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Meg Langslow #9
Cockatiels at Seven
It's time for more outrageous and feathered fun in the award-winning, laugh-out-loud Meg Langslow series.When her old friend Karen drops by with two-year-old son Timmy, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit "just for a little while." But when nightfall comes, the toddler is still in residence and Karen isn't answering any phone calls. Meg decides she must find out what's happening, so the next morning, with Timmy in tow, she retraces her friend's footsteps---and begins to suspect that Karen's disappearance is tied to at least one serious crime. Has Karen been killed or kidnapped? Is she on the run from the bad guys? Or is she one of the bad guys? The police don't seem to care, so Meg once again plays sleuth---this time with a toddler as her sidekick.As usual, Meg's extended family adds to the complications in her life. What covert animal welfare project are Dad and the curmudgeonly zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake working on---and will Meg have to make another late-night trip to bail them out of jail? Why does Meg's brother keep disappearing---is he merely trying to avoid babysitting, or is he involved in something more mysterious? Will taking care of Timmy dampen newly married Meg and Michael's enthusiasm for starting a family of their own? And are any of Meg's relatives reliable enough to be trusted with a two-year-old---especially a two-year-old whose whereabouts might be of interest to some very dangerous people?Donna Andrews once again proves her skill as one of the funniest, most entertaining mystery authors around.
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 8, 2008
151 people are currently reading
1291 people want to read
About the author
Donna Andrews
103 books2,095 followersDonna Andrews was born in Yorktown, Virginia, the setting of Murder with Peacocks and Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos, and now lives and works in Reston, Virginia. When not writing fiction, Andrews is a self-confessed nerd, rarely found away from her computer, unless she's messing in the garden
http://us.macmillan.com/author/donnaa...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/donnaa...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
October 16, 2020
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews is a 2008 Minotaur publication.
Now that Meg and Michael are married, Meg's thoughts have begun to flow toward the next step- children. Meg gets a good dose of reality when Karen, an old friend, drops by out of the blue asking Meg to babysit her son, Timmy, for a while.
As time passes, and Karen still hasn’t come to claim Timmy, Meg must find out what’s become of her friend, while also caring for Timmy full time. Naturally, the situation takes on a sinister tone when a dead body is found, and the possibility that little Timmy could be in danger becomes more apparent.
This is one of my ‘read though’ series. I love touching base with these zany characters, but I thought Meg was especially funny in this episode. The mystery, as always, is very well executed, the pacing is brisk, and the dialogue is top-notch.
Another hysterically wild and entertaining installment in this beloved series!!
Now that Meg and Michael are married, Meg's thoughts have begun to flow toward the next step- children. Meg gets a good dose of reality when Karen, an old friend, drops by out of the blue asking Meg to babysit her son, Timmy, for a while.
As time passes, and Karen still hasn’t come to claim Timmy, Meg must find out what’s become of her friend, while also caring for Timmy full time. Naturally, the situation takes on a sinister tone when a dead body is found, and the possibility that little Timmy could be in danger becomes more apparent.
This is one of my ‘read though’ series. I love touching base with these zany characters, but I thought Meg was especially funny in this episode. The mystery, as always, is very well executed, the pacing is brisk, and the dialogue is top-notch.
Another hysterically wild and entertaining installment in this beloved series!!
October 1, 2024
In this 9th book in the 'Meg Langslow' series, Meg - who's a blacksmith, wife and amateur sleuth in Caerphilly, Virginia - searches for a missing friend.
The mystery can be read as as a standalone, but the series has an arc for the personal lives of the characters.
*****
Blacksmith Meg Langslow is making a decorative towel rod in her forge, when her old friend Karen Walker - whom Meg hasn't seen in a couple of years - shows up with her toddler son Timmy.
Karen says her babysitter had an emergency and prevails on Meg to take care of Timmy for a little while. Meg agrees, thinking the childcare gig will last a few hours at most.
Meg probably should have known better because Karen leaves a thick sheaf of papers detailing Timmy's meals, snacks, nap schedules, and pediatrician's name and number along with a dozen changes of clothes, a carton of over 100 diapers, two sets of pajamas, a folding crib, a car seat, and a whole bag full of books.
Needless to say Karen doesn't return that day, and by the next morning Meg starts searching for her friend.
In the meantime, Meg and her extended family are taking care of Timmy. This involves playing horsie, chasing him around, providing meals, diapering him, reading to him, taking him for ice cream, keeping track of his stuffed cat Kiki, and so on.
Once Timmy discovers that Meg keeps band-aids in her handbag, his stuffed cat Kiki (who's clearly a hypochondriac) gets one boo-boo after another.
Taking care of toddler Timmy is time-consuming and tiring, but Timmy is a cute little boy that endears himself to everyone, and Meg's family are an eccentric bunch that can take almost anything in stride. Moreover, Meg and her husband Michael have been talking about having children, and a toddler around would be good practice for everyone.
Part of the charm of the Meg Langslow books is visiting with Meg's friends, relatives, and neighbors, who are always entertaining. For instance, Meg's aunt Rose Noire is a hippy-dippy free spirit with a gaggle of would-be admirers; Meg's grandfather, zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake, has been sneaking snakes into Meg's basement;
Meg's brother Rob is being unusually attentive to the mean bitey family dog Spike, and Meg wonders why; and Meg's neighbor Mr. Early is on the alert, as usual, looking for (imaginary) intruders in the neighborhood.
Meg's search for Karen involves going to Karen's office at Caerphilly College, where Karen is an accountant; stopping at Karen's apartment, where the police are investigating a break-in; searching for Karen's ex-husband Jaspar, who seems to be involved in several kinds of wrongdoing; a visit to a bird-breeder associated with Jaspar; and more.
Meg soon starts to fear for Karen's life, and it takes the combined efforts of Meg, the police, and various government agencies to unravel what's going on in Caerphilly.
I enjoyed this fun cozy mystery and recommend it to fans of the genre.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
August 8, 2022
In this ninth book in the Meg Langslow mystery series, Karen, a woman Meg is distant friends with shows up out of the blue and dumps her toddler in Meg’s care “just for a bit” then never returns. When Meg tries to find Karen, (with cranky toddler Timmy in tow and listening to Barney on repeat in the car everywhere she goes) she discovers she may have been entangled in a mess involving embezzlement and the local university… and the mystery may go deeper than that. As always, Donna Andrews writes a good mystery to untangle. This one was a bit light on the quirky exotic animal scenes that I look forward to in the author’s books and had quite a few cranky toddler scenes, so while I enjoyed the mystery, this probably isn’t one I’ll reread.
December 17, 2022
Real Rating: 3.5* of five
2009 review I found on my ancient desktop's hard drive
These really are cocktail peanut books, in the best sense of the word. They're compulsively readable. They have a pleasant taste and satisfying texture. They will make you fat if you consume too many of them because you'll never rear up off your sitzfleisch long enough to do more than walk the dog. And you'll chuckle while you're doing it.
Meg's insane family has nothing on the insanity of her friends, such as the mother who drops her toddler on Meg and her newly minted husband Michael because she's fleeing the criminals and lawmen who are after her not-quite-ex-husband; the neighboring sheep farmer whose obsessive belief that everyone is out to steal his sheep leads him to hide in his own shrubbery to keep watch on them, forgetting that he's completely visible from the main road; and her new bestest buddy, the absentee mom's co-worker at Caerphilly College's financial aid department, whose eagerness to latch onto Meg shows she's a rare good judge of where the action is.
Of course, all the usual suspects are making Meg crazy as well: Her daft father and newly discovered grandfather are hiding six-foot snakes in her new hot tub (there goes the sexy evening of soaking cares away with the aforementioned new husband), her brother the millionaire has abandoned his furnished apartment for her third-floor bedrooms (but failed to mention it to her), her mother and her loopy New Age cousin are shopping shopping shopping for new decor for her house, and so just *can't* babysit the toddler; and he's proven to be such a handful that Meg's seriously questioning her never-very-strong desire to be a mother. Someday. Maybe never. Especially now.
It's not urgently necessary to read these books in order. I'd suggest starting out with Murder with Peacocks to get some of the background, and certainly would not have a newbie skip past Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos before tackling the rest of the series. But...and here's the big point...there is too much fun to be had for me to go all OCD and strenuously urge you to follow the chronology. You're big people now, you can figure it out, and Andrews gives very good fill-ins for all crucial relationships.
Read. Enjoy.
2009 review I found on my ancient desktop's hard drive
These really are cocktail peanut books, in the best sense of the word. They're compulsively readable. They have a pleasant taste and satisfying texture. They will make you fat if you consume too many of them because you'll never rear up off your sitzfleisch long enough to do more than walk the dog. And you'll chuckle while you're doing it.
Meg's insane family has nothing on the insanity of her friends, such as the mother who drops her toddler on Meg and her newly minted husband Michael because she's fleeing the criminals and lawmen who are after her not-quite-ex-husband; the neighboring sheep farmer whose obsessive belief that everyone is out to steal his sheep leads him to hide in his own shrubbery to keep watch on them, forgetting that he's completely visible from the main road; and her new bestest buddy, the absentee mom's co-worker at Caerphilly College's financial aid department, whose eagerness to latch onto Meg shows she's a rare good judge of where the action is.
Of course, all the usual suspects are making Meg crazy as well: Her daft father and newly discovered grandfather are hiding six-foot snakes in her new hot tub (there goes the sexy evening of soaking cares away with the aforementioned new husband), her brother the millionaire has abandoned his furnished apartment for her third-floor bedrooms (but failed to mention it to her), her mother and her loopy New Age cousin are shopping shopping shopping for new decor for her house, and so just *can't* babysit the toddler; and he's proven to be such a handful that Meg's seriously questioning her never-very-strong desire to be a mother. Someday. Maybe never. Especially now.
It's not urgently necessary to read these books in order. I'd suggest starting out with Murder with Peacocks to get some of the background, and certainly would not have a newbie skip past Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos before tackling the rest of the series. But...and here's the big point...there is too much fun to be had for me to go all OCD and strenuously urge you to follow the chronology. You're big people now, you can figure it out, and Andrews gives very good fill-ins for all crucial relationships.
Read. Enjoy.
October 14, 2013
You know that expression, "Don't judge a book by its cover?" Unfortunately, that was just what I did. But who could blame me...the cockatiels on the cover are so cute, it's like a bucket of squee!
Turns out, this is a cozy mystery. Since it's a popular genre, but one I just can't warm up to, I'm not doing an in-depth discussion here. It's like someone who hates science fiction complaining about all the spaceships and aliens.
Instead, I'll focus on the two things I really hated.
One, there are no cockatiels to speak of in the story! If you call your book Cockatiels at Seven, with an adorable cover to match, I expect cockatiels!
Two--and this was the real kiss of death--instead of cockatiels, the bulk of the novel (I didn't do a page-by-page count, but I would guess at least half) is dominated by an extremely annoying toddler. Now, I don't dislike children in general, or even in fiction. (Heck, I loved "The Nanny Diaries", although at least that title gave me a bit of a heads-up.)
But this particular fictional toddler...*shudder*...was overkill and a half. To back up a bit, the story begins when Meg, the heroine, is asked to babysit young Timmy by a friend she hasn't seen for a while, Karen. She agrees. By the following morning, when Karen still hasn't returned to pick him up, Meg suspects something fishy, and runs off to gossip with Karen's coworkers. (Sorry, I meant to say begins investigating her disappearance.)
For page after page, I was subjected to his bedtime tantrums, his diaper emergencies, his "cute" baby-talk and childish lispings, his stuffed animal melt-downs and attempts to ride sheep like they were ponies. Maybe someone reading this is thinking, "Well, that sounds adorable, far better than some scruffy cockatiels...what a cute idea for a mystery!" If so, I guarantee that you will love this book.
As for me, I hope it will be a long, long time before my reading involves mention of sippy cups or carseats.
Turns out, this is a cozy mystery. Since it's a popular genre, but one I just can't warm up to, I'm not doing an in-depth discussion here. It's like someone who hates science fiction complaining about all the spaceships and aliens.
Instead, I'll focus on the two things I really hated.
One, there are no cockatiels to speak of in the story! If you call your book Cockatiels at Seven, with an adorable cover to match, I expect cockatiels!
Two--and this was the real kiss of death--instead of cockatiels, the bulk of the novel (I didn't do a page-by-page count, but I would guess at least half) is dominated by an extremely annoying toddler. Now, I don't dislike children in general, or even in fiction. (Heck, I loved "The Nanny Diaries", although at least that title gave me a bit of a heads-up.)
But this particular fictional toddler...*shudder*...was overkill and a half. To back up a bit, the story begins when Meg, the heroine, is asked to babysit young Timmy by a friend she hasn't seen for a while, Karen. She agrees. By the following morning, when Karen still hasn't returned to pick him up, Meg suspects something fishy, and runs off to gossip with Karen's coworkers. (Sorry, I meant to say begins investigating her disappearance.)
For page after page, I was subjected to his bedtime tantrums, his diaper emergencies, his "cute" baby-talk and childish lispings, his stuffed animal melt-downs and attempts to ride sheep like they were ponies. Maybe someone reading this is thinking, "Well, that sounds adorable, far better than some scruffy cockatiels...what a cute idea for a mystery!" If so, I guarantee that you will love this book.
As for me, I hope it will be a long, long time before my reading involves mention of sippy cups or carseats.
June 26, 2023
I really enjoy this series. The characters are likeable and the crazy situations make me laugh. It’s always fun to see what craziness is happening with Meg and how her house is turning into a zoo this time. #readforkimberly
September 19, 2019
absolutely love this very funny series with its cast of quirky characters!
December 17, 2015
Excellent. Love, love, love this series!
January 20, 2020
When her friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son Timmy asking that Meg Langslow babysit “just for a little while,” Meg takes on the challenge. After all, what’s so hard about playing with a toddler? Meg puts away the blacksmithing project she’d just begun in preparation for a craft show, and goes through what Karen left with Timmy, finding several sets of clothes, diapers, bedding, Timmy’s favorite blanket, and a bedraggled stuffed kitty named Kiki. After dinner, Timmy is still with the Langslows, and Karen isn’t answering Meg’s phone calls.
When Karen hasn’t shown up for Timmy by morning, Meg begins to investigate. Taking Timmy with her, she starts her search by visiting Karen’s workplace in the financial offices of the college. A paranoid supervisor is more intent on where Timmy’s hands are going than talking about Karen. Later a co-worker pulls Meg aside and confides that something is seriously wrong. Police are raiding Karen’s rundown apartment when Meg arrives. She chides Chief Burke for treating Karen like a criminal when she is missing. Karen’s ex-husband had supposedly left town, but perhaps he has taken her. Could Timmy be the target of kidnappers? Could Karen be hiding from bad guys? Could she be a bad guy?
Meg continues to follow clues with the help of her large extended family. Meg’s brother Rob has been slowly moving into a third floor bedroom and has been missing for blocks of time. Meg’s dad and her newly discovered grandfather, Dr. Montgomery Blake, renowned zoologist, have been hiding some finches on the third floor and snakes in the basement. Meg learns of an old bird farm out in the country next door to a relative of Karen’s husband. Just what has her father been up to? Meg seems to be one step ahead of Chief Burke at every new discovery.
Babysitting alone is topic for a funny mystery, but Donna Andrews has expounded on this theme in so many ways. Embezzling, kidnapping, killing, and real estate schemes round out this zany story. While being hilariously funny, this ninth outing of Meg Langslow and family are a tad less madcap. With the welfare of a child at stake, the investigators are following all leads. They can’t control the trouble they get into checking them out!
Thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended.
When Karen hasn’t shown up for Timmy by morning, Meg begins to investigate. Taking Timmy with her, she starts her search by visiting Karen’s workplace in the financial offices of the college. A paranoid supervisor is more intent on where Timmy’s hands are going than talking about Karen. Later a co-worker pulls Meg aside and confides that something is seriously wrong. Police are raiding Karen’s rundown apartment when Meg arrives. She chides Chief Burke for treating Karen like a criminal when she is missing. Karen’s ex-husband had supposedly left town, but perhaps he has taken her. Could Timmy be the target of kidnappers? Could Karen be hiding from bad guys? Could she be a bad guy?
Meg continues to follow clues with the help of her large extended family. Meg’s brother Rob has been slowly moving into a third floor bedroom and has been missing for blocks of time. Meg’s dad and her newly discovered grandfather, Dr. Montgomery Blake, renowned zoologist, have been hiding some finches on the third floor and snakes in the basement. Meg learns of an old bird farm out in the country next door to a relative of Karen’s husband. Just what has her father been up to? Meg seems to be one step ahead of Chief Burke at every new discovery.
Babysitting alone is topic for a funny mystery, but Donna Andrews has expounded on this theme in so many ways. Embezzling, kidnapping, killing, and real estate schemes round out this zany story. While being hilariously funny, this ninth outing of Meg Langslow and family are a tad less madcap. With the welfare of a child at stake, the investigators are following all leads. They can’t control the trouble they get into checking them out!
Thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended.
March 20, 2014
When Meg agrees to babysit a toddler, she just thinks it will be for a few hours. So when the mother hasn't returned by that night, she begins to try to track her down. Naturally, the trail leads to scandal, and dead body, and laughs. I thought this book was stronger than the last couple in the series. The humor was sharper since it focused on the antics of the toddler, and the mystery was better.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
March 10, 2021
This book is the continuing saga of Meg and Michael*s life. Meg has a 2 year old, dumped on her by a friend who says that it is just for a while, but since Meg and Michael are newlywed*s with no experience in child rearing.
After 3 days, Meg is finally getting the hang of it, but her friend Karen, has disappeared and the police are all over her apartment that was tossed, while Meg is trying to figure out what to do next.
Michael on the other hand, wants to practice for their own little imps, and Meg is still feeling the pressure of the missing mother.
Another fantastic read.
After 3 days, Meg is finally getting the hang of it, but her friend Karen, has disappeared and the police are all over her apartment that was tossed, while Meg is trying to figure out what to do next.
Michael on the other hand, wants to practice for their own little imps, and Meg is still feeling the pressure of the missing mother.
Another fantastic read.
October 19, 2023
Ugh. A reminder that I don't enjoy books with kids.
February 18, 2021
Another entertaining read from one of my "comfort" series.
February 16, 2025
Meg was in a bit more danger than usual in this installment. Amazing how people you wouldn't suspect can be murderers!! 😉
September 23, 2019
At this point, Meg should really be getting paid as a detective.
April 28, 2017
In Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews, Meg and Michael have returned from their honeymoon and back to the real world. Just as Meg is getting started again in her blacksmithing work while Michael attends orientation at Caerphilly College where he teaches in the drama department, an acquaintance she hasn't seen in over a year, Karen, stops by with her toddler son and begs Meg to take care of Jimmy for just a short while. Then she proceeds to give Meg a whole notebook full of instructions on Jimmy's care and numerous outfits of clothing and other supplies. But as the morning passes, Karen doesn't show up to pick up Jimmy. As the day grows longer, Meg begins to become alarmed and starts trying to locate Karen, whose phone keeps going to voice mail. By the next next morning, with still no response from Karen, Meg decides to go to Karen's house to try to locate the missing mother, only to learn that Karen has moved out of her previous home and into the local projects. But when Meg arrives at Karen's new home, she finds the police there. Karen is not there, but her ex-husband is, the victim of murder.
Read the rest of this review, more reviews, and other wonderful, geeky articles on FangirlNation
Read the rest of this review, more reviews, and other wonderful, geeky articles on FangirlNation
October 18, 2022
I usually love this series and could not wait to start it whenever I brought it home from the library.
This one was not one of my favorites; nowhere near as good as the others. I expected to laugh at Meg's hilarious family. This book did not feature them enough. I like it better when Dr. Blake is more involved in the story, as I find him funny how much he values his animals over humans. I also love Meg's family when the story revolves around them,
I wish baby Timmy wasn't mentioned so often. I hate to say it, but kids like him are why I never wanted kids.
The ending was unsatisfactory as I wanted to know whether Karen was arrested. I got the impression they were unsure, and it was left at that.
I am picking up the newest Meg Langslow book, Dashing through the Snowbirds, from the library as it is waiting for me in the next couple of days and I hope that book is better.
I will continue with this series as I have enjoyed and laughed out loud at the antics of the other books in it.
This one was not one of my favorites; nowhere near as good as the others. I expected to laugh at Meg's hilarious family. This book did not feature them enough. I like it better when Dr. Blake is more involved in the story, as I find him funny how much he values his animals over humans. I also love Meg's family when the story revolves around them,
I wish baby Timmy wasn't mentioned so often. I hate to say it, but kids like him are why I never wanted kids.
The ending was unsatisfactory as I wanted to know whether Karen was arrested. I got the impression they were unsure, and it was left at that.
I am picking up the newest Meg Langslow book, Dashing through the Snowbirds, from the library as it is waiting for me in the next couple of days and I hope that book is better.
I will continue with this series as I have enjoyed and laughed out loud at the antics of the other books in it.
May 10, 2024
I love this series, but this one touches on my nightmares. Meg is trying to settle in and get some blacksmithing done when a friend she hasn't seen in a couple of years shows up and drops off a toddler for "a little while." A little while turns into several days as murder and missing persons once more intrude on the theoretically quiet life of an artisan blacksmith.
I... don't do kids so much myself, so having a friend leave their child with me for an undetermined amount of time is nightmare fuel for me. Meg performs much more gracefully under pressure than I would thanks to her collection of well meaning family and her notebook-that-tells-her-when-to-breathe.
I... don't do kids so much myself, so having a friend leave their child with me for an undetermined amount of time is nightmare fuel for me. Meg performs much more gracefully under pressure than I would thanks to her collection of well meaning family and her notebook-that-tells-her-when-to-breathe.
December 19, 2017
Another nice cozy. I enjoyed watching Meg cope with a two year old and think about her feelings about kids. I happen to really love them at that age, but they can be a handful and I appreciated that Meg was actually trying to work out her feelings rather than just having a knee jerk reaction to love them or hate them. And the little boy was cute but not too much so.
I missed seeing more of Michael, he's probably my favorite character. If all of the plot threads came together exactly the way I expected and the surprised didn't surprise me, I didn't mind. It was still a fun read to squeeze into Christmas preparations with my own 2 and 7 year old grandsons.
I missed seeing more of Michael, he's probably my favorite character. If all of the plot threads came together exactly the way I expected and the surprised didn't surprise me, I didn't mind. It was still a fun read to squeeze into Christmas preparations with my own 2 and 7 year old grandsons.
August 10, 2012
I've loved all the books so far in the delightful, laugh-out-loud Meg Langslow series. In this one, we find Meg reluctantly babysitting a rambunctious two-year-old boy who is very attached to a stuffed toy kitty named Kiki, an embezzlement scheme at the local university, various snakes, an assortment of exotic birds, "laundered" finches, and a large cast of eccentric characters, including several suspects. If you like lighthearted, fun mysteries with wacky, likable characters, you'll enjoy this entertaining series.
March 10, 2022
A former friend of Meg drops off her son with Meg and disappears. Meg and Michael have been thinking of starting a family, and keeping up with the very active Timmy gives them a chance to decide whether they are ready. Timmy cramps Meg's style as she tries to find the missing mother and disentangle an embezzlement case with murder attached.
Read 2 times, listened 3 times
Read 2 times, listened 3 times
April 10, 2017
An enjoyable cozy, if a little heavy on the quirk. Not the best of the series, but a decent introduction nonetheless. Suitable for cozy fans, although bird enthusiasts will be less pleased with this entry than most.
July 12, 2021
I loved this Donna Andrews mystery. It was filled with quirky characters, a great mystery and a lot of humor.
August 27, 2024
Ninth in the Meg Langslow amateur sleuth cozy mystery series and revolving around a recently married blacksmith with a large family. The focus is on smuggling and a missing mom.
My Take
Ooh, snark! I love it, lol. Dr Blake doesn’t get why Meg is so happy to be a blacksmith. It’s so labor intensive. That reply Meg makes? ROFLMAO. It does help that Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg’s perspective. More laughter ensues as Timmy picks up on those excuses family makes: “I’m a turrel . . . This is as fast as I go.”
Meg also discovers how labor intensive having a toddler around can be — he’s already worn out five human steeds! As for the diaper-slinging incident. Well, I’m glad I wasn’t actually there, lol.
Family history is revealed that explains why Meg is so comfortable having cousins living with her and Michael.
As long as Dr Blake gets the results he wants, he’s not against chicanery. As for interference, ahem, Chief Burke is always apprehensive of Meg’s “investigating”.
Mutant Wizards is such a handy “character”. It employs so many brilliant computer techs who are always willing to help out. Yep, I love this company. Rob believes in taking care of his people and the atmosphere at work is fabulous. I do like those piranha in the fish tank!
Okay, Karen’s disappearance is the main bit of drama in Cockatiels at Seven and worrisome to boot with segues into her ex-husband’s more complicated activities, but that reveal about Rob’s disappearances . . . with Spike . . . are a major crack-up.
More tension ratchets up as that previous college scandal gets dredged up.
You might wanna watch where you step — poison ivy plays a major part with snakes adding their own special drama.
The Story
Hmmm, that child instruction manual is not a last-minute compilation. When Karen doesn’t show up to pick up Timmy, Meg gets worried. And when Meg gets worried, she dives in and under to learn if Karen is one of the bad guys or on the run from them. Meg also wonders if those chasing Karen will also be after Timmy.
Just to spice things up, Dad and Dr Blake need bailing out with an added scheme and Rob keeps disappearing. The question is, is Rob involved in something scary or is he just trying to avoid babysitting.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, blacksmith and amateur sleuth, just got married (in The Penguin Who Knew Too Much , 8) to Dr Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College. Their home is a recently purchased 3-acre farm with a three-story Victorian in need of a lot of work. Fortunately it has a number of sheds that can be re-purposed for whatever Dad and “Grampa” need. Spike is the eight-and-a-half pound furball a.k.a. the Small Evil One. Michael’s mom thinks she may be allergic to him.
Rob Langslow is Meg’s brother, who is slowly moving in. Dad is Dr Langslow, a man who reads mysteries by the truckload and who’s always trying to horn in when a body shows up. Mother . . . delegates. They’ve recently bought the farm next door, rescuing Meg and Michael at the same time ( No Nest for the Wicket , 7). Rose Noire is the cousin who lives with Meg and Michael and is absorbed in herbal lore. Cousin Alice had taken care of Meg for her first three or four years of life.
Dr J. Montgomery Blake is Dad’s newly discovered father who took over the Caerphilly Zoo. His real father! One who is obsessed with zoology and the preservation of endangered species. He’s also world-famous for his television specials. He also has a nasty habit of dropping off animals “to lodge” at Meg and Michaels. Carlos Arroyo with US Fish and Wildlife, is very concerned with smuggling.
Caerphilly, Virginia, is . . .
. . . the town where Meg and Michael now live and where Caerphilly College is located. Seth Early is a neighbor who has a sheep farm with wandering, exploring sheep who, ahem, act more like dogs. Ms Ellie is the librarian. Henry Burke is the chief of police. Sammy Wendell is one of his deputies. Debbie-Anne is the dispatcher. Cousin Horace Hollingsworth is a crime scene tech in Yorktown, Meg’s hometown.
Mutant Wizards is Rob’s highly successful computer gaming company. Jack Ransom is technically second-in-command, but actually the real boss since Rob has no skills.but does roll with successful oddball ideas. Apple is the receptionist. Hal and Muriel are working on a new game line and welcome Timmy’s “expertise”. Ashok is in the User Experience Department, informally known as the Idiot-proofing Division. He had worked with Jasper before. Yeah, no way. Mother and Meg are on the board of directors.
At Caerphilly College . . .
. . . Karen Walker, who works in the college financial administration, is an old friend whom Meg hasn’t seen for a few years. Timmy is her son. Kiki is Timmy’s "secretive" stuffed cat. Jasper Walker, a computer tech, is the husband who ran out on her. Uncle Hiram Bass of Clayville is Jasper’s relative. Scout is his dog. Sandie is one of Karen’s co-workers, the tchotchke lady. Nadine Hanrahan is their uptight boss, a bureaucrat’s bureaucrat. Fred is a campus cop. Peter Willoughby is in computer support. Dr Driscoll, an avid birdwatcher, and his wife, Mabel, are meeting Michael for dinner. Dr Henry Blanke, with the drama department, and his wife, Phyllis, is a sympathetic colleague of Michael’s.
The Caerphilly Inn is a five-star hotel. Luigi’s is the Langslow-Waterston’s favorite restaurant — they give good pizza. The Whispering Pines is a run-down apartment building. The College Arms, a.k.a. the Armpits, are another run-down apartment complex. Dr Payne is a dentist. Hmm, I wonder if that name is a heads-up? Duke Borden runs a decorating shop.
Aubrey Hamilton operates the Prancing Poodle Kennels. Martin Hamilton is her deceased husband. There’s also the Belle Glade Bird Farm on the same property. Frederick “Freddy” Hamilton and Trey Hamilton are relatives.
The Cover and Title
The cover background is a gradient that starts with lime green and gradates down to a pale lime green at the bottom. At the very top is an info blurb in purple with the author’s name immediately below that in the same purple. Below that is a graphic of three white finches? cockatiels? clustered around a martini glass with red liquid and an orange parasol. Below that is the title in orange with the series info below that in a pale purple.
I’m not sure why the title is Cockatiels at Seven, except that it is punny. The primary focus on birds is finches . . .
My Take
Ooh, snark! I love it, lol. Dr Blake doesn’t get why Meg is so happy to be a blacksmith. It’s so labor intensive. That reply Meg makes? ROFLMAO. It does help that Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg’s perspective. More laughter ensues as Timmy picks up on those excuses family makes: “I’m a turrel . . . This is as fast as I go.”
Meg also discovers how labor intensive having a toddler around can be — he’s already worn out five human steeds! As for the diaper-slinging incident. Well, I’m glad I wasn’t actually there, lol.
Family history is revealed that explains why Meg is so comfortable having cousins living with her and Michael.
As long as Dr Blake gets the results he wants, he’s not against chicanery. As for interference, ahem, Chief Burke is always apprehensive of Meg’s “investigating”.
Mutant Wizards is such a handy “character”. It employs so many brilliant computer techs who are always willing to help out. Yep, I love this company. Rob believes in taking care of his people and the atmosphere at work is fabulous. I do like those piranha in the fish tank!
The powers-that-be try to keep less contact between Rob and the rank-and-file . . . “easier to keep intact their belief . . . that Rob was a business mastermind and computer genius.”Ongoing series drama is Michael’s hope of tenure, interactions with Dr Blake, Dad’s obsession with murder, and Chief Burke’s continuing frustrations with Meg’s interference.
Okay, Karen’s disappearance is the main bit of drama in Cockatiels at Seven and worrisome to boot with segues into her ex-husband’s more complicated activities, but that reveal about Rob’s disappearances . . . with Spike . . . are a major crack-up.
More tension ratchets up as that previous college scandal gets dredged up.
You might wanna watch where you step — poison ivy plays a major part with snakes adding their own special drama.
The Story
Hmmm, that child instruction manual is not a last-minute compilation. When Karen doesn’t show up to pick up Timmy, Meg gets worried. And when Meg gets worried, she dives in and under to learn if Karen is one of the bad guys or on the run from them. Meg also wonders if those chasing Karen will also be after Timmy.
Just to spice things up, Dad and Dr Blake need bailing out with an added scheme and Rob keeps disappearing. The question is, is Rob involved in something scary or is he just trying to avoid babysitting.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, blacksmith and amateur sleuth, just got married (in The Penguin Who Knew Too Much , 8) to Dr Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College. Their home is a recently purchased 3-acre farm with a three-story Victorian in need of a lot of work. Fortunately it has a number of sheds that can be re-purposed for whatever Dad and “Grampa” need. Spike is the eight-and-a-half pound furball a.k.a. the Small Evil One. Michael’s mom thinks she may be allergic to him.
Rob Langslow is Meg’s brother, who is slowly moving in. Dad is Dr Langslow, a man who reads mysteries by the truckload and who’s always trying to horn in when a body shows up. Mother . . . delegates. They’ve recently bought the farm next door, rescuing Meg and Michael at the same time ( No Nest for the Wicket , 7). Rose Noire is the cousin who lives with Meg and Michael and is absorbed in herbal lore. Cousin Alice had taken care of Meg for her first three or four years of life.
Dr J. Montgomery Blake is Dad’s newly discovered father who took over the Caerphilly Zoo. His real father! One who is obsessed with zoology and the preservation of endangered species. He’s also world-famous for his television specials. He also has a nasty habit of dropping off animals “to lodge” at Meg and Michaels. Carlos Arroyo with US Fish and Wildlife, is very concerned with smuggling.
Caerphilly, Virginia, is . . .
. . . the town where Meg and Michael now live and where Caerphilly College is located. Seth Early is a neighbor who has a sheep farm with wandering, exploring sheep who, ahem, act more like dogs. Ms Ellie is the librarian. Henry Burke is the chief of police. Sammy Wendell is one of his deputies. Debbie-Anne is the dispatcher. Cousin Horace Hollingsworth is a crime scene tech in Yorktown, Meg’s hometown.
Mutant Wizards is Rob’s highly successful computer gaming company. Jack Ransom is technically second-in-command, but actually the real boss since Rob has no skills.but does roll with successful oddball ideas. Apple is the receptionist. Hal and Muriel are working on a new game line and welcome Timmy’s “expertise”. Ashok is in the User Experience Department, informally known as the Idiot-proofing Division. He had worked with Jasper before. Yeah, no way. Mother and Meg are on the board of directors.
At Caerphilly College . . .
. . . Karen Walker, who works in the college financial administration, is an old friend whom Meg hasn’t seen for a few years. Timmy is her son. Kiki is Timmy’s "secretive" stuffed cat. Jasper Walker, a computer tech, is the husband who ran out on her. Uncle Hiram Bass of Clayville is Jasper’s relative. Scout is his dog. Sandie is one of Karen’s co-workers, the tchotchke lady. Nadine Hanrahan is their uptight boss, a bureaucrat’s bureaucrat. Fred is a campus cop. Peter Willoughby is in computer support. Dr Driscoll, an avid birdwatcher, and his wife, Mabel, are meeting Michael for dinner. Dr Henry Blanke, with the drama department, and his wife, Phyllis, is a sympathetic colleague of Michael’s.
The Caerphilly Inn is a five-star hotel. Luigi’s is the Langslow-Waterston’s favorite restaurant — they give good pizza. The Whispering Pines is a run-down apartment building. The College Arms, a.k.a. the Armpits, are another run-down apartment complex. Dr Payne is a dentist. Hmm, I wonder if that name is a heads-up? Duke Borden runs a decorating shop.
Aubrey Hamilton operates the Prancing Poodle Kennels. Martin Hamilton is her deceased husband. There’s also the Belle Glade Bird Farm on the same property. Frederick “Freddy” Hamilton and Trey Hamilton are relatives.
The Cover and Title
The cover background is a gradient that starts with lime green and gradates down to a pale lime green at the bottom. At the very top is an info blurb in purple with the author’s name immediately below that in the same purple. Below that is a graphic of three white finches? cockatiels? clustered around a martini glass with red liquid and an orange parasol. Below that is the title in orange with the series info below that in a pale purple.
I’m not sure why the title is Cockatiels at Seven, except that it is punny. The primary focus on birds is finches . . .
September 28, 2025
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews is the 9th book in the Meg Langslow series. An old friend of Meg's Karen, who she hasn't seen for about 2 years, suddenly drops in and asks Meg to babysit her toddler Timmy for "a little while". When Karen fails to show up and doesn't answer her phone calls, Meg becomes worried and tries to find her, only to come across the dead body of Timmy's father while hunting for her friend. There are continuing family complications with her father and grandfather, renowned zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake, continuing to work on clandestine animal welfare projects. Lots of fun and plenty of chaos as we have come to expect from this series, even more so with the addition of caring for a two year old toddler. There are a lot of animals scattered about as always. Meg and Michael's relationship grows stronger, especially as Michael demonstrates his caring and patient nature with Timmy. A great mystery with plenty of twists along the way and an unexpected and surprising killer. Fun and entertaining.
January 10, 2020
I'm starting to feel like one of the family! Next!
June 5, 2023
More fun with Meg and crew.
November 6, 2023
A weaker one but still pretty good
November 10, 2023
3.5 - 4 stars. Interesting storyline, great characters. I’m still bothered by the fact that the narrator’s voice is way too old for the age of the main character. Oh well.
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