Multitasking Murder

Merry Wrath Mysteries #40

by Leslie Langtry

From USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry comes the 40th installment in her laugh-out-loud mystery series!

Something old…something new…

It’s going to be a weekend to remember in Who’s There Iowa for multitasking ex-spy turned Girl Scout leader Merry Wrath! She has local medical examiner, Dr. Soo Jin Body’s, wedding, the grand opening of the Obladi Zoo Aviary, the graduation party for the Cult of Nicoderm’s teen druids, and her one of her troop and the youngest elected town official, Mayor Ava’s, re-election! As if that wasn’t enough chaos, someone is sending threatening letters warning these events to stop or else!

Someone murdered…and some kind of clue!

Merry's worries about things like the mayoral candidate who thinks aliens have packed explosives under her house, squeezing Officer Kevin Dooley’s mysterious plus one into an unforgiving wedding reception seating plan, and the little problem of Hilly the assassin showing up with new her pet European wolf pale in comparison to what comes next. When someone is found murdered backstage at the mayoral debate, Merry decides she should take the threats seriously. With the packed weekend fast approaching, can Merry find out who is behind the letters and catch a killer before the bridal bouquet is thrown?

What critics are saying about Leslie Langtry's books:

"I laughed so hard I cried on multiple occasions! Girl Scouts, the CIA, and the Yakuza... what could possibly go wrong?"
~ Fresh Fiction

"The Merry Wrath Mystery series has so much to love, and it is so different from other cozy mysteries that you can't help but be drawn to it."
~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

"Mixing a deadly sense of humor and plenty of sexy sizzle, Leslie Langtry creates a brilliantly original, laughter-rich mix of contemporary romance and suspense."
~ Chicago Tribune

"Langtry gets the fun started from page one."
~ Publisher's Weekly

Genres: Mystery

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

Leslie Langtry is a USA Today Bestselling Author of the Merry Wrath Mysteries and the Bombay Family of Assassins Greatest Hits series. She lives in the Midwest with her family and is an active Girl Scout volunteer. Her dream is to someday invent calorie free cake.

Reviews

[Debbie Feyerabend]

Merry and her girl scout troop have their hands full! Merry, an ex-CIA spy, and her best friend, Kelly, are leaders of their local girl scout troop. But this isn’t your normal girl scout troop. They’re now in middle school and Ava is currently the town’s mayor running for her second term. In addition to that, the same weekend, Soon Jin, the local coroner, is getting married with Merry, Kelly, and all the girls in the troop planning and participating in the wedding. Additionally, the local zoo is having the grand opening of the new bird sanctuary the troop fund raised for and are helping with the planning and execution of the grand opening celebration. And the local teen-aged druids are graduating from high school and are planning a party as well. What a weekend!

As Merry is working on the seating chart for Son Jin’s wedding, Kevin asks Merry to add a plus one for him. This is the first Merry heard about Jasmine and is curious to find out about her. Between everything going on with all these events, Merry soon find out that Ava, the zoo, the druids, and Son Jin all received the same type of threat letter – to not go through with this upcoming weekend’s events! As Merry, Kelly, and Rex, Merry’s police chief husband, try to solve the mystery of the notes and any commonality among them, the only thing they can see is that Jasmine is connected to all four of them. Jasmine is new to town and has volunteered for the zoo, the druids, and one of Ava’s opposing mayoral candidates. She’s now also attending Son Jin’s wedding with Kevin. Very curious as no one really knows much about her.

At the mayoral debate between the three candidates, as all the candidates are leaving the stage afterwards, Merry hears a scream from backstage. She, Kelly, and Rex all rush backstage to see what’s happened. A young woman is laying on the ground, dead! They soon find out that this is Jasmine!

Was Jasmine the one who wrote all the threatening letters? Does this mean the threat is now gone? Merry and Kelly are determined to find out. Can they solve the mystery before the weekend events and make sure no one else is harmed or murdered?

[Missi Martin (Stockwell)]

As it is stated in the Author's Notes at the end of Multitasking Murder, this is the fortieth book in the Merry Wrath Mystery series by Leslie Langtry. And Langtry cannot believe that she has written that many and thankfully for us readers, she doesn't have plans of stopping.

Langtry started the Merry Wrath Mystery series with a Girls Scout Troop in kindergarten and Merry becomes their troop leader when her CIA spy job comes to an abrupt end. I'm not sure when, no I haven't read all of the books in this series, but one of the girls in the troop becomes the youngest Mayor of their town, Who's There.

Since I have become a devoted reader of this series, I have seen the troop with the guidance of Merry and their other troop leader, Kelly, run that town with such power and grace. And Merry has had a crucial role in making Who's There the murder capital of Iowa ..... but luckily her husband is the Chief of Police.

Okay so in Multitasking Murder Merry and crew are gearing up for a busy weekend. There are four events happening that involve Merry with the troop also involved in a few. The medical examiner and one of the police officers are getting married with everyone in the bridal party, the zoo is opening an addition that they were instrumental in helping with, the election for Mayor results is to be announced and a group of high school students that worship Merry are graduating.

And to add more stress to the weekend people involved in these events are receiving threatening letters.

So Merry and Kelly with the help of Hilly (who is a CIA assassin) do some interviewing and investigating while trying not to get into trouble or cause more trouble and stress.

This is such a fun series to read, I know I say that in every review, but it is. I am always amazed at Langtry's imagination and have to applaud her for the success of having 40 books in one series published. That is awesome !!!!

I highly encourage you to continue reading this series or if you haven't read any yet, go ahead and get started. I think you'll be busy for a while but you will have a ton of fun reading !!!

[Vicky]

THOUGHTS: Merry and her friends are at it again in this, the fortieth(!!) addition to the series. And I laughed just as much at this one as I did the first ones. Just when you don’t think there’s anything else Merry can get into, she turns a corner and there’s another murder. Her town, Who’s There, has the highest murder rate in the state of Iowa. In addition, it’s populated by a whole bunch of “unique” individuals like the Hilly, a CIA non-assassin with a huge pet wolf. And then, there is Ava, the teenage mayor of the town and her Chief of Staff, Betty – who is definitely scary.

In this book, there’s one weekend where everything that could be going on, is. There’s the high school graduation of the druid crew, the mayoral election, and Soo Jin (Merry’s friend), and the opening of the new bird wing of the zoo. It starts out with Merry trying to find bobby pins – and she finds the exploding ones – not good for the bride. Then the four events receive threatening letters to cancel the event “or else”. The “or else” becomes a dead body at the mayoral debate. While preparing for all the events, Merry and her husband and friends look into the death and find out some interesting secrets in their town, one of which leads to the murder.

As usual, this was stupid fun. When you read these books, you have to be willing to accept without belief all the silly things that go on. Just sit back, read, and enjoy.

Recommended.

[Barbara Hackel]

Congratulations to author Leslie Langtry on the completion of this book which is the 40th in the series! I still remember reading the first book she ever wrote about Merry! Throughout this series Merry has suffered losing her CIA job, moving back to her small home town in Iowa, being reunited with her best friend, being followed there by her former handler, starting a brownie troop, falling in love, getting married, dealing with sister-in-laws, keeping her CIA assassin friend under control, and solving a plethora of murders.

It comes as no surprise that in this book not only does she face many of those same problems but also has to deal with the re-election of the mayor, dealing with the other candidates, helping with her friend's wedding, and more in one very busy weekend.

Be prepared to laugh, worry, and be amazed as you discover that this might be the 40th book in the series, but it's as fresh and funny as though it was the very first book in the series. Laugh out loud fun!

[Carole Craddock]

Another fantastic book in the Merry Wrath series! There is so much going on in Who's There all in the same weekend! Ava is up for reelection but has some pretty stiff competition. Soo Jin and Troy are getting married. The druids are all graduating. There is a new aviary exhibit having its grand opening at the zoo. And all involved have received threatening letters telling them to not go ahead with their plans. When a woman is found murdered during the mayoral debate, the threats become more serious and Merry, Kelly, and the gang set out to find the murderer before anything else happens. All on top of the multiple tasks Merry is involved in over the week leading up to all these events. Oh, and Hilly shows up with a very unusual pet she has named Egg… I laughed so hard at times, my dog started barking at me! This book is very typical of the series, with it being unique, funny, very entertaining, and hard to put down!

[Robin Lee]

I can’t believe this is the fortieth book in this series! That should give you an idea of how good this cozy mystery is. Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but I enjoyed reading all of them. Merry is a former CIA agent, now retired and is a co-Girl Scout leader. This is a very busy weekend in Who’s There, Iowa. Soon Jin is getting married, the zoo is opening their new aviary, there’s a high school graduation party, and a town mayoral election. As if that isn’t enough, there are letters threatening all the events. When a dead body is found, everyone takes the threatening letters more seriously. There is the usual cast of quirky characters that this series is known for. This series never gets stale; I’ve enjoyed all of them.

[Bernadette Cinkoske]

In Multitasking Murder, Ms. Langtry has really ramped up the activities. I was already in overload before the threatening notes and the murder! This zany, twisted cozy mystery has all the usual chaos, red herrings, too many suspects and more that I have come to expect. Merry, the scouts, the Druids, Ava's competition for mayor and more blaze through the usual mayhem and crazy theories to eventually unmask the killer and allow all the planned events to take place. Reading any book in this series is one of my favorite ways to escape reality when I need a break. You do not want to miss this well plotted book.

[JEM]

The usual visit to Who's There and its cast of characters, which I always enjoy. Can never get enough Betty!