Murder With Peacocks (Meg Langslow Mysteries Book 1)

Meg Langslow has sublet her studio and come for the summer to be maid of honor, and wedding planner, for three weddings. As if three demanding brides - her best friend Eileen, her brother’s fiancee Samantha and finally her mother - and their increasingly interesting requests aren’t enough stress the summer soon becomes more complicated with several mysterious deaths. In between herding bridesmaids to fittings and tracking down peacocks to add ambiance, As the body count grows, Meg finds herself unofficially investigating along with Michael, the wedding seamstress’s handsome, but rumored to be gay, son.This first Meg Langsow mystery introduces us to some of the core members of Meg’s family. The plot moves along quickly as one after another wedding comes to pass and we learn more about Meg’s eccentric family. There were several mysteries and while I figured out the murderer a bit before Meg the real joy in this series is her family and their actions. I really love this series and decided after the most recent entry to go back and start over from the beginning for the pleasure of getting to meet Meg’s family all over again and watch their relationships grow. This is as fresh and fun a read as it was the first time I read it 20 years ago. This whole series is highly recommended.

I confess, I have been reading this series out of order. But I recently got a copy of this book, the first in the series. And I’m so glad I did! Some things in later books make sense now, and each subsequent book I read has a much firmer foundation.Meg Lanslow is spending most of her summer as Maid of Honor for three separate weddings - her best friend’s, her brother’s and her mother’s. And she has been tasked with dealing with most of the details for all of them.Andrews has created a wonderful set of characters, with humorous and often long suffering relationships. Each is delightful in his or her own way, especially the little dog, Spike.If you read this series, which I highly recommend, read this book as soon as possible. You’ll be glad you did, when you stop laughing.

I actually didn't mean to read this book - I love puffins and picked up Murder with Puffins at a bookstore. However, it was fairly obvious right from the start that this was a sequel and that I had to read the first book first. I tracked won Murder with Peacocks down and was impressed with the Agatha Award posted on the cover. I settled in for an evening read.It's important to accept up front that this is meant to be a lighthearted read. The book doesn't hide this at all - it trumpets it from the start. Meg Langslow is a single ironworker who returns to her small hometown in order to be maid of honor - not to just one bride, but to three. The story is really all about those wedding preparations, the insane cast of family members, the owner of the dress shop (a gorgeous, literate hunk who everyone thinks is gay) and then a few deaths that are thrown in to annoy the wedding plans.This is one of those books where I loved the details but cringed repeatedly at the plot itself. Meg is supposed to be a smart, educated, take-care-of-herself chick who embraces the un-girly craft of metalwork and living far from home. However, when it comes to actions, she's a doormat. She lets everyone in her life use her - her family, her friends, even strangers. The main reason she likes Michael is that he's nice to look at. The educated part is an afterthought. For some reason every other man around her is drawn to her like moths to a flame, and she judges many of them by their body shape. I just didn't find her character very rounded, or to be honest, someone I'd root for. People she's grown up with her entire life are dropping dead left and right and she doesn't care at all.I also found the plot frustrating. It was clearly obvious from moment one that Michael was not gay - and these two spend TONS of time together, pretty much every waking moment. However, the only times he ever tries to tell her the truth, they're cut off. All the other times they're alone for hours on end, he doesn't say a word. The situation was silly enough to make you lose your involvement with the story. There are many other too-bizarre coincidences.With so many people dropping dead left and right, the cops seem rather blithe about it all. The villagers seem to care more about themselves than about anyone who's gone. There's never any sense of *why* Meg's boyfriend is with his fiance, or *why* Meg's mom left her dad and chose this new guy. It's all contrived plot. There's an incredibly tiny amount of sleuthing that goes on, but most of it is chore running, and the occasional stumbling over clues. The ending scene in particular seems extremely kludgy.I'm not saying I disliked the story - I read it through in a few hours, and there were numerous funny parts. It seems like it would have been *so* easy to structure it so that the constant "I'm about to tell her but some inane thing interrupts us" situations weren't happening - or that more depth was given to the characters so their actions rang true. Meg being such a shallow, spineless doormat was a continual frustration. It was a superb story crying to get out, but being bogged down by a lack of coherency. Even with the issues here, I'm actually really psyched to read the second book now. If this is what Donna Andrews did with her first try, I'm sure Puffins will solve many of these issues.

This is actually my third time reading this book and I love the entire series. It is like a stream of consciousness with plot and amazing character descriptions.

After reading this one you must read the latest, All the Usual Peacocks to compare and contrast the story lines. Great story, although I must say, Meg seemed a little slow to catch on to Michael's intentions, must have been all of the crazy going on and her amazing ability to keep it all going and together. I had originally started with either the second or third in the series and only recently went back to the beginning to see how it all started. Just as funny as the others and I really appreciate the Mother/daughter interactions, reminds me a bit of the Sophie Kimball mystery series written by J.C. Eaton. Great plot and plenty of suspicious characters and a few diversionary tactics to keep you guess while you are laughing.

Liked this book, first of the series. Pleased with seller and book condition. Thank you!

I got this book based on the numerous rave reviews and was disappointed by the broad humor and the cast of dozens of cliched annoying characters. The narrator is put upon by a demanding mother, a dotty father, snooty bridezillas, clueless law enforcement and a slew of quirky cousins. She is the dumped-on maid of honor for three weddings (!) yet despite hearing how strong she is, she never sticks up for herself or puts her foot down. The book is too long, repeating endlessly how she is addressing invitations or making phone calls. There was not one 'normal' character and it just got to be too much. I fi ished it so I could write an honest review but I didn't enjoy the relentless lengthy quirkiness. I am just surprised no Elvis impersonators showed up. Obviously many people enjoy this series, and there were several passages I found funny, but I won't be reading any more.

hilarious, relaxing, great story

This is one of my all-time favorite mysteries. I’ve read it three or four times already, and it always cheers me up and puts a smile on my face. The story is a little whacky, definitely over-the-top, and wonderfully entertaining. There are already enough reviews that recount the plot, so I’ll just give you an idea of what I like about the book:One of the reasons I enjoy this book so much is the main character, Meg Langslow. She’s incredibly practical and down-to-earth. Sure, she can occasionally be cutting and sarcastic, but it’s never unwarranted and only when she’s stressed out. If she has one flaw, it’s that she can’t say no to her family. She loves them unconditionally and would do almost anything for them, which is how she ended up organizing three weddings for free. All in all, she comes across as very likable but flawed. For me, this makes her seem more human and ultimately much more interesting than a perfect, but bland, heroine.Somehow, the author manages to avoid coming across as overly sentimental or ‘cute’. In the book Meg states that she ‘positively loathe[s] cute’ and the author has apparently taken this to heart as well. Meg’s family is in turns odd, lovable, harebrained, stubborn, and plain crazy, but they’re not cute. Case in point: Spike. Other cozy mysteries have adorable puppies, beautiful cats, or majestic horses. This book has an ill-tempered, aggressive miniature dog with a Napoleon complex who will literally bite the hand that feeds him.I also like the author’s sense of humor. She has a knack for coming up with a turn of phrase that is both funny and to the point: ‘…my hopes of getting anything done were dashed by an unusually large infestation of visiting relatives.’ Which perfectly sums up Meg’s feelings towards many members of her extended family.The author also pokes gentle fun at more traditional cozy mysteries: ‘What could possibly be causing this undeniable antagonism between Samantha and her fiancé’s future stepfather’s first wife’s sister?’ And the one time Meg actually tries to do some investigating, she’s shocked, absolutely flabbergasted, to discover that the house she wanted to search is actually locked. ‘Unheard of. People in Yorktown don’t lock their doors.’ So it makes sense that in the end the murderer is uncovered more by accident than anything else.The book doesn’t take itself too seriously, and as long as you don’t either, you’ll have a great time with Meg and her family.

I love this series. If you like cozies this is the one for you.

the title does not correspond with story the brides are irresponsible leaving meg to do everything there are secrets among the couples so far i do not find any humor in this book

A quirky, cozy murder mystery with a cast of dozens, and some engagingly loopy shenanigans. It did leave a loose end or two, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and will definitely check out the sequels.