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Meg Langslow #2
Murder With Puffins
Winner of the St. Martin's Malice Domestic Award in 1997 for her first work Murder With Peacocks, Donna Andrews brings back her zany characters and disastrous events.
In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster.
Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents and siblings, along with their spouses are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.
In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster.
Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents and siblings, along with their spouses are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.
Audiobook
First published May 5, 2000
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About the author
Donna Andrews
103 books2,107 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 608 reviews
January 22, 2018
Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews is a 2001 St. Martin’s Press publication.
This second book in this long running series has Meg, a newly minted amateur detective, investigating a murder on a small Maine island, where she and her boyfriend had hoped to enjoy a little alone time, only to find her entire family had arrived ahead of her. Now, due to a hurricane, they are marooned on the island with a murderer!
I’m still acclimating myself to this series, but so far, so good. This second installment features another madcap and zany murder mystery, featuring a few rather odd characters, which was nice because they were very hard to read, and I couldn’t seem to decide who the murderer was.
I like Meg and the way she has inadvertently discovered a knack for solving murder mysteries, which has her father preening, he is so proud! She and her boyfriend, make a terrific investigative team and really do have a charming chemistry between them.
I think the further along into this series, I travel, the more I am going to like it.
4 stars
This second book in this long running series has Meg, a newly minted amateur detective, investigating a murder on a small Maine island, where she and her boyfriend had hoped to enjoy a little alone time, only to find her entire family had arrived ahead of her. Now, due to a hurricane, they are marooned on the island with a murderer!
I’m still acclimating myself to this series, but so far, so good. This second installment features another madcap and zany murder mystery, featuring a few rather odd characters, which was nice because they were very hard to read, and I couldn’t seem to decide who the murderer was.
I like Meg and the way she has inadvertently discovered a knack for solving murder mysteries, which has her father preening, he is so proud! She and her boyfriend, make a terrific investigative team and really do have a charming chemistry between them.
I think the further along into this series, I travel, the more I am going to like it.
4 stars
September 27, 2025
This cute little quirky cozy mystery series with birds is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Meg and Michael are trying to search out some alone time so they’ve traveled by ferry to coastal Maine to a relative’s cabin. There are quite a few bird watchers on their ferry (there to see the puffins) and because it’s Meg and disaster stalks her, a hurricane strikes while they’re getting there. It also turns out all their relatives are staying at the cabin when they arrive (fun and romantic!), and while Meg and Michael are puffin-watching, they have a run in with one of the locals. And soon they have a murder to investigate. This had lots of quirky threads… local artists and shopkeepers, ghostwriting, the local residents of the island that Meg knew as children… and all in all made for an interesting mystery to untangle.
January 11, 2022
The second book in this long running series and, in my opinion, very much a second book. I really enjoyed the first one, but in this installment, I could really tell that Andrews was really looking for her shtick, the way forward. The whole puffin theme was a bit over done, what with each chapter title including puffins in some way, plus the general obsession with them in artwork and stuffed animals and other tourist tempting items. She hadn't yet found her trademark book titles substituting a bird species into a well known saying.
I wonder if she ever regretted solidifying Meg and Michael’s relationship at the end of book one? Obviously it hasn't done her any harm, as there are 30 books so far in the series. But losing that plot tension of a pending romance is hard to compensate for. Mind you, she puts an impediment in their plans by producing a whole platoon of Meg's family who have previously arrived at the rustic cabin where Meg and Michael were hoping to find some privacy.
I realized pretty quickly that this novel was yet another homage to Murder on the Orient Express, and it reminded me quite a lot of two other books that I've read recently, Mayhem at the Orient Express and The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle. If you enjoyed this book, I recommend those two as well.
I was amused to find herds of birders in this book, out to enjoy the fall migration on an island off the coast of Maine. Andrews portrayed their behaviour quite accurately—a tendency toward dull clothing with numerous pockets, lots of waterproof gear, and enough lenses of various kinds to amaze non-birders. She only slipped up once, when a supposed birder talked about “seagulls.” There's no such thing, as any birder will tell you—they are gulls, no adjective required. Not my favourite bird family, as the juveniles are difficult to identify to species level and nothing bores me more than a flock of gull guys talking about two-year versus three-year gulls.
So, not quite up to the standard set by book one, but still very enjoyable. I will definitely be reading book three as soon as I can wiggle it into my reading plans.
I wonder if she ever regretted solidifying Meg and Michael’s relationship at the end of book one? Obviously it hasn't done her any harm, as there are 30 books so far in the series. But losing that plot tension of a pending romance is hard to compensate for. Mind you, she puts an impediment in their plans by producing a whole platoon of Meg's family who have previously arrived at the rustic cabin where Meg and Michael were hoping to find some privacy.
I realized pretty quickly that this novel was yet another homage to Murder on the Orient Express, and it reminded me quite a lot of two other books that I've read recently, Mayhem at the Orient Express and The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle. If you enjoyed this book, I recommend those two as well.
I was amused to find herds of birders in this book, out to enjoy the fall migration on an island off the coast of Maine. Andrews portrayed their behaviour quite accurately—a tendency toward dull clothing with numerous pockets, lots of waterproof gear, and enough lenses of various kinds to amaze non-birders. She only slipped up once, when a supposed birder talked about “seagulls.” There's no such thing, as any birder will tell you—they are gulls, no adjective required. Not my favourite bird family, as the juveniles are difficult to identify to species level and nothing bores me more than a flock of gull guys talking about two-year versus three-year gulls.
So, not quite up to the standard set by book one, but still very enjoyable. I will definitely be reading book three as soon as I can wiggle it into my reading plans.
November 2, 2020
Another good entry in the series, this time with the whole family migrating to an island off the Maine coast. Lots of fun as everyone is stuck on the island in the middle of a hurricane. I really enjoy the characters in this series and like the writing style as well. I was kept guessing as to whodunit too. #readforkimberly
March 5, 2021
Dies ist der zweite Teil der Meg Langslows Reihe. Doch ich fand diesen Teil leider deutlich schwächer als seinen Vorgänger. Habe ich den ersten Band ziemlich flott gelesen, habe ich hier deutlich länger gebraucht.
Mein Lieblingscharakter ist Megs Vater, der aber für mich hier viel zu kurz kam. Meg ist zwar sehr schnell im Denken und hat eine super Beobachtungsgabe, ist mir aber nicht ans Herz gewachsen. Dieses Buch spielt mitten im Sturm auf der Insel Monhegan, die vor der Küste Maines liegt. Es ist also eher eine düstere, verregnete Atmosphäre.
Es dreht sich um Papageientaucher, einen unsympathischen Künstler, Vogelkundler und einen Toten.
Den Anfang des Buches mochte ich sehr gern, aber meine Begeisterung legte sich immer mehr. Obwohl die Charaktere skurril sind, konnten sie mich nicht begeistern.
Ich glaube nicht, dass ich de Reihe weiter verfolgen werde.
Mein Lieblingscharakter ist Megs Vater, der aber für mich hier viel zu kurz kam. Meg ist zwar sehr schnell im Denken und hat eine super Beobachtungsgabe, ist mir aber nicht ans Herz gewachsen. Dieses Buch spielt mitten im Sturm auf der Insel Monhegan, die vor der Küste Maines liegt. Es ist also eher eine düstere, verregnete Atmosphäre.
Es dreht sich um Papageientaucher, einen unsympathischen Künstler, Vogelkundler und einen Toten.
Den Anfang des Buches mochte ich sehr gern, aber meine Begeisterung legte sich immer mehr. Obwohl die Charaktere skurril sind, konnten sie mich nicht begeistern.
Ich glaube nicht, dass ich de Reihe weiter verfolgen werde.
November 9, 2019
Meg, a working blacksmith, and her new boyfriend Michael head off for a romantic getaway at a family cottage on an island. As the weather worsens they discover that just about all the adult family members have come here as well to observe the nesting puffins. So little privacy and so much chaos, which is escalated by a murder.
As the boats are unable to put out to sea again, the killer is trapped on the island too, which gives Meg a chance to work out who killed the unfortunate person and why. The really nice part is when practically dressed serious birders turn out to have Harvard law degrees, and so on, with the plucky, character-filled little puffins taking a starring role too.
This was the first book I read in this series; I strongly recommend this one and Murder With Peacocks the original book. After that you can work your way down the list picking out situations that appeal to you. They are all funny and cleverly plotted, some more than others.
This is an unbiased review.
As the boats are unable to put out to sea again, the killer is trapped on the island too, which gives Meg a chance to work out who killed the unfortunate person and why. The really nice part is when practically dressed serious birders turn out to have Harvard law degrees, and so on, with the plucky, character-filled little puffins taking a starring role too.
This was the first book I read in this series; I strongly recommend this one and Murder With Peacocks the original book. After that you can work your way down the list picking out situations that appeal to you. They are all funny and cleverly plotted, some more than others.
This is an unbiased review.
January 21, 2018
As far as mysteries go, my tastes lean more toward police procedurals and thrillers rather than cozies. However, this series definitely works for me. The author is keenly observant to details of place and character in ways that will have the reader laughing out loud.
July 30, 2014
After the stress of organizing three family weddings in short succession, Meg Lanslow decides that a romantic getaway at an island off the coast of Maine with her hunky boyfriend, Michael, is just what they need. Aunt Phoebe is always telling family to “use the summer cottage anytime” and since the summer season is over, Monhegan should be very quiet and peaceful. But they arrive to find a house full of family, including Meg’s mother, father, Aunt Phoebe, Mrs Fenniman, brother Rob, and Michael’s mother’s dog Spike. With only three bedrooms and one bathroom, there won’t be much privacy here, and forget about retiring to a bed and breakfast; the island is overrun by birders here for the fall migration, and Hurricane Gladys has caused ferry service to stop. Trying to get away and despite the winds and rain, Meg and Michael opt to hike around the island. Instead of a panoramic view, however, they find a body.
This is book two in the Meg Lanslow series, each of which has a title referencing birds (I don’t know why, because Meg is a blacksmith and knows nothing about birds). I was not impressed with the first one, but this fulfilled a challenge so I decided to give the series another try. I’ll admit this one is better but still not good. The author apparently thinks that adding many eccentric family members somehow makes this humorous and colorful. I just find them annoying and ridiculous. At least in this book there is a focus on solving the murder, although it seems that only Meg and Michael are doing any investigating; the local authorities seem content to wait until the hurricane passes and the police can arrive from the mainland.
And speaking of the hurricane … these fools are running all over the island’s rugged terrain in this massive storm. And the only injuries are a couple of sprained ankles. No one gets hit by flying debris. No trees fall across roads. No major flooding (the gift shop is at the pier and seems to operate throughout the time frame of the book). Half the time Andrews doesn’t even mention rain.
Well, at least it’s a fast read and the basic murder investigation is mildly entertaining.
This is book two in the Meg Lanslow series, each of which has a title referencing birds (I don’t know why, because Meg is a blacksmith and knows nothing about birds). I was not impressed with the first one, but this fulfilled a challenge so I decided to give the series another try. I’ll admit this one is better but still not good. The author apparently thinks that adding many eccentric family members somehow makes this humorous and colorful. I just find them annoying and ridiculous. At least in this book there is a focus on solving the murder, although it seems that only Meg and Michael are doing any investigating; the local authorities seem content to wait until the hurricane passes and the police can arrive from the mainland.
And speaking of the hurricane … these fools are running all over the island’s rugged terrain in this massive storm. And the only injuries are a couple of sprained ankles. No one gets hit by flying debris. No trees fall across roads. No major flooding (the gift shop is at the pier and seems to operate throughout the time frame of the book). Half the time Andrews doesn’t even mention rain.
Well, at least it’s a fast read and the basic murder investigation is mildly entertaining.
December 28, 2007
2nd book in this mystery series. Funny and entertaining. My favorite part of this book is on page 59 (of the hardcover edition) where Meg Langslow, the main character in the series, voices her insistence on reading books in a series in proper order. My sentiments exactly!
February 15, 2025
Content notice:
Casual racism
mild language
nude painting
underage girl of 15 possibly had a relationship with a 25 year old man
possible pre-marital pregnancy in the 1950s
Meg Lanslow and her boyfriend Michael are having difficulty finding alone time together. Neither of them has a house of their own at the moment but then Meg remembers Aunt Phoebe always telling the family to use her summer cottage on Monhegan Island, Maine any time. It's fall and off season on the island so it should be the perfect place for a little getaway. Unfortunately they don't check the weather before they go and with a hurricane on the horizon, first Meg is seasick and then the ferry stops running. To make matters worse, Aunt Phoebe's cottage is packed with the Hollingsworth-Lanslow clan who have come to stay, including Aunt Phoebe herself and Mrs. Fenniman! As Meg and Michael head out to explore the island and search for new lodgings, they discover a group of birders has come to the island and there are no rooms to be had anywhere! While they're out and about, Meg decides to show Michael her favorite view, only to discover a glass monstrosity of a house and a local crank shooting at them for trespassing (on public land)! Meg threatens to press charges but the police are stuck on the mainland until the storm goes out to sea. The local crank, Victor Resnick, is actually a famous artist and an old flame of Meg's mother from long ago! He's also the most hated man on the island and a misunderstanding leads Aunt Phoebe and the birders to believe Victor Resnick was shooting at BIRDS not people. Aunt Phoebe heads out to confront Victor Resnick and Meg's dad leaves to watch the hurricane. Neither returns in a timely fashion and worried, Meg's mom sends Meg and Michael back out into the storm to find their missing family. While they don't find their missing family, they do find the dead body of Victor Resnick! The local constable and mayor don't seem to know what to do and Meg starts to direct the investigation. Nothing can be done until after the storm but that's Ok with Meg as she discovered her father's handwritten map of the island near where the body lay. She's positive he never killed anyone, OK nearly positive and feels she has to find the real killer before the police arrive and her father is accused. If only the entire island didn't have a reason to want Victor Resnick dead!
This story was not as charming as the first one. I didn't understand the Puffin thing and why every chapter heading began with Puffins. It's hard NOT to know what a Puffin looks like but I didn't know there were different looks for juveniles and mature mating adults and non-season adults. That was WAY too much information and had little actual relevance to the story. The mystery was good though. I like it when the local crank is murdered and everyone is a suspect. It makes it harder to figure out. I never guessed who or why at all. I thought it was someone else actually. I stayed up late skimming the details to finish the mystery. Another thing I didn't like was all the d--- words. My niece tells my mom those words don't mean the same thing they did when Grammie was a teenager and people use them freely now but it was a bit excessive and unnecessary, especially for a character whose father loves words and paid his kids to learn multisyllabic words! This book is 25 years old and there's some casual racism that isn't necessary. "Asian man" is lazy writing and making assumptions about him being foreign because of his looks is racist and then the Fu Manchu comment was SOOOOOOO not necessary. Yuck. Especially as the person in question is a Japanese-American man from Atlanta!
The characters in this story are pretty flat. There's not much character development or motivation. There's no reason to include everyone in this adventure. Either they should have had another investigation on Yorktown or been on a family vacation, perhaps to celebrate the parents' one year reanniversary or a birthday. There was no explanation as to why Mrs. Fenniman came along either. Only Meg's sister and her family are not here because they seem to be the sensible ones and stayed home. Not even Meg and Michael are fully realized characters. Meg tries to be a strong, female lead but she has her moments of weakness. She loves her parents and wants to protect them at all costs. She doesn't stand up to her mother or any of them and lets them treat her like a child. She doesn't give her brother a free pass at least but everyone else does because he's the male child and a man child. Rob needs to grow up! Margaret Lanslow, Meg's mom, is a southern belle, relic of the Scarlet O'Hara days. That stereotype drives me insane and I know she's supposed to be a product of her time and place but if I were Meg, I'd tell her to get a grip and get with reality. Margaret does love her husband very much and she's under a lot of emotional stress but hand wringing and sending your middle child out into a storm isn't going to help anything. Neither is going outside in high heels! I can't stand the fancy moms in cozy mysteries. Why are they always fancy? At least Margaret has stopped trying to make Meg into a copy of herself.
I'm not sure about Michael. Is he really that nice and having a good time hiking in the mud and rain? Is he putting up with everything just so he can spend time with Meg? Or is he just an actor enjoying the theatricality of the situation? He's good to have around in a crisis and willing to go along with Meg's sleuthing. They break a lot of laws with their investigation though. Good thing Rob is around to offer help and advice. Aunt Phoebe and Mrs. Fenniman seem to be two of a kind. They're nosy, older ladies who feel the need to tell everyone what to do for their own good, of course. Aunt Phoebe is tough and she won't stand nonsense. She stands firm against electrifying her house. She won't hook up to the island's only generator and doesn't have any interest in it. I can believe she would accidentally kill Victor Resnick. She was furious with him for supposedly shooting birds which is against the law and for blocking public access to a path that is supposed to be public. I can believe Aunt Phoebe is a murderer more readily than Dr. Lanslow! He's too clueless. He's obsessed with murder mysteries and tickled his daughter solved a real one. He doesn't seem to take the reality of the situation into consideration and just lives in a fantasy land where Meg is a real life Nancy Drew. Both Meg's parents are too spacey to be murderers even though they have good reason to want Victor Resnick dead.
Winnie and Binkie Salton-Burnham are old family friends of Meg's family and avid bird watchers. They drop a hint that Victor is a scoundrel but don't state why. I find them creepy, weird and intrusive. I pegged them as murderers right away. Then we get into the electricity plot. There's a small power station on the island running one generator to provide electricity to those willing to pay. This power station is owned by the Dickermans. They're wealthy but get richer renting out electricity to their neighbors. Their son Fred is a low-life who drives passengers and luggage from the ferry but not gently or kindly! He drops Meg and Michael off without their luggage and then later dumps the luggage in the mud on the path to the house without telling anyone. He's nasty. His brother Jim is the good son. Jim is an electrical engineer and runs the power station. He's obsessive, brilliant but a little odd. The Dickermans don't seem to appreciate Resnick's new house either.
Victor Resnick is awful! He's more than eccentric, he's cranky, mean and obstinate. For some reason he seems to hate everyone on the island and wants to thumb his nose at them by being as awful as possible. He hates bird watchers, hikers, other artists and writers. Hates everyone actually and even hates birds! Victor Resnick has built a glass monstrosity of a mansion on top of the hill with the best view. Perhaps he did it himself because it doesn't seem well put together or even practical for a windswept island in Maine, especially during a hurricane. Resnick shoots at his neighbors, strangers and probably animals too. He's just nasty but no one wants to antagonize him further because they're already looking into a lawsuit over his house.
Jeb Barnes, the constable, wants to defer matters to the police on the mainland. He's not ineffective but murder is beyond his scope and ability. He also doesn't want to get involved in Victor Resnick's personal business. They had beef because Jeb refuses to sell his family shop to Resnick which could make Jeb Barnes a suspect. Mamie, the craft shop owner, is also the mayor. She's very gung-ho on promoting local artists other than Victor Resnick. Up to now Meg wasn't local enough or important enough for Mamie but now Meg is a real life Nancy Drew, Mamie is eager to befriend Meg and sell Meg's art in her shop. Mamie's chief protégée is Rhapsody, author/illustrator of a series of books about a happy Puffin family. Meg doesn't understand the anthropomorphic birds and finds the illustrations odd and creepy but the way Mamie carries on, she's either related to Rhapsody or is somehow profiting off the books. Mamie is very protective of Rhapsody who is shy and sensitive. She's a very odd woman and I think she may have accidentally killed Resnick. There was no love lost between them.
Who is 'Fu Manchu"/the Asian man? Is he the faux birder the real birders were complaining about? Could he be Victor Resnick's biographer? He was spotted arguing with Victor. Even so Kenneth Takahashi seems like a nervous city type and not one to hike up a muddy path and whack Victor over the head.
I like Spike the rescue dog. He's a small dog. They bark, they have big personalities and this one is a rescue. The humans are not sympathetic or understanding. Spike is happy on the island with waves to bark at, big sticks to carry and murderers to sniff out!
I'll probably read more of this series but in moderation, not binge reading. I hope the characters get better developed over time.
Casual racism
mild language
nude painting
underage girl of 15 possibly had a relationship with a 25 year old man
possible pre-marital pregnancy in the 1950s
Meg Lanslow and her boyfriend Michael are having difficulty finding alone time together. Neither of them has a house of their own at the moment but then Meg remembers Aunt Phoebe always telling the family to use her summer cottage on Monhegan Island, Maine any time. It's fall and off season on the island so it should be the perfect place for a little getaway. Unfortunately they don't check the weather before they go and with a hurricane on the horizon, first Meg is seasick and then the ferry stops running. To make matters worse, Aunt Phoebe's cottage is packed with the Hollingsworth-Lanslow clan who have come to stay, including Aunt Phoebe herself and Mrs. Fenniman! As Meg and Michael head out to explore the island and search for new lodgings, they discover a group of birders has come to the island and there are no rooms to be had anywhere! While they're out and about, Meg decides to show Michael her favorite view, only to discover a glass monstrosity of a house and a local crank shooting at them for trespassing (on public land)! Meg threatens to press charges but the police are stuck on the mainland until the storm goes out to sea. The local crank, Victor Resnick, is actually a famous artist and an old flame of Meg's mother from long ago! He's also the most hated man on the island and a misunderstanding leads Aunt Phoebe and the birders to believe Victor Resnick was shooting at BIRDS not people. Aunt Phoebe heads out to confront Victor Resnick and Meg's dad leaves to watch the hurricane. Neither returns in a timely fashion and worried, Meg's mom sends Meg and Michael back out into the storm to find their missing family. While they don't find their missing family, they do find the dead body of Victor Resnick! The local constable and mayor don't seem to know what to do and Meg starts to direct the investigation. Nothing can be done until after the storm but that's Ok with Meg as she discovered her father's handwritten map of the island near where the body lay. She's positive he never killed anyone, OK nearly positive and feels she has to find the real killer before the police arrive and her father is accused. If only the entire island didn't have a reason to want Victor Resnick dead!
This story was not as charming as the first one. I didn't understand the Puffin thing and why every chapter heading began with Puffins. It's hard NOT to know what a Puffin looks like but I didn't know there were different looks for juveniles and mature mating adults and non-season adults. That was WAY too much information and had little actual relevance to the story. The mystery was good though. I like it when the local crank is murdered and everyone is a suspect. It makes it harder to figure out. I never guessed who or why at all. I thought it was someone else actually. I stayed up late skimming the details to finish the mystery. Another thing I didn't like was all the d--- words. My niece tells my mom those words don't mean the same thing they did when Grammie was a teenager and people use them freely now but it was a bit excessive and unnecessary, especially for a character whose father loves words and paid his kids to learn multisyllabic words! This book is 25 years old and there's some casual racism that isn't necessary. "Asian man" is lazy writing and making assumptions about him being foreign because of his looks is racist and then the Fu Manchu comment was SOOOOOOO not necessary. Yuck. Especially as the person in question is a Japanese-American man from Atlanta!
The characters in this story are pretty flat. There's not much character development or motivation. There's no reason to include everyone in this adventure. Either they should have had another investigation on Yorktown or been on a family vacation, perhaps to celebrate the parents' one year reanniversary or a birthday. There was no explanation as to why Mrs. Fenniman came along either. Only Meg's sister and her family are not here because they seem to be the sensible ones and stayed home. Not even Meg and Michael are fully realized characters. Meg tries to be a strong, female lead but she has her moments of weakness. She loves her parents and wants to protect them at all costs. She doesn't stand up to her mother or any of them and lets them treat her like a child. She doesn't give her brother a free pass at least but everyone else does because he's the male child and a man child. Rob needs to grow up! Margaret Lanslow, Meg's mom, is a southern belle, relic of the Scarlet O'Hara days. That stereotype drives me insane and I know she's supposed to be a product of her time and place but if I were Meg, I'd tell her to get a grip and get with reality. Margaret does love her husband very much and she's under a lot of emotional stress but hand wringing and sending your middle child out into a storm isn't going to help anything. Neither is going outside in high heels! I can't stand the fancy moms in cozy mysteries. Why are they always fancy? At least Margaret has stopped trying to make Meg into a copy of herself.
I'm not sure about Michael. Is he really that nice and having a good time hiking in the mud and rain? Is he putting up with everything just so he can spend time with Meg? Or is he just an actor enjoying the theatricality of the situation? He's good to have around in a crisis and willing to go along with Meg's sleuthing. They break a lot of laws with their investigation though. Good thing Rob is around to offer help and advice. Aunt Phoebe and Mrs. Fenniman seem to be two of a kind. They're nosy, older ladies who feel the need to tell everyone what to do for their own good, of course. Aunt Phoebe is tough and she won't stand nonsense. She stands firm against electrifying her house. She won't hook up to the island's only generator and doesn't have any interest in it. I can believe she would accidentally kill Victor Resnick. She was furious with him for supposedly shooting birds which is against the law and for blocking public access to a path that is supposed to be public. I can believe Aunt Phoebe is a murderer more readily than Dr. Lanslow! He's too clueless. He's obsessed with murder mysteries and tickled his daughter solved a real one. He doesn't seem to take the reality of the situation into consideration and just lives in a fantasy land where Meg is a real life Nancy Drew. Both Meg's parents are too spacey to be murderers even though they have good reason to want Victor Resnick dead.
Winnie and Binkie Salton-Burnham are old family friends of Meg's family and avid bird watchers. They drop a hint that Victor is a scoundrel but don't state why. I find them creepy, weird and intrusive. I pegged them as murderers right away. Then we get into the electricity plot. There's a small power station on the island running one generator to provide electricity to those willing to pay. This power station is owned by the Dickermans. They're wealthy but get richer renting out electricity to their neighbors. Their son Fred is a low-life who drives passengers and luggage from the ferry but not gently or kindly! He drops Meg and Michael off without their luggage and then later dumps the luggage in the mud on the path to the house without telling anyone. He's nasty. His brother Jim is the good son. Jim is an electrical engineer and runs the power station. He's obsessive, brilliant but a little odd. The Dickermans don't seem to appreciate Resnick's new house either.
Victor Resnick is awful! He's more than eccentric, he's cranky, mean and obstinate. For some reason he seems to hate everyone on the island and wants to thumb his nose at them by being as awful as possible. He hates bird watchers, hikers, other artists and writers. Hates everyone actually and even hates birds! Victor Resnick has built a glass monstrosity of a mansion on top of the hill with the best view. Perhaps he did it himself because it doesn't seem well put together or even practical for a windswept island in Maine, especially during a hurricane. Resnick shoots at his neighbors, strangers and probably animals too. He's just nasty but no one wants to antagonize him further because they're already looking into a lawsuit over his house.
Jeb Barnes, the constable, wants to defer matters to the police on the mainland. He's not ineffective but murder is beyond his scope and ability. He also doesn't want to get involved in Victor Resnick's personal business. They had beef because Jeb refuses to sell his family shop to Resnick which could make Jeb Barnes a suspect. Mamie, the craft shop owner, is also the mayor. She's very gung-ho on promoting local artists other than Victor Resnick. Up to now Meg wasn't local enough or important enough for Mamie but now Meg is a real life Nancy Drew, Mamie is eager to befriend Meg and sell Meg's art in her shop. Mamie's chief protégée is Rhapsody, author/illustrator of a series of books about a happy Puffin family. Meg doesn't understand the anthropomorphic birds and finds the illustrations odd and creepy but the way Mamie carries on, she's either related to Rhapsody or is somehow profiting off the books. Mamie is very protective of Rhapsody who is shy and sensitive. She's a very odd woman and I think she may have accidentally killed Resnick. There was no love lost between them.
Who is 'Fu Manchu"/the Asian man? Is he the faux birder the real birders were complaining about? Could he be Victor Resnick's biographer? He was spotted arguing with Victor. Even so Kenneth Takahashi seems like a nervous city type and not one to hike up a muddy path and whack Victor over the head.
I like Spike the rescue dog. He's a small dog. They bark, they have big personalities and this one is a rescue. The humans are not sympathetic or understanding. Spike is happy on the island with waves to bark at, big sticks to carry and murderers to sniff out!
I'll probably read more of this series but in moderation, not binge reading. I hope the characters get better developed over time.
December 4, 2020
Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews is the 2nd book in the Meg Langslow Mystery series. Meg and her boyfriend escape to Monhegan Island in an attempt to have some alone time, only to find other family members have the same idea. An approaching hurricane sees them stranded on the island and when an obnoxious island artist is killed find themselves in the middle of another murder mystery. An entertaining and fun book where we learn about puffins and other birds. Meg is smart and capable and I like that her boyfriend Michael is supportive of her and they make a great team. An interesting mystery, although rather an obvious solution.
May 20, 2016
In the second book in the Meg Langslow mystery series Meg sees herself stranded with her boyfriend, parents, aunt, brother, and neighbor on a secluded island in Maine during a hurricane with a murderer running around loose. Murder with Puffins was an enjoyable book.
I really like the MC, Meg, she's a smart character who doesn't do many things stupidly. She thinks problems and her actions through before doing them and she pieces together things that I'd never be able to do. I also absolutely love Meg's mom and dad, they are two of the most hilarious characters that I've read in a cozy series.
The mystery was alright, it sort of lost some steam in the middle of the book and it took me awhile to get through about 50 of the pages in the middle of the book because it did lose steam. The killer was kind of obvious, but there was a nice pool of suspects.
Overall an average mystery with amazing characters. I'll read the next one
I really like the MC, Meg, she's a smart character who doesn't do many things stupidly. She thinks problems and her actions through before doing them and she pieces together things that I'd never be able to do. I also absolutely love Meg's mom and dad, they are two of the most hilarious characters that I've read in a cozy series.
The mystery was alright, it sort of lost some steam in the middle of the book and it took me awhile to get through about 50 of the pages in the middle of the book because it did lose steam. The killer was kind of obvious, but there was a nice pool of suspects.
Overall an average mystery with amazing characters. I'll read the next one
January 25, 2022
Meg and Michael decide to take a vacation on an island at her aunt's place. But lo and behold, Meg's entire family also decided to show up on the island. And with a hurricane coming on, there was no way they could escape the island. And when a murder strikes, there is nothing much to do but to investigate. I liked this book better than the first one, probably because I listened to the audio. There were a lot of eccentric characters in this book along with the birders, which made it a good read. The mystery was quite good, with more and more revelations as the story proceeded, especially with Meg's mom. I definitely plan to read the next in the series.
April 21, 2019
Murder With Puffins Michael and Meg are trying to find some time alone to get to know each other and get closer. When they go to Aunt Phoebe's summer place on Monhegan Island in Maine, they have a rough crossing and then get to the cabin and find the whole family, including Spike. During a hurricane, searching for her father, they find the hated artist who has built a monstrosity and shoots at anyone who travels on the public path. While trying to figure out who did the deed they get closer and learn much about the people on the island.
This book had the family chuckling as we sat in traffic in the Washington, DC area, trying to get to Kings Dominion. It was a good book to listen to.
This book had the family chuckling as we sat in traffic in the Washington, DC area, trying to get to Kings Dominion. It was a good book to listen to.
January 2, 2025
Fifth listen through and the Langslow/Hollingsworth clan never gets old! And I should mention that this one has a bit of mild language throughout -- probably the most out of the whole series as the later ones don't have any at all. Just an interesting sidenote since I'm revisiting this series annually now.
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I'm rereading (re-listening) to all the Meg Langslow books this year and since there's over thirty it will take me the full year to do it. And I'm thrilled because I love this series so much. These characters and their zany antics! I really think the series hits its stride once Meg and company settle in Caerphilly but these early ones still keep me avidly listening and grinning.
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I'm rereading (re-listening) to all the Meg Langslow books this year and since there's over thirty it will take me the full year to do it. And I'm thrilled because I love this series so much. These characters and their zany antics! I really think the series hits its stride once Meg and company settle in Caerphilly but these early ones still keep me avidly listening and grinning.
March 14, 2019
4.5 stars
December 28, 2022
Second in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series and revolving around a snoopy female blacksmith who's an amateur sleuth. The focus is on a sub rosa vacation to an island in Maine.
My Take
Well, that didn't work, lol. The sub rosa part. Poor Meg and Michael are trying to find some alone time. Oh well. And after all that drama . . .
It seems that Michael's free-and-easy period of renting faculty homes while they're off on sabbatical has come to an end while Meg is still trying to get the sculptor out of her place since events in Murder with Peacocks , 1.
I had to appreciate Meg's summing up of her aunt's cottage: "It's empty, it's free, and there's nobody else around for miles . . ." More fateful words, she could not have spoken, *laughing*.
The whole family is so well-meaning that you can't help but love them, but Meg does have her own perspective on it. Yep, Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg.
Mother is so relieved as she realizes that Phoebe's idea of roughing it is "using the checked gingham napkins . . . and that the caviar might be tinned".
It does crack me up at how amazed Meg is at how much Michael enthuses about being around her family. Poor boy. He was an only child and to encounter the mass of Hollingsworths is a major treat. For him.
I do like the idea of island living and its isolation, but Monhegan is a little too isolated. I like smooth roads and driveways, as well as my own electricity and unlimited water. The idea of running extension cords from someone's house just doesn't work for me. It was sweet, however, exploring the family photo albums.
More laughter (and sympathy) ensued from Meg's contrasting description of the very healthy, elderly birders who kept passing the wheezing Meg and Michael. The drama comes from Victor and his possessive jerkiness about people trespassing. Mm-hmm. A bit of "revenge" comes in as Meg laughs at all the glass on Victor's house which the birds have "visited".
Okay, what the hell is it with Andrews' spelling of the Hollingsworth/Hollingworth name? She keeps flipping back and forth with that danged "s". The Hollingsworths do seem to have a rep on the island, lol. Gotta give them kudos for that consistency, lol.
Oho! There's some fascinating back history on Mother. The tease. Then there's that seminal trip to Paris when Margaret was fifteen. Yep, gotta wonder about all those nude portraits. And oh dear, that island gossip.
Those birders. They're as obnoxious about properly identifying and depicting birds as I am about the proper usage and spelling of words.
That Meg sure has an eye. She's eliminating suspects and adding them on. That Resnick is certainly the primary excitement, and then the truth of his doings starts coming out, infuriating the entire island even more. And I can't blame them. As for Resnick's back history, the Hollingsworths have a fascinating contribution to Victor's character.
Binkie makes some interesting points about an artist's development, and I hadn't thought of it before. It does make sense. As does Meg's thought about Andrew Wyeth's Helga media blast.
It's all about painting a rosy picture and building on a falling reputation while stabbing fellow islanders in the back. Nope, it ain't a nice picture of this jerk.
Murder with Puffins is a combination of character and action as we laugh and groan about the relatives and the islanders. As for Meg, it appears that Rhapsody intends a whole new direction for the Happy Puffin Family, lol.
The Story
A private escape to a tiny island off the coast of Maine turns into family crowding and Hurricane Gladys, all in the middle of the birding season with puffins as the prime view.
Being marooned by the hurricane is only the beginning of their problems.
When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.
The Characters
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith with a keen mind dating Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College.
Monhegan Island, Maine, is . . .
. . . an island where Aunt Phoebe (a Hollingsworth) has a summer cottage. Winnie and Binkie, a.k.a. Winthrop and Elspeth Saltonstall Burnham, are old family friends, childhood friends of Meg's grandparents, on the island. Binkie is quite the famous litigator, having graduated from Harvard Law.
Dr John and Mrs Peabody are trying to leave. There are two grocery stores with one more upscale than the other. The other looks like a bait shop and is owned by Jebediah Barnes, who is also the constable. Sushi? Hotels include the Monhegan Inn and the Island Inn. Mary Ann "Mamie" Dawes/Benton, the mayor, runs the souvenir shop. The twee Rhapsody is a local author who writes children's books, the Happy Puffin Family.
Mother, a.k.a. Margaret Hollingsworth Langslow, is elegantly imperious and manages to get everyone else to do the work. Dad is a semi-retired doctor — so he can keep his hand in. Rob is Meg's younger, feckless brother. Red is Rob's new girlfriend helping Rob turn "Lawyers from Hell" into a computer game. Mrs Fenniman is Mother's best friend. Spike is Michael's mother's vicious dog, who has never liked Michael. I'm not sure if Spike has ever liked someone. Great-uncle Christopher's death was, ahem, embarrassing.
Frank and Lucy Dickerman own the island's power company, Central Monhegan Power Company. Jim is one of the Dickermans' sons, and he maintains the generator on top of Knob Hill. Fred is the pickup driver who was so rude about the luggage, etc. Jimmy was the only Dickerman of Meg's generation who wasn't a bully. Will put his family's home at risk when he skipped bail.
Victor Resnick, a landscape artist, is the island jerk who's built an eyesore of a house. James Jackson is writing a [terrible] biography on Victor. Edwards seems to write much better. Kenneth Takahashi is vice-president of Coastal Reports, Ltd. in Atlanta. New England Development Associates appears to be a rival.
Some are being blackmailed, such as Jeb with that affair with Candi, the hairdresser over in Port Clyde.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a moody montage with a single puffin perched on a rock high above the blue tidal pool in which the body was found floating. Farther out, the water opens out to the ocean with a lighthouse perched on a rocky shore far to the back on the left and a tiny cottage on an outcropping of land on the right. A large rectangular box with a pale lilac background and a gold embossed frame is at the top providing a background for the title in an embossed orange with a deeper purple testimonial under it. Below the puffin's feet is the author's name in white.
The title is but one clue in this Murder with Puffins.
My Take
Well, that didn't work, lol. The sub rosa part. Poor Meg and Michael are trying to find some alone time. Oh well. And after all that drama . . .
It seems that Michael's free-and-easy period of renting faculty homes while they're off on sabbatical has come to an end while Meg is still trying to get the sculptor out of her place since events in Murder with Peacocks , 1.
I had to appreciate Meg's summing up of her aunt's cottage: "It's empty, it's free, and there's nobody else around for miles . . ." More fateful words, she could not have spoken, *laughing*.
The whole family is so well-meaning that you can't help but love them, but Meg does have her own perspective on it. Yep, Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg.
Mother is so relieved as she realizes that Phoebe's idea of roughing it is "using the checked gingham napkins . . . and that the caviar might be tinned".
It does crack me up at how amazed Meg is at how much Michael enthuses about being around her family. Poor boy. He was an only child and to encounter the mass of Hollingsworths is a major treat. For him.
I do like the idea of island living and its isolation, but Monhegan is a little too isolated. I like smooth roads and driveways, as well as my own electricity and unlimited water. The idea of running extension cords from someone's house just doesn't work for me. It was sweet, however, exploring the family photo albums.
More laughter (and sympathy) ensued from Meg's contrasting description of the very healthy, elderly birders who kept passing the wheezing Meg and Michael. The drama comes from Victor and his possessive jerkiness about people trespassing. Mm-hmm. A bit of "revenge" comes in as Meg laughs at all the glass on Victor's house which the birds have "visited".
Okay, what the hell is it with Andrews' spelling of the Hollingsworth/Hollingworth name? She keeps flipping back and forth with that danged "s". The Hollingsworths do seem to have a rep on the island, lol. Gotta give them kudos for that consistency, lol.
Oho! There's some fascinating back history on Mother. The tease. Then there's that seminal trip to Paris when Margaret was fifteen. Yep, gotta wonder about all those nude portraits. And oh dear, that island gossip.
Those birders. They're as obnoxious about properly identifying and depicting birds as I am about the proper usage and spelling of words.
That Meg sure has an eye. She's eliminating suspects and adding them on. That Resnick is certainly the primary excitement, and then the truth of his doings starts coming out, infuriating the entire island even more. And I can't blame them. As for Resnick's back history, the Hollingsworths have a fascinating contribution to Victor's character.
Binkie makes some interesting points about an artist's development, and I hadn't thought of it before. It does make sense. As does Meg's thought about Andrew Wyeth's Helga media blast.
It's all about painting a rosy picture and building on a falling reputation while stabbing fellow islanders in the back. Nope, it ain't a nice picture of this jerk.
Murder with Puffins is a combination of character and action as we laugh and groan about the relatives and the islanders. As for Meg, it appears that Rhapsody intends a whole new direction for the Happy Puffin Family, lol.
The Story
A private escape to a tiny island off the coast of Maine turns into family crowding and Hurricane Gladys, all in the middle of the birding season with puffins as the prime view.
Being marooned by the hurricane is only the beginning of their problems.
When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.
The Characters
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith with a keen mind dating Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College.
Monhegan Island, Maine, is . . .
. . . an island where Aunt Phoebe (a Hollingsworth) has a summer cottage. Winnie and Binkie, a.k.a. Winthrop and Elspeth Saltonstall Burnham, are old family friends, childhood friends of Meg's grandparents, on the island. Binkie is quite the famous litigator, having graduated from Harvard Law.
Dr John and Mrs Peabody are trying to leave. There are two grocery stores with one more upscale than the other. The other looks like a bait shop and is owned by Jebediah Barnes, who is also the constable. Sushi? Hotels include the Monhegan Inn and the Island Inn. Mary Ann "Mamie" Dawes/Benton, the mayor, runs the souvenir shop. The twee Rhapsody is a local author who writes children's books, the Happy Puffin Family.
Mother, a.k.a. Margaret Hollingsworth Langslow, is elegantly imperious and manages to get everyone else to do the work. Dad is a semi-retired doctor — so he can keep his hand in. Rob is Meg's younger, feckless brother. Red is Rob's new girlfriend helping Rob turn "Lawyers from Hell" into a computer game. Mrs Fenniman is Mother's best friend. Spike is Michael's mother's vicious dog, who has never liked Michael. I'm not sure if Spike has ever liked someone. Great-uncle Christopher's death was, ahem, embarrassing.
Frank and Lucy Dickerman own the island's power company, Central Monhegan Power Company. Jim is one of the Dickermans' sons, and he maintains the generator on top of Knob Hill. Fred is the pickup driver who was so rude about the luggage, etc. Jimmy was the only Dickerman of Meg's generation who wasn't a bully. Will put his family's home at risk when he skipped bail.
Victor Resnick, a landscape artist, is the island jerk who's built an eyesore of a house. James Jackson is writing a [terrible] biography on Victor. Edwards seems to write much better. Kenneth Takahashi is vice-president of Coastal Reports, Ltd. in Atlanta. New England Development Associates appears to be a rival.
Some are being blackmailed, such as Jeb with that affair with Candi, the hairdresser over in Port Clyde.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a moody montage with a single puffin perched on a rock high above the blue tidal pool in which the body was found floating. Farther out, the water opens out to the ocean with a lighthouse perched on a rocky shore far to the back on the left and a tiny cottage on an outcropping of land on the right. A large rectangular box with a pale lilac background and a gold embossed frame is at the top providing a background for the title in an embossed orange with a deeper purple testimonial under it. Below the puffin's feet is the author's name in white.
The title is but one clue in this Murder with Puffins.
November 9, 2019
This is another fun cozy mystery by Donna Andrews! I enjoyed the story even better than the first one in the series! An eccentric family, a mild romance, and lots of information about puffins, made the story more interesting.
August 14, 2021
2.5 Stars
rounded up to 3 Stars.
March 14, 2021
4,0
PQP, que negócio divertido!!! Não dá pra parar de ler!!!
PQP, que negócio divertido!!! Não dá pra parar de ler!!!
September 28, 2019
This book was still very much enjoyable, but it wasn't as good as the first one!
August 29, 2024
3.5 stars. Very enjoyable cozy mystery set on Mohegan Island off the coast of Maine.
While Murder with Peacocks seemed more rom-com than cozy mystery, this one fits solidly in the cozy category. And since Maine is one of my favorite places, I enjoyed every descriptive word.
While Murder with Peacocks seemed more rom-com than cozy mystery, this one fits solidly in the cozy category. And since Maine is one of my favorite places, I enjoyed every descriptive word.
June 5, 2024
Really enjoyed this one! I am hooked on this series! Even if I did have part of it figured out!
May 10, 2014
I liked the first in the Meg Langslow mystery series, Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews, which was very clever and won several awards. This one did not impress me and I found it a chore to continue reading. So much of it seemed implausible, for instance, the actions of the protagonist, Meg, who does not plan well and is extremely impulsive to the point of law breaking. Her fiancé does not seem to have a mind of his own, but goes along with any harebrained idea Meg cooks up. The ill-tempered dog, Spike, who found most of the other assorted characters as annoying as i did, was my favorite character.
February 22, 2010
This was a cute book. A standard "locked room" mystery, where in this case the locked room is an island off New England where Meg, her boyfriend, and her whole wacky family are stranded by storms.
I liked this book a lot better than the first in the series. The first was marred by Meg's friends and family constantly giving her "maid of honor" work to do. This book was a lot more of a standard, light, mystery.
I liked this book a lot better than the first in the series. The first was marred by Meg's friends and family constantly giving her "maid of honor" work to do. This book was a lot more of a standard, light, mystery.
May 1, 2019
This second book of the series is every bit as good as the first. Alas, the only library I belong to that had this entire series on audio discontinued the series that provided them, so this might be my last time listening to one of these for a while. The narration is excellent, though, as is the characterization and the interesting setting of an island off the coast of Maine. I can't wait to find book three, in whatever format I can track it down!
November 25, 2009
I really like the main characters (meg and Michael), and I even like Meg's father, but I can't help but wish everyone else would go jump off a cliff. And if the author is going to go to all the trouble to set Meg up with a boyfriend, then there really should be a little more romance.
The mystery aspect of this book was much weaker than the first book. Boring, even.
The mystery aspect of this book was much weaker than the first book. Boring, even.
May 4, 2022
DNF. Unfortunately I didn't like the second installment of this series. I think reading them back to back was a mistake. The same cast of background characters that were zany and quirky in the first book seemed selfish and annoying in the second book. Maybe if I had taken time away in between books they would have still seemed quirky to me and not so irritating.
January 25, 2009
My least favorite of the Meg Langslow books. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I don't care for the setting or the way Meg keeps breaking into places.
June 14, 2009
Entertaining, but our heroine the blacksmith still hasn't done any work.
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