Meg Lanslow: vol. 30

The Twelve Jays of Christmas

Plot

The cast of Donna Andrews’ New York Times bestselling Meg Langslow mystery series is back for an unforgettable holiday story in The Twelve Jays of Christmas.

Meg and Michael’s annual holiday celebration is well underway, with a throng of out-of-town relatives staying at their house. Hosting these festivities is a little harder than usual—they have to relocate all the events normally held in their library, currently occupied by Roderick Castlemayne, the irascible wildlife artist who’s creating twelve paintings of birds to illustrate Meg’s grandfather’s latest nature book.

Still, the celebrations continue—and the entire family rejoices to learn that Meg’s brother Rob and his longtime fiancée Delaney have finally decided to tie the knot. Unfortunately, they decide to do this in the middle of Meg and Michael’s annual New Year’s bash, dashing their mothers’ hopes of planning the wedding to end all weddings.

Delaney’s mother sneaks into town so she and Meg’s mother can secretly plot a way to talk the happy couple into having a big bash. Hiding her only adds to Meg’s holiday stress—it’s almost a full-time job fending all the visitors who want to confront Castlemayne—reporters, bill collectors, process servers, and several ex-wives in search of unpaid alimony.

Then someone murders Castlemayne in the middle of a blizzard and sets loose the birds he was painting. Can Meg help the police crack the case before the killer strikes again? Can she keep Christmas merry in spite of the body in the library? Can she negotiate a compromise between Rob and Delaney and their disappointed mothers? And can she recapture the twelve escaped jays before they begin nesting in the Christmas tree?

This intrigue-filled Christmas mystery takes readers home to Caerphilly to join in Meg's family's holiday celebration—including, of course, another baffling mystery.


The Series - Meg Langslow Mystery - Meg Langslow is a blacksmith living in Yorktown, Virginia. This series features an exceptional sloppy detective and very decorative blacksmith. The mystery series has won three awards namely the Lefty, Anthony, and Agatha.

01. Murder With Peacocks (January 1999)
02. Murder With Puffins (May 2000)
03. Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos (Oct 2001)
04. Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Jan 2003)
05. We'll Always Have Parrots (Feb 2004)
06. Owls Well That Ends Well (Apr 2005)
07. No Nest for the Wicket (Aug 2006)
08. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (Aug 2007)
09. Cockatiels at Seven (Jul 2008)
10. Six Geese A Slaying (Nov 2008)
11. Swan for the Money (Aug 2009)
12. Stork Raving Mad (Jul 2010)
13. The Real Macaw (Jul 2011)
14. Some Like It Hawk (Jul 2012)
15. The Hen of the Baskervilles (Jul 2013)
16. Duck the Halls (Oct 2013)
17. The Good, the Bad, and the Emus (Jul 2014)
18. The Nightingale Before Christmas (Oct 2014)
19. Lord of the Wings (Aug 2015)
20. Die Like an Eagle (Aug 2016)
21. Gone Gull (Aug 2017)
22. How the Finch Stole Christmas! (Oct 2017)
23. Toucan Keep a Secret (Aug 2018)
24. Lark! the Herald Angels Sing (Oct 2018)
25. Terns of Endearment (Aug 2019)
26. Owl Be Home for Christmas (Oct 2019)
27. The Falcon Always Wings Twice (Aug 2020)
28. The Gift of the Magpie (Oct 2020)
29. Murder Most Fowl (Aug 2021)
30. The Twelve Jays of Christmas (Oct 2021)
31. Round Up the Usual Peacocks (Aug 2022)