by Death – I can’t remember which of you recommended this one to me, but you were right, this was a fun antidote to the string of unfinishable holiday-themed books that I kept trying to use to put myself in a holiday mood.
Audiobook, purchased via Audible, with a very good performance by Bernadette Dunn, although I think she does a much better job on all the Shirley Jackson books – maybe she needs that darker material to really sink her teeth into.
I’d have liked to use this for The 16 Tasks of the Festive Season, but I already have books lined up for all the book tasks and I already have a Christmas book for the Holiday Book Joker. show less
Many thanks to Themis-Athena and Murder by Death – I can’t remember which of you recommended this one to me, but you were right, this was a fun antidote to the string of unfinishable holiday-themed books that I kept trying to use to put myself in a holiday mood.
Audiobook, purchased via Audible, with a very good performance by Bernadette Dunn, although I think she does a much better job on all the Shirley Jackson books – maybe she needs that darker material to really sink her teeth into.
I’d have liked to use this for The 16 Tasks of the Festive Season, but I already have books lined up for all the book tasks and I already have a Christmas book for the Holiday Book Joker. show less
Another, amusing addition to the Meg Langlow mystery series. Despite strong clues to the motivations for murder halfway through the book, it is still an enjoyable read right through to the gut-busting end. Very light and funny read. Donna Andrews has strong insight into the nature of humankind - good, bad and the ugly. I highly recommend this series.
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- Canonical title
- Duck the Halls
- Original title
- Duck the Halls
- Original publication date
- 2013-10-22
- People/Characters
- Meg Langslow (blacksmith); Michael Waterston (Meg's husband); Mrs. Langslow aka Mother (Margaret Hollingsworth Langslow); Dr. James Langslow aka Dad; Dr. J. Montgomery Blake (famed zoologist, Dr. Langslow's birth father); Josh Waterston (Meg and Michael's son, the competitive one) (show all 58); Jamie Waterston (Josh's twin brother); Mrs. Dahlia Waterston (Michael's mother); Horace Hollingsworth (Meg's cousin, a forensic specialist); Rob Langslow (Robert James, Meg's brother, CEO, Mutant Wizards); Rose Noire ( cousin Rosemary Keenan, herbalist); Henry Burke, Chief of Caerphilly police; Minerva Burke (Henry's formidable wife); Chief Jim Featherstone (Caerphilly's volunteer fire dept + county Fire Marshall); a surfeit of skunks; Debbie Ann (Caerphilly's police and emergency dispatcher); Reverend Ambrose Wilson (of New Life Baptist Church); Caroline Willner (runs a wildlife sanctuary & friend of Dr. Blake); Reverend Robyn Smith (of Trinity Episcopal, Meg's church); Victor (Dr. Blake's zoo's night-shift head keeper); Cleopatra (Dr. Blake's zoo's emerald tree boa, almost 7 feet long); Nelson Dandridge (caretaker, New Life Baptist church); members of the New Life Baptist Church Ladies' Auxiliary, headed by Minerva Burke; members of Trinity Episcopal St. Clotilda's Guild, headed by Margaret Langslow; Riddick Hedges (Trinity Episcopal's office manager); Rabbi Grossman (of Temple Beth-El of Caerphilly); Ronnie Butler (Ronald, nephew of Meg's friend, Aida Butler); Caleb Shiffley (Randall Shiffley's nephew); Jerome Lightfoot (director of New Life Baptist Church's renowned choir); Kayla Butler (Aida's daughter & member of NLBC's choir); Barliman Vess (penny-pinching Trinity Episcopal vestry member); Randall Shiffley (Mayor of Caerphilly); Ms. Dahlgren (secretary of the Methodist Church); various Shiffleys of Shiffley Construction Company; Spike (Meg and Michael's male dog, a.k.a. the Small Evil One); Tinkerbell (Rob Langslow's female Irish Wolfhound); Father Donnelly (of St. Byblig's Catholic Church); several hundred Pekin ducks; Reverend Trask (of Caerphilly's Methodist Church); Reverend Larsen (of Caerphilly's Lutheran Church); Seth Early (Lincoln sheep farmer, across the road from Meg & Michael's); Ducky Lucky (a Pekin duck); Duane Shiffley (Randall's cousin's son, not a kid); Paolo (a waiter at Luigi's); Tonino's ducks (Luigi's grandson); Hank (a Trinity Episcopal volunteer); Vern Shiffley; Deputy Sammy Wendell; Judge Jane Shiffley (Caleb's aunt); the bailiff; the county prosecutor (a woman); Charles Gardner (Caerphilly College registrar & Michael's friend); Barliman Vess' gray cat; Aida Butler (Deputy); Lad, Seth Early's Border Collie; Betsy (Meg's friend); Jim-Bob (an American Mammoth Jackstock donkey); Horace Hollingworth (Cousin Horace's name until book ten)
- Important places
- Caerphilly, Virginia, USA (fictional, pronounced 'car--FIL-ly')
- First words
- The buzzing noise woke me from an already restless sleep.
- Quotations
- [Mrs. Langslow talking about the latest Christmas sweater Cousin Sylvia made for Rob. : ]
'... I'd say his is worse than usual. I believe it's meant to be Santa petting Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer -- although, if... (show all) so, you'd think she would have used red and brown instead of orange and purple. Rob thinks it's supposed to be a fruit basket being savaged by mutant hyenas. ... ' - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'And to all a good night,' Jamie finished.
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