Six Geese A-Slaying

It's been a few years since I read a Meg Langslow book. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, 'Murder With Peacocks' where Meg Langslow stumbled into solving a murder while trying to organise a series of family weddings. The second book, 'A Murder With Puffins' was an éclair of a book: light, sweet and quickly gone, that didn't leave me with an appetite for more of the series.

Recently, I've seen a lot of people saying that the Meg Langslow Christmas mysteries have become part of their Christmas reading tradition, so I decided to dive back in at the tenth book, 'Six Geese A-Slaying' which is the first Christmas Mystery.

I'm very glad that I did. There was no downside to not having read the intervening seven books. The book works show more well as a standalone. Everything you need to know is on the page and there weren't any obvious spoilers for previous books.

The premise is straightforward but fun. Meg is Mistress of the Revels, the person responsible for organising and managing the Christmas Holiday Parade for the small town of Caerphilly, Virginia, an event that features people in costume for each of the twelve days of Christmas, plus camel-riding Magi, Diwali Elephants and Santa. Things start to go wrong when Santa, an unpleasant man who seems to have gotten the job because he's one of the few men small enough to fit the town's Santa Suit, is murdered. Meg, who knows everyone, involves herself in the ensuing investigation while keeping the Parade in motion and fending off the attempts of a cynical reporter to write something that ridicules Caerphilly, the Parade and Meg.

It's a quirky, cheerful story, filled with humour based partly on the larger-than-life characters in the Caerphilly Parade (many of whom Meg is related to) and partly by Meg's dry observations about them or deadpan reactions to them.

The mystery is a little more complicated than is typical for a cosy mystery and many of the people, particularly the ones dressed as geese, become suspects. There's also a surprising amount of action, which eventually results in Meg staring down the possibility of becoming another victim of the killer.

The book was more fun than I expected it to be. I enjoyed the controlled way that Donna Andrews used humour throughout the book, while still creating tension and without ever devolving into farce. True, I did have to suspend my disbelief more heavily than usual but not too much for a Christmas Cosy Mystery. But it was Meg that I enjoyed the most. She's a lot more confident than I remember her being in the first two books. Her curiosity is insatiable. Her relentless. high-energy pursuit of the solution to the mystery makes her unstoppable. Yet, even when under threat of violence, she addresses everything with a sense of humour that is quite infectious. I also loved that she is only vaguely aware of the impact that she has on the people around her (think tornado hitting a house and you'll get the idea).

I listened to the audiobook version of 'Six Geese A-Slaying', narrated by Bernadette Dunne. It took a while for me to adjust to the narrator because, to me, she sounded much older than Meg Langslow, from whose point of view the story is told. Everything else about the narration worked well. The main characters had recognisable voices that matched their backgrounds and personalities and the timing of the humour was perfect. show less

This delicious romp is part of a daffy mystery series featuring the Rubenesque Meg Langslow, daughter of a chic, slim, stylish and scary Virginia aristocrat mother and a simple, single-minded doctor father who never grew up (thank goodness). She's married to an ex-soap hunk and cult TV fantasy villain actor-turned-drama-professor at a small, exclusive liberal arts college located a few miles from her hometown of Yorktown, Virginia. Her extensive extended family includes a cousin who lives his life as a forensic technician from inside a gorillla suit; a cousin whose wool-headed New Age philosophical maunderings cause most of the family acute embarrassment; a younger brother who, like her father, never grew up but managed to make himself show more rich by starting a MMO-RPG company.

Getting the picture? It's a screwball comedy-cum-mystery, with a couple of befuddled normals at its whirling center. Think "Bringing Up Baby"--you know, the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn movie with the leopard and the madcap heiress?--and you've got the gist. And it's working for Andrews! This is the ninth of ten, to date, books in the series.

I commented once, on an LT thread now long buried, that I read mysteries to satisfy my orderly side. (The Divine Miss contends I *have* no orderly side, usually with a wrinkled nose and a wince as she looks into my bedroom.) This series of mysteries, despite the winsome chaos of the plot, scratches that bump with just the right touch. I love the characters, I willingly believe that (fictional) Caerphilly County, Virginia, is run by the lunatics instead of the asylum attendants, because *things go right* there. The right people are rewarded and punished. The right solutions are found to problems, and are implemented with a nudge and a wink at the law.

It's the way I wish Nassau County, New York, was run. It ain't, for the record, even close.

So when the chance came to join the Holiday (not Christmas!) parade and festivities in Caerphilly, Virginia, it would have taken a stronger man than I am to resist the siren call. I read the book in about four hours of snorting, giggling, howling fun. And that's the downside of Andrews's simple, direct prose: It flows like water over the eyeballs, nothing to impede the story being told, no snaggle in the current, just fast-flowing water from the Holy Well of Humor.

The humorless need not even bother looking at the book. The po-faced classics snobs should pass by the shelf, wincing disdainfully. The pseudo-erudite high-culture vultures stand warned off. The rest of us will be over here, in the corner, laughing fit to bust. show less

It's Christmas time in Caerphilly and Meg has been put in charge of the annual Christmas parade. The theme is "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and most of the days are easy to assemble, but the "six geese a-laying" is a problem because all 36 members of SPOR are in goose costumes and determined to be in the parade.

And then there is Santa Claus... He's been played by a local curmudgeon for years because he's one of the few that will fit in the little Santa suit. And now, to add to the confusion, someone has killed him by stabbing him in the heart.

Not only does Meg need to find a substitute Santa with only minutes before the parade begins, but she has to find a substitute camel-riding wiseman because the Chief of Police has to bow out to show more work the murder, and it would be good to solve the murder too.

Investigations shows that Santa was also a blackmailer and eagle-killer which really enlarges the suspect pool. And most of the suspects are taking part in the parade from the SPOR members upset about the eagles to other various blackmail victims.

As usual, things are chaotic and absurd, and it is up to Meg to control the chaos and save the day but not before she's captured by the villain. show less

Familiar territory with Meg Langslow and her family. This time, Meg is in charge of the holiday parade, and as everyone from Boy Scouts to representations of the twelve days of Christmas gather at her home to start the parade, someone does in the unpleasant local who is playing Santa Claus--in one of Meg and Michael's outbuildings. Meg's father takes over the role of Santa Claus and the sheep, camels, and elephants take off during a snowstorm for the parade, as Meg tries to stay out of the way of the police while investigating the murder and Michael goes around quoting A Christmas Carol in preparation for his one-man show. It's a familiar romp and ends with the all-too-predictable instance of the murderer holding Meg and half a dozen show more other people at gunpoint before being apprehended. I'd like to see Andrews wrap things up a little differently for a change, but it's still good fun. show less

I want to go to Caerphilly next Christmas to watch their parade. Better still, I wish I had been there to see the one just past! Who knew putting together a Christmas parade could entertain a reader throughout most of a book, have an acting "Mary" go into labor on the nativity float, and in between have and solve a murder? Not to mention the llamas and camels and elephants, oh my! Elephants? Well, it is really a Holiday parade incorporating several December holidays and Meg Langslow has been put in charge.

Donna Andrews knows how to entertain and be completely unexpected at the same time. In her several books, she consistently brings to her reading audience laughter, mystery, and a cast of characters that must be read to be believed. show more This is one author I would love to meet, her imagination knows no bounds, even to the name of the town. She also has the uncanny ability to combine characters both human and animal and this time she has done it in a big way.

Her cast of regular characters is surprisingly large and interactive and yet there is always room for more. Who will solve the murder? Why was it committed in the first place, and why at Christmas? There are enough suspects with motive to fill the jail and then some. I’m always sad in a way when the mystery is solved and the story ends, but very thankful that so far there is always another on its way. This is one series you can depend on to lift your spirits. A great cozy read that makes you feel like part of the family. show less

Six Geese A Slaying by Donna Andrews is a 2008 Minotaur publication.

“Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”

Meg has volunteered to organize the Christmas parade-a chore she didn’t realize required so much effort. But whatever helps Michael gain tenure…

The theme of for the parade is 'The Twelve Days of Christmas, and like all good holiday parades, Santa will be there to hear the children’s Christmas requests.

Naturally, things go horribly awry when ‘Santa’ is found murdered!!

As you know, I am slowly reading through this series, in order. With so many installments, I got a little mixed up on which book came next in the series and accidentally skipped this one. I realized my mistake immediately, and corrected the issue, but show more was a little disappointed when I realized the next book in line had a Christmas theme because after my holiday reading marathon in December, I’m pretty burned out on Christmas stories.

But because it has been a long time since I touched base with Meg, and because I needed to read a book that was sure to make me laugh, I decided to suck it up.

Turns out, I made the right decision! Meg is, as always, hysterically funny. The holiday parade was outrageously madcap, and as always, the characters are quirky and comical. The mystery is also an exceptional whodunit, but of course, the holiday theme adds just a dash of extra magic and charm to this installment in the series.

I really must touch base with Meg more often!

4 stars show less

Meg's chronic case of "yes" promises a long series of murder-filled (but well organized!) social events that go above and beyond normal expectations. This holiday-themed murder mystery is no exception, as she runs around organizing a large parade, trying to find who murdered Santa, and playing hostess to anyone who finds themselves stranded in the snow. I was worried that the holiday theme would make the novel a little too ridiculous, but Andrews balances things quite nicely, and presents another entertaining trip to Caerphilly Virginia.