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Meg Langslow #10
Six Geese A-Slaying
Meg and Michael’s house is serving as the marshaling point for the annual Caerphilly Christmas parade. The theme is “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and it features twelve drummers from the school marching band, eleven bagpipers, ten leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college drama department, etc. There are also assorted Christmas-themed floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the Three Wise Men on Caerphilly zoo camels, and Santa Claus in a bright red horse-drawn sleigh (eight reindeer were beyond the zoo’s scope).
Meg has been volunteered to organize the parade, which is to proceed from her house to the local campus, where Santa will take up residence to hear the Christmas wishes of the town’s children. Of course, getting all the camels, pipers, leapers, and drummers in order is proving every bit as difficult as Meg feared it would be. Then her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, “Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”
The local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, are faced with the two-fold mission of solving the murder and saving Christmas!
Readers can look forward to another zany Meg Langslow mystery---this one filled with outrageous Christmas spirit…and mayhem.
Meg has been volunteered to organize the parade, which is to proceed from her house to the local campus, where Santa will take up residence to hear the Christmas wishes of the town’s children. Of course, getting all the camels, pipers, leapers, and drummers in order is proving every bit as difficult as Meg feared it would be. Then her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, “Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”
The local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, are faced with the two-fold mission of solving the murder and saving Christmas!
Readers can look forward to another zany Meg Langslow mystery---this one filled with outrageous Christmas spirit…and mayhem.
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First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Donna Andrews
103 books2,103 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 362 reviews
January 29, 2021
Six Geese A Slaying by Donna Andrews is a 2008 Minotaur publication.
“Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”
Meg has volunteered to organize the Christmas parade-a chore she didn’t realize required so much effort. But whatever helps Michael gain tenure…
The theme for the parade is The Twelve Days of Christmas, and like all good holiday parades, Santa will be there to hear the children’s Christmas requests.
Naturally, things go horribly awry when ‘Santa’ is found murdered!!
As you know, I am slowly reading through this series, in order. With so many installments, I got a little mixed up on which book came next in the series and accidentally skipped this one. I realized my mistake immediately, and corrected the issue, but was a little disappointed when I realized the next book in line had a Christmas theme because after my holiday reading marathon in December, I’m pretty burned out on Christmas stories.
But because it has been a long time since I touched base with Meg, and because I needed to read a book that was sure to make me laugh, I decided to suck it up.
Turns out, I made the right decision! Meg is, as always, hysterically funny. The holiday parade was outrageously madcap, and as always, the characters are quirky and comical. The mystery is also an exceptional whodunit, but of course, the holiday theme adds just a dash of extra magic and charm to this installment in the series.
I really must touch base with Meg more often!
4 stars
“Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”
Meg has volunteered to organize the Christmas parade-a chore she didn’t realize required so much effort. But whatever helps Michael gain tenure…
The theme for the parade is The Twelve Days of Christmas, and like all good holiday parades, Santa will be there to hear the children’s Christmas requests.
Naturally, things go horribly awry when ‘Santa’ is found murdered!!
As you know, I am slowly reading through this series, in order. With so many installments, I got a little mixed up on which book came next in the series and accidentally skipped this one. I realized my mistake immediately, and corrected the issue, but was a little disappointed when I realized the next book in line had a Christmas theme because after my holiday reading marathon in December, I’m pretty burned out on Christmas stories.
But because it has been a long time since I touched base with Meg, and because I needed to read a book that was sure to make me laugh, I decided to suck it up.
Turns out, I made the right decision! Meg is, as always, hysterically funny. The holiday parade was outrageously madcap, and as always, the characters are quirky and comical. The mystery is also an exceptional whodunit, but of course, the holiday theme adds just a dash of extra magic and charm to this installment in the series.
I really must touch base with Meg more often!
4 stars
November 18, 2025
SIX GEESE A SLAYING was an especially adorable Meg Langslow Christmas cozy mystery, with Meg and Michael’s house in Caerphilly serving as the starting point for the Twelve Days of Christmas parade that Meg is organizing.
I always love seeing all the exotic animals in the books in this series, and this one had elephants🐘, camels🐫🐪, a partridge 🕊, and more. As the town acts out the verses of the song, there is unfortunately a murder, and the local police are trying to figure out where the murder weapon came from as the parade chaos is taking place. This series does such a good job of blending humor, a good mystery, and in the Christmas books, a heaping dose of Christmas cheer.
I always love seeing all the exotic animals in the books in this series, and this one had elephants🐘, camels🐫🐪, a partridge 🕊, and more. As the town acts out the verses of the song, there is unfortunately a murder, and the local police are trying to figure out where the murder weapon came from as the parade chaos is taking place. This series does such a good job of blending humor, a good mystery, and in the Christmas books, a heaping dose of Christmas cheer.
December 28, 2015
Wonderful. Had me laughing out loud at parts and was extremely suspenseful at other parts. Recommend!
July 2, 2025
sixth read -- well, listen -- and it's just as entertaining and quirky and Christmas crazy as the first four times. Meg Langslow never gets old! I love this series and especially the Christmas books! Andrews captures the essence of the season despite all the murder and mayhem. :-)
December 28, 2021
It's been a few years since I read a Meg Langslow book. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, 'Murder With Peacocks' where Meg Langslow stumbled into solving a murder while trying to organise a series of family weddings. The second book, 'A Murder With Puffins' was an éclair of a book: light, sweet and quickly gone, that didn't leave me with an appetite for more of the series.
Recently, I've seen a lot of people saying that the Meg Langslow Christmas mysteries have become part of their Christmas reading tradition, so I decided to dive back in at the tenth book, 'Six Geese A-Slaying' which is the first Christmas Mystery.
I'm very glad that I did. There was no downside to not having read the intervening seven books. The book works well as a standalone. Everything you need to know is on the page and there weren't any obvious spoilers for previous books.
The premise is straightforward but fun. Meg is Mistress of the Revels, the person responsible for organising and managing the Christmas Holiday Parade for the small town of Caerphilly, Virginia, an event that features people in costume for each of the twelve days of Christmas, plus camel-riding Magi, Diwali Elephants and Santa. Things start to go wrong when Santa, an unpleasant man who seems to have gotten the job because he's one of the few men small enough to fit the town's Santa Suit, is murdered. Meg, who knows everyone, involves herself in the ensuing investigation while keeping the Parade in motion and fending off the attempts of a cynical reporter to write something that ridicules Caerphilly, the Parade and Meg.
It's a quirky, cheerful story, filled with humour based partly on the larger-than-life characters in the Caerphilly Parade (many of whom Meg is related to) and partly by Meg's dry observations about them or deadpan reactions to them.
The mystery is a little more complicated than is typical for a cosy mystery and many of the people, particularly the ones dressed as geese, become suspects. There's also a surprising amount of action, which eventually results in Meg staring down the possibility of becoming another victim of the killer.
The book was more fun than I expected it to be. I enjoyed the controlled way that Donna Andrews used humour throughout the book, while still creating tension and without ever devolving into farce. True, I did have to suspend my disbelief more heavily than usual but not too much for a Christmas Cosy Mystery. But it was Meg that I enjoyed the most. She's a lot more confident than I remember her being in the first two books. Her curiosity is insatiable. Her relentless. high-energy pursuit of the solution to the mystery makes her unstoppable. Yet, even when under threat of violence, she addresses everything with a sense of humour that is quite infectious. I also loved that she is only vaguely aware of the impact that she has on the people around her (think tornado hitting a house and you'll get the idea).
I listened to the audiobook version of 'Six Geese A-Slaying', narrated by Bernadette Dunne. It took a while for me to adjust to the narrator because, to me, she sounded much older than Meg Langslow, from whose point of view the story is told. Everything else about the narration worked well. The main characters had recognisable voices that matched their backgrounds and personalities and the timing of the humour was perfect.
December 18, 2011
Rating: 4* of five
This delicious romp is part of a daffy mystery series featuring the Rubenesque Meg Langslow, daughter of a chic, slim, stylish and scary Virginia aristocrat mother and a simple, single-minded doctor father who never grew up (thank goodness). She's married to an ex-soap hunk and cult TV fantasy villain actor-turned-drama-professor at a small, exclusive liberal arts college located a few miles from her hometown of Yorktown, Virginia. Her extensive extended family includes a cousin who lives his life as a forensic technician from inside a gorillla suit; a cousin whose wool-headed New Age philosophical maunderings cause most of the family acute embarrassment; a younger brother who, like her father, never grew up but managed to make himself rich by starting a MMO-RPG company.
Getting the picture? It's a screwball comedy-cum-mystery, with a couple of befuddled normals at its whirling center. Think "Bringing Up Baby"--you know, the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn movie with the leopard and the madcap heiress?--and you've got the gist. And it's working for Andrews! This is the ninth of ten, to date, books in the series.
I commented once, on an LT thread now long buried, that I read mysteries to satisfy my orderly side. (The Divine Miss contends I *have* no orderly side, usually with a wrinkled nose and a wince as she looks into my bedroom.) This series of mysteries, despite the winsome chaos of the plot, scratches that bump with just the right touch. I love the characters, I willingly believe that (fictional) Caerphilly County, Virginia, is run by the lunatics instead of the asylum attendants, because *things go right* there. The right people are rewarded and punished. The right solutions are found to problems, and are implemented with a nudge and a wink at the law.
It's the way I wish Nassau County, New York, was run. It ain't, for the record, even close.
So when the chance came to join the Holiday (not Christmas!) parade and festivities in Caerphilly, Virginia, it would have taken a stronger man than I am to resist the siren call. I read the book in about four hours of snorting, giggling, howling fun. And that's the downside of Andrews's simple, direct prose: It flows like water over the eyeballs, nothing to impede the story being told, no snaggle in the current, just fast-flowing water from the Holy Well of Humor.
The humorless need not even bother looking at the book. The po-faced classics snobs should pass by the shelf, wincing disdainfully. The pseudo-erudite high-culture vultures stand warned off. The rest of us will be over here, in the corner, laughing fit to bust.
This delicious romp is part of a daffy mystery series featuring the Rubenesque Meg Langslow, daughter of a chic, slim, stylish and scary Virginia aristocrat mother and a simple, single-minded doctor father who never grew up (thank goodness). She's married to an ex-soap hunk and cult TV fantasy villain actor-turned-drama-professor at a small, exclusive liberal arts college located a few miles from her hometown of Yorktown, Virginia. Her extensive extended family includes a cousin who lives his life as a forensic technician from inside a gorillla suit; a cousin whose wool-headed New Age philosophical maunderings cause most of the family acute embarrassment; a younger brother who, like her father, never grew up but managed to make himself rich by starting a MMO-RPG company.
Getting the picture? It's a screwball comedy-cum-mystery, with a couple of befuddled normals at its whirling center. Think "Bringing Up Baby"--you know, the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn movie with the leopard and the madcap heiress?--and you've got the gist. And it's working for Andrews! This is the ninth of ten, to date, books in the series.
I commented once, on an LT thread now long buried, that I read mysteries to satisfy my orderly side. (The Divine Miss contends I *have* no orderly side, usually with a wrinkled nose and a wince as she looks into my bedroom.) This series of mysteries, despite the winsome chaos of the plot, scratches that bump with just the right touch. I love the characters, I willingly believe that (fictional) Caerphilly County, Virginia, is run by the lunatics instead of the asylum attendants, because *things go right* there. The right people are rewarded and punished. The right solutions are found to problems, and are implemented with a nudge and a wink at the law.
It's the way I wish Nassau County, New York, was run. It ain't, for the record, even close.
So when the chance came to join the Holiday (not Christmas!) parade and festivities in Caerphilly, Virginia, it would have taken a stronger man than I am to resist the siren call. I read the book in about four hours of snorting, giggling, howling fun. And that's the downside of Andrews's simple, direct prose: It flows like water over the eyeballs, nothing to impede the story being told, no snaggle in the current, just fast-flowing water from the Holy Well of Humor.
The humorless need not even bother looking at the book. The po-faced classics snobs should pass by the shelf, wincing disdainfully. The pseudo-erudite high-culture vultures stand warned off. The rest of us will be over here, in the corner, laughing fit to bust.
January 21, 2020
It’s holiday time in Caerphilly, Virginia. Meg Langslow is coordinating the town’s holiday parade with her home as the starting point. Since her husband Michael is still on the path to tenure, Meg volunteered, grudgingly, for the job. Now it’s the morning of Christmas Eve and the parade participants are lining up. Twelve drummers drumming, eleven bagpipers piping, and so on are all represented. A reporter from the Tribune is snapping photos of the preparations until he loses his camera, calling on everyone to find it. All thirty-seven save-the-birds members are ready to go in their goose costumes. Meg keeps telling them they can’t carry their protest signs in the parade and that for the six-geese-a-laying float, only six of them can participate. Animals keep arriving to play their roles. The wise men are practicing their camel riding. The choir is singing Christmas carols and complaining about the bagpipers playing Jingle Bells for the umpteenth time, The Boy Scouts have volunteered for clean up, including after the numerous animals. And the weather report calls for snow.
The town’s curmudgeon who is to play Santa arrives in the nick of time to change into his costume in Meg’s pig shed just cleaned to hold the hand-painted sleigh. Meg’s nephew Eric whispers to her that something is wrong with Santa. As she opens the shed door, she is taken aback by Santa’s appearance; there’s a stake through his heart.
Thankfully Chief Burke is already at the parade site and rushes to the crime scene. They want to preserve the crime scene, but they also don’t want word of Santa being killed to get out and scare the children. Acting medical examiner Dr. Smoot has his usual difficulty entering the shed because of his claustrophobia. As the snow begins to fall, the parade does take off, on time, with Meg’s dad joyfully playing Santa. What else could go wrong?
If one is familiar with Donna Andrews’ writing, you already know that plenty can still go wrong. The hilarity is not confined to the beginning of this laugh-out-loud mystery. The parade may make it to town, but then what, with the snow flying, and animals looking for shelter, and all the humans trying to make their ways home for Christmas?
This book is number 10 in the Meg Langslow series, and it is a terrific parody of Christmas parades, oops, holiday parades trying to do it all. Tie that with a good mystery with a few twists, and readers will find themselves smiling through the book’s surprise revelations nearing the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this entry and highly recommend it.
The town’s curmudgeon who is to play Santa arrives in the nick of time to change into his costume in Meg’s pig shed just cleaned to hold the hand-painted sleigh. Meg’s nephew Eric whispers to her that something is wrong with Santa. As she opens the shed door, she is taken aback by Santa’s appearance; there’s a stake through his heart.
Thankfully Chief Burke is already at the parade site and rushes to the crime scene. They want to preserve the crime scene, but they also don’t want word of Santa being killed to get out and scare the children. Acting medical examiner Dr. Smoot has his usual difficulty entering the shed because of his claustrophobia. As the snow begins to fall, the parade does take off, on time, with Meg’s dad joyfully playing Santa. What else could go wrong?
If one is familiar with Donna Andrews’ writing, you already know that plenty can still go wrong. The hilarity is not confined to the beginning of this laugh-out-loud mystery. The parade may make it to town, but then what, with the snow flying, and animals looking for shelter, and all the humans trying to make their ways home for Christmas?
This book is number 10 in the Meg Langslow series, and it is a terrific parody of Christmas parades, oops, holiday parades trying to do it all. Tie that with a good mystery with a few twists, and readers will find themselves smiling through the book’s surprise revelations nearing the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this entry and highly recommend it.
August 19, 2021
It's Christmas time and Meg has been roped into planning the annual Holiday parade. Things seem to be running well when the old man playing Santa is found murdered. Turns out he was really a scrouge with his own secrets to keep rather than a Santa and more than a few people wanted to see him meet his end. Alongside her and the local police trying to solve the murder before Christmas, an out-of-town reporter is snooping around trying to ruin the town's good image. Meg has to balance trying to solve who killed Santa and get the nosy reporter to be nice and stay out of the way.
Full of holiday cheer, tidbits about A Christmas Carol, and Meg's excentric family. A nice quick mystery to curl up with for some holiday reading.
Full of holiday cheer, tidbits about A Christmas Carol, and Meg's excentric family. A nice quick mystery to curl up with for some holiday reading.
March 13, 2016
This is a cozy mystery set at Christmas time in a small town in Virginia. The story follows the usual crime/hunt for suspect/out the criminal mystery formula. If anything was unique about it, it was the animals and the role they play in defeating the bad guy. It gave me an appreciation for biting, spitting animals. I also liked that the girl playing the Virgin Mary on the Nativity Float was nine months pregnant. So there were a few little ironies and quirks which relieved the cozy mystery tedium.
March 7, 2017
This is such an incredibly fun series to read. The characters crack me up, and the situations Meg finds herself in make me thankful for my rather mundane life. The victim in this particular book was such a jerk, I didn't really care who killed him. But I did sort of have the culprit figured out about half way through. The book was still extremely enjoyable, and catching the killer was the most amusing resolution to a mystery ever in my opinion. I look forward to continuing the series...
November 1, 2025
I love these mysteries. This time Meg is organizing a Christmas parade. The much disliked man who is playing Santa is murdered. There are a great many suspects. I love the characters and the humor.
June 10, 2024
Only Donna Andrews can get me reading holiday stories any time of the year lol
January 8, 2023
Enjoyable holiday cozy featuring Meg Langslow. Meg's in charge of the holiday parade and someone murders Santa - need I say more? It was fab as usual! A++++
Read
October 28, 2020I can always depend on this series for a romping, funny mystery. Love Med Langslow and her quirky family.
December 28, 2025
Well, this is what I call a lovely cozy holiday mystery read. Quirky and funny characters in a jolly holiday, and a mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
This is a holiday read that I’d recommend!
This is a holiday read that I’d recommend!
December 8, 2023
These are such fun! I’d say you can’t make this stuff up but obviously you can. The characters are great and the situations they find themselves in are funny. The mystery was good and kept me guessing. I know #readforkimberly would have enjoyed this series as much as I do.
February 14, 2021
Six Geese A-Slaying It is Meg and Michael's first Christmas together as a married couple and they are busily trying to get the Christmas Parade finished so they can spend it alone before celebrating with her family. In order to celebrate, they have to get the Caerphilly Holiday Parade out of their yard and off to town. They are having a Nativity, a 12 Days of Christmas, Boy Scouts, SPOUR members and many other things to celebrate along the way. But soon Eric, her nephew, and Cal, the Chief of Police's grandson, come to her to say that Santa (played by Mr. Doleson) is dead and who would kill Santa. She quickly gets the Chief on the scene and starts replacing people (the Chief who was a wise man and Santa). The parade arrives in town just before the snow can trap anyone at Meg's and she goes into town and enjoys the festivities before she and Michael return to their home. Along the way, Caroline Willner and the vet are arrested for breaking and entering and then many other things begin to happen. Who really killed Doleson and why becomes the main question.
The story is just plain fun and full of many twists and turns as you try to figure out who is really to blame for the murder. I did have moments of questions concerning the keys that she is constantly handing to someone for some reason and the small evil one (Spike, their dog) being left locked in a cage while they might have been trapped in town. It was like they are mentioned and forgotten but then remembered on the second day when they take the dog to town with them on the off chance they are trapped in town.
The story is just plain fun and full of many twists and turns as you try to figure out who is really to blame for the murder. I did have moments of questions concerning the keys that she is constantly handing to someone for some reason and the small evil one (Spike, their dog) being left locked in a cage while they might have been trapped in town. It was like they are mentioned and forgotten but then remembered on the second day when they take the dog to town with them on the off chance they are trapped in town.
August 17, 2025
Meg has been tapped to organize the annual Caerphilly Christmas parade. She agreed, hoping it would help get Michael tenure, but as always, it's turned into a much bigger thing than she expected. Even with the Boy Scouts camping out and making themselves available for cleanup after the camels, elephants, sheep, etc., Meg is unprepared for drummers and bagpipers squaring off to see who can make the most noise, the SPOOR people trying to protest and a sleazy reporter trying to make their diverse, inclusive parade sordid or at best quaint. She's also unprepared for murder. Sadly not the reporter but Santa! The town's biggest Scrooge, Mr. Doleson, has been stabbed with a stake of holly through his heart. It seems premeditated and based on a quote from A Christmas Carol (which Michael will be performing as a one man play this week) and Meg needs to know who did this before someone she likes is accused. Meanwhile, a terrible snowstorm is heading their way. The kids are excited for a snow day (even though school is out for break) but Meg is worried she'll end up with a house full of family as usual and Michael won't have an audience for his show.
This was a fun, engaging story. I stayed up very late to finish it even though I kind of figured out who the murderer was. It was a little obvious but I didn't know why, I just figured Mr. Doleson was so unlikable so why not? At first there weren't enough suspects and then there were too many! I really enjoyed the holiday parade and it sounds like fun to watch but I wouldn't want to be Meg. I loved the Christmas Carol references and as soon as the murder weapon was revealed, the quote popped into my head the same way it did in Meg's. She knows more of the story by heart than I do and Michael's is abridged, possibly less than the audio books my family listens to in the car when we go Christmas shopping.
Mr. Doleson was a modern day Ebenezer Scrooge. He hated Christmas, children, community and anything else that didn't make him money. He owned both the run down motel where Meg's brother Rob and his employees live and the storage unit where Meg and Michael kept their stuff before they finished renovating their house. The man was a terrible person and the only reason he was Santa was because the previous two Santas were unavailable for various reasons and he fit the costume. It was his one good deed a year and Meg had hopes he would be redeemed like Scrooge. Alas, someone killed him before he had the chance.
Who was it? The members of SPOOR have shown up in costume. Meg has requested SIX of them portray the six geese a-laying but the members have other ideas. They want to protest when Meg specifically told them NO politics. I agree with her. This is a fun holiday parade. Don't co-opt it for your own aim even if it's a cause I (and Meg) agree with. I would be on board to protest somewhere more appropriate. These people are zealots and they're quirky. The founding member has died but they keep including her in their numbers. Caroline is an old lady and she runs a zoo. I sure hope she's not a murderer. She does seem quite nice but she's up to something with Dr. Blake. He's weird and I'm not a huge fan of him. He would absolutely kill someone if he thought they were harming animals.
Realistically, the killer has to be someone who knew Mr. Doleson was in the pig shed. Mr. Doleson kicked Spike unprovoked and Michael was about to press charges. Thankfully Michael has an alibi. Ainsley Werzel witnessed the event. He's a sleazy reporter assigned to cover fluff stories like this holiday pageant. He's eager for a real news story and since he's from the city, he wants to make this parade out to be something it's not. A murder is a juicy story he can't resist but did he kill Mr. Doleson to create a story or was it a coincidence? Luckily his (early) digital camera goes missing and his photographer is lost. That might help mitigate some of the damage but if he phones in his story, what will the Trib say about Caerphilly and the Christmas parade? Will this kill Michael's chance at tenure? The only other witness to the incident with poor Spike is Jorge Soto, a computer programmer with Mutant Wizards. He sides with Michael on pressing charges. Jorge lives at The Pines and doesn't like or trust Mr. Doleson. He knows a lot more than he lets on and has a good reason to want Mr. Doleson gone. I think he's nice and hope he's not a murderer. Someone opposed to animal cruelty can't be the murderer, right?
Meg's family has calmed down a lot. They left Mrs. Fenniman in Yorktown and here they have Mother, Dad, Rob, Eric, Rose Noire and Horace. Mother's decorating skills have come in handy for once and her over-the-top style isn't too terrible for the holiday season and tourists keep stopping by for pictures. Dad hasn't lost his love for mysteries and with Dr. Smoot suffering from claustrophobia and believing in vampires now, Dad hopes for a shot at examining the body. Rose Noire is standing by in case the Virgin Mary needs an understudy! It's so appropriate for her to be 9 months pregnant and giving birth on Christmas so let it happen! Cousin Penelope is there too and she's an actual obstetrician. Horace gets to shine a bit while examining the murder weapon but is otherwise lost in the shuffle.
Chief Burke was supposed to play a Wise Man but now has to solve a murder. He's overworked and understaffed as usual but doesn't want Meg snooping. His wife is a tough lady and she keeps everyone in line and steps up to help Meg direct the parade. I like Minerva a lot. They brought their grandson, Calvin, with them. He's only 6 and tags along after Eric (no Duck this time). Poor Calvin saw Santa dead and now he'll be traumatized for life. Meg doesn't know how the Burkes handle Santa so she explains Mr. Doleson was just PLAYING Santa. Clarence, the vet, is able to be objective and do his job apart from SPOOR. He's cheerful and helpful. He's a fun character but it's the animals who are the real stars of the show. I always enjoy the animal characters, especially when they are involved in the murder investigation and/or save the day.
I already read the next book in the series and I'll probably end here.
This was a fun, engaging story. I stayed up very late to finish it even though I kind of figured out who the murderer was. It was a little obvious but I didn't know why, I just figured Mr. Doleson was so unlikable so why not? At first there weren't enough suspects and then there were too many! I really enjoyed the holiday parade and it sounds like fun to watch but I wouldn't want to be Meg. I loved the Christmas Carol references and as soon as the murder weapon was revealed, the quote popped into my head the same way it did in Meg's. She knows more of the story by heart than I do and Michael's is abridged, possibly less than the audio books my family listens to in the car when we go Christmas shopping.
Mr. Doleson was a modern day Ebenezer Scrooge. He hated Christmas, children, community and anything else that didn't make him money. He owned both the run down motel where Meg's brother Rob and his employees live and the storage unit where Meg and Michael kept their stuff before they finished renovating their house. The man was a terrible person and the only reason he was Santa was because the previous two Santas were unavailable for various reasons and he fit the costume. It was his one good deed a year and Meg had hopes he would be redeemed like Scrooge. Alas, someone killed him before he had the chance.
Who was it? The members of SPOOR have shown up in costume. Meg has requested SIX of them portray the six geese a-laying but the members have other ideas. They want to protest when Meg specifically told them NO politics. I agree with her. This is a fun holiday parade. Don't co-opt it for your own aim even if it's a cause I (and Meg) agree with. I would be on board to protest somewhere more appropriate. These people are zealots and they're quirky. The founding member has died but they keep including her in their numbers. Caroline is an old lady and she runs a zoo. I sure hope she's not a murderer. She does seem quite nice but she's up to something with Dr. Blake. He's weird and I'm not a huge fan of him. He would absolutely kill someone if he thought they were harming animals.
Realistically, the killer has to be someone who knew Mr. Doleson was in the pig shed. Mr. Doleson kicked Spike unprovoked and Michael was about to press charges. Thankfully Michael has an alibi. Ainsley Werzel witnessed the event. He's a sleazy reporter assigned to cover fluff stories like this holiday pageant. He's eager for a real news story and since he's from the city, he wants to make this parade out to be something it's not. A murder is a juicy story he can't resist but did he kill Mr. Doleson to create a story or was it a coincidence? Luckily his (early) digital camera goes missing and his photographer is lost. That might help mitigate some of the damage but if he phones in his story, what will the Trib say about Caerphilly and the Christmas parade? Will this kill Michael's chance at tenure? The only other witness to the incident with poor Spike is Jorge Soto, a computer programmer with Mutant Wizards. He sides with Michael on pressing charges. Jorge lives at The Pines and doesn't like or trust Mr. Doleson. He knows a lot more than he lets on and has a good reason to want Mr. Doleson gone. I think he's nice and hope he's not a murderer. Someone opposed to animal cruelty can't be the murderer, right?
Meg's family has calmed down a lot. They left Mrs. Fenniman in Yorktown and here they have Mother, Dad, Rob, Eric, Rose Noire and Horace. Mother's decorating skills have come in handy for once and her over-the-top style isn't too terrible for the holiday season and tourists keep stopping by for pictures. Dad hasn't lost his love for mysteries and with Dr. Smoot suffering from claustrophobia and believing in vampires now, Dad hopes for a shot at examining the body. Rose Noire is standing by in case the Virgin Mary needs an understudy! It's so appropriate for her to be 9 months pregnant and giving birth on Christmas so let it happen! Cousin Penelope is there too and she's an actual obstetrician. Horace gets to shine a bit while examining the murder weapon but is otherwise lost in the shuffle.
Chief Burke was supposed to play a Wise Man but now has to solve a murder. He's overworked and understaffed as usual but doesn't want Meg snooping. His wife is a tough lady and she keeps everyone in line and steps up to help Meg direct the parade. I like Minerva a lot. They brought their grandson, Calvin, with them. He's only 6 and tags along after Eric (no Duck this time). Poor Calvin saw Santa dead and now he'll be traumatized for life. Meg doesn't know how the Burkes handle Santa so she explains Mr. Doleson was just PLAYING Santa. Clarence, the vet, is able to be objective and do his job apart from SPOOR. He's cheerful and helpful. He's a fun character but it's the animals who are the real stars of the show. I always enjoy the animal characters, especially when they are involved in the murder investigation and/or save the day.
I already read the next book in the series and I'll probably end here.
July 15, 2018
#10 in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series
What a fun and entertaining episode in the crazy life of Meg Langslow! This time she's in charge of the holiday parade--which includes the characters from the 12 Days of Christmas song (with Rob as one of the lords-a-leaping and the animal rights group SPOOR as the six geese a laying), along with other Christmas favorites, like the three Wise Men riding camels, a Dickens float (featuring Meg's mother), some elephants, an impending snowstorm, and Santa. Unfortunately Santa is murdered before the parade begins, and the Chief (one of the Wise Men) has to take the case. Meg, also dealing with Michael's nerves about a one-man recitation of The Christmas Carol, spends her time investigating. What I like about her is that she's intelligent, doesn't particularly put herself in harm's way, and she just spends a lot of time talking to people and making discoveries. Plus she's the hilarious calm in a sea of crazy things going on around her. As always, Spike is a prominent character, her Dad is the fill-in Santa, and various relatives and townspeople have starring roles. Very entertaining, and I liked the holiday twist.
What a fun and entertaining episode in the crazy life of Meg Langslow! This time she's in charge of the holiday parade--which includes the characters from the 12 Days of Christmas song (with Rob as one of the lords-a-leaping and the animal rights group SPOOR as the six geese a laying), along with other Christmas favorites, like the three Wise Men riding camels, a Dickens float (featuring Meg's mother), some elephants, an impending snowstorm, and Santa. Unfortunately Santa is murdered before the parade begins, and the Chief (one of the Wise Men) has to take the case. Meg, also dealing with Michael's nerves about a one-man recitation of The Christmas Carol, spends her time investigating. What I like about her is that she's intelligent, doesn't particularly put herself in harm's way, and she just spends a lot of time talking to people and making discoveries. Plus she's the hilarious calm in a sea of crazy things going on around her. As always, Spike is a prominent character, her Dad is the fill-in Santa, and various relatives and townspeople have starring roles. Very entertaining, and I liked the holiday twist.
May 13, 2018
Another fun book in this series. Meg and Michael are celebrating their first Christmas as a married couple and Michael is trying to get tenure at the college where he works and Meg bows to pressure by a prominent member of the tenure committee to organize the Caerphilly holiday parade. They have a yard full of parade floats, animals, bands, and lots of people all getting ready for the parade. The man playing Santa is murdered and even though Meg doesn't want to actively hunt for the murderer she ends up helping out.
Meg's family is involved as usual in many of the town's activities and the parade. There is a snow storm which strands quite a few people at Meg's house for awhile. The chief of police is there and he is trying to figure out who the killer is. There are quite a few suspects as the victim had been blackmailing people. Meg is trying to sort thru the possible suspects. The animals figure prominently in the story as in previous stories and some of the other characters have their own quirks and are a bit bumbly but lots of fun.
Meg's family is involved as usual in many of the town's activities and the parade. There is a snow storm which strands quite a few people at Meg's house for awhile. The chief of police is there and he is trying to figure out who the killer is. There are quite a few suspects as the victim had been blackmailing people. Meg is trying to sort thru the possible suspects. The animals figure prominently in the story as in previous stories and some of the other characters have their own quirks and are a bit bumbly but lots of fun.
February 18, 2009
This looked like a fun, easy read and it turned out to be just that. It is a Meg Langslow mystery. I haven't read any of the series. This caught my eye because it was out on a table at the library. I suspect reading the series in order would be fun. Meg lives in a small town where her actor husband, Michael, is about to get tenure at the local college. Because she wants to be nice to those on his tenure committee, she agrees to spearhead the annual Christmas parade. The town and Meg's family are full of lots of funny characters. That fact, and a heavy, unusual snowfall give the author Donna Andrews lots of sidelines to go along with the murder in the story. I had a hard time getting into the book, possibly because I hadn't read any others in the series, but after a little bit, I enjoyed it.
December 1, 2019
Six Geese A-Slaying #10 Meg Langslow
Meg and Michael are doing all they can to get him his tenure at the college, right to the point of pretending to like Fruit Cake and taking on the challenge of the Holiday Parade, days before Christmas. There is a massive storm headed their way and they have a reporter with an attitude trying to make the people of the town look horrible. When the most hated man in town is found dead in one of the outbuildings on her property, by the grandson of the chief of police and her youngest nephew, she calls on the chief and then helps him to figure out who was to blame.
We listened to this story on our way home from Maryland. My family is continuing to enjoy these stories from Donna Andrews.
Meg and Michael are doing all they can to get him his tenure at the college, right to the point of pretending to like Fruit Cake and taking on the challenge of the Holiday Parade, days before Christmas. There is a massive storm headed their way and they have a reporter with an attitude trying to make the people of the town look horrible. When the most hated man in town is found dead in one of the outbuildings on her property, by the grandson of the chief of police and her youngest nephew, she calls on the chief and then helps him to figure out who was to blame.
We listened to this story on our way home from Maryland. My family is continuing to enjoy these stories from Donna Andrews.
September 1, 2016
Another winner. Only Meg could get into so much trouble with so many different animals while organizing a holiday parade. I couldn't read this one before I wrote my own "Twelve Days of Christmas" mystery (A Wee Christmas Homicide), since I didn't want to be influenced by it, and it's taken me a while to get back to it, but I'm glad I finally did take it off my TBR pile. First rate plotting and wonderfully quirky (but believable) characters.
November 27, 2025
The books in this series often irritate me with their over-the-top absurdity, but this one was fun.
Update, 1/14/25:
I've decided to fully embrace the absurdity of this series and am declaring it delightful.
Update, 1/14/25:
I've decided to fully embrace the absurdity of this series and am declaring it delightful.
December 16, 2016
Excellent whodunit. It contained a lot of humor.
January 28, 2021
this is the one with the parade
August 31, 2024
Tenth in the Meg Langslow amateur sleuth cozy mystery series and revolving around a woman blacksmith in Virginia. The focus is on Caerphilly’s Christmas parade themed as “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. It’s been six months since
Cockatiels at Seven
, 9.
My Take
I love it. There’s something about that Christmas carol that always grabs me. Now we get to watch as Meg Langslow pulls it all together — and keeps it together when Santa is suddenly murdered!
Not that he’ll be missed . . .
Andrews’ description of the various sets for the parade was a treat, especially as she pulls in the characters to personalize the concept of their costumes. So many townspeople are involved — the kids dressed as elves sound delightful. Of course, it does help that Dr Blake owns the local zoo and loves for his animals to participate in everything! As for Dad, he loves being involved in murders, autopsies, bird-watching, parades . . .
That squabble over the six geese a-laying was a hoot. Only Meg could fall into that one! It’s that first person protagonist point-of-view, from Meg’s perspective, that really brings it home. Then there’s the “practicality” of who will be the Virgin Mary, roflmao.
Caerphilly is all about being inclusive, so Christmas is not just Santa who brings presents and other religions are included. Then, of course, there are the elephants who came when Jesus was born . . . Oozie is the proper term for an elephant handler.
The support and giving nature of Caerphilly (and the Langslows) is amazing. And I do have to wonder how the county can afford it all. I love it. Don’t get me wrong, but I am curious. Of course, this is a novel, and anything can happen in fiction *grin*. More of that Langslow-Waterston hospitality is in all the groups that Meg and Michael host at their place. Sleep-overs, potlucks, camp-outs for such a variety of people.
Aww, Michael calls it “insufficiently developed understanding of the concept of private property”. Mother calls it “a little problem”. Most of us consider it kleptomania.
Ooh, it seems Meg and Michael missed the big brouhaha over the summer about the destruction of a bald eagle nest. They may also miss being at home for Christmas with that blizzard, but they’ll enact their own nativity scene *more laughter*.
For all that Andrews pokes fun at Rose Noire’s passions, she does keep an open mind about some of it.
Lololol, there is some nudity before the parade . . .those geese suits can be quite warm.
Then there’s the dirt Heather dishes on ol’ Werzel. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Oh, sweet! It seems Dad likes to leave “proof” of Santa having been and gone, and it’s a brilliant idea to use that boom lift. What it is to have friends in the construction business. It doesn’t hurt that Ernest and Cousin are so protective, either, lol.
The Story
Poor Meg. She thought being the Mistress of the Revels for Caerphilly County was an honorary title. Now, she’s ticked at the major problem someone has dumped on her!
Then there’s that unexpected robbery by two culprits who no one would have ever suspected. And a nasty set of truths comes out.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith with a skill for organization, is married to Dr Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College. Spike is their eight-and-a-half-pound Small Evil One. Ernest is the llama Meg gave Michael for Christmas.
Rob Langslow is Meg’s brother who owns the successful Mutant Wizards, a gaming company where Jorge Soto is an employee. Rosemary Keenan, a.k.a. Rose Noire, is a cousin with a New Age passion who lives with Meg and Michael. Cousin is the name of the donkey Rose Noire adopted. Mother is quite proper and loves decorating — ANYthing. Pam McReady is Meg’s sister and has six kids: the youngest is Eric — he recruited the local Boy Scout troop, who’ll be earning badges. They’d been calling themselves the Dung Fu Fighters, *grin*. Cousin Alice. Aunt Penelope is an obstetrician. Good thing! Cousin Heather is a reporter for an alternative paper, busy writing exposés.
Dr Montgomery Blake, a world-famous conservationist and animal welfare activist, is their newly discovered grandfather, Dad’s father. Larry, Moe, and Curly are the camels joining the parade. Caroline Willner runs the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary and is a good friend to Blake.
SPOOR members are battling over the geese. Mrs Markland who died last year, keeps popping up. Dad is the current president.
Caerphilly, Virginia, is . . .
. . . where Meg and Michael live and where the college is located. The very tall be-chained Dr Clarence Rutledge is the town and zoo holistic veterinarian and animal behavior therapist — he’s working on Spike. Seth Early is the Langslow-Waterston’s neighbor with the adventurous sheep. Ellie Draper is the town librarian.
The Shiffleys populate better than half the county and own the Shiffley Construction Company run by Randall Shiffley — he’s also a scoutmaster. Rufus Shiffley is Wilfred’s youngest.
The Pruitts are the corrupt half of the county. Norris Pruitt is light-fingered.
Henry Burke is the chief of police after having been a homicide detective in Baltimore. Minerva is his amazing wife who sings with the New Life Baptist Church choir. (Lucas Hawes is their half-decent baritone.) Calvin Ripken Burke, a six-year-old, is one of three grandsons whom they’re raising after their parents’ deaths. Sammy is one of his deputies. Debbie Ann is the police dispatcher. Dr Smoot is the acting medical examiner, with issues. Sheriff Price is the county sheriff, and he, long ago, appointed Chief Burke as the assistant sheriff and wisely leaves it to him.Ya gotta love Price’s campaign platform: “if elected, he’ll reappoint Chief Burke as assistant sheriff and stay out of his way.” Yep, Price keeps getting re-elected.
Horace Hollingsworth, a cousin on Mother’s side of the family, is a crime scene technician with the Yorktown sheriff’s department. They frequently loan Horace out to other law enforcement agencies who are too small to have their own CSI.
We’re stuck with Ralph Doleson, a total grouch, for Santa. He owns the Spare Attic, a storage facility, and the Whispering Pines, that had been a hot sheets motel and is now a grungy garden apartment building. Technically, it’s where Rob lives. Previous Santas had been Wilmer Pruitt who was also a little too light-fingered. Orville Shiffley had been too fond of the drink.
The Reverend Pratt. Noel Grace is the newborn. Dr Edith Braintree is the chair of the tenure committee.
The Caerphilly Clarion is the local newspaper. The ambitious J Ainsley Werzel is a reporter for The Washington Tribune. He gives journalists a bad name. Emerson Drood is the article that caught everyone’s attention.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a snowflake-scattered central gradation with a royal blue at top and bottom gradating to a snowy center with six geese in red scarves and Santa hats. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name directly below in red outlined in white. Below the graphic is the title on a slant in the same red with a white outline. Below that towards the right is a red ornament with the series info scripted on it in white.
The title is way too accurate, at least for one of the Six Geese A-Slaying.
My Take
I love it. There’s something about that Christmas carol that always grabs me. Now we get to watch as Meg Langslow pulls it all together — and keeps it together when Santa is suddenly murdered!
Not that he’ll be missed . . .
Andrews’ description of the various sets for the parade was a treat, especially as she pulls in the characters to personalize the concept of their costumes. So many townspeople are involved — the kids dressed as elves sound delightful. Of course, it does help that Dr Blake owns the local zoo and loves for his animals to participate in everything! As for Dad, he loves being involved in murders, autopsies, bird-watching, parades . . .
That squabble over the six geese a-laying was a hoot. Only Meg could fall into that one! It’s that first person protagonist point-of-view, from Meg’s perspective, that really brings it home. Then there’s the “practicality” of who will be the Virgin Mary, roflmao.
Caerphilly is all about being inclusive, so Christmas is not just Santa who brings presents and other religions are included. Then, of course, there are the elephants who came when Jesus was born . . . Oozie is the proper term for an elephant handler.
The support and giving nature of Caerphilly (and the Langslows) is amazing. And I do have to wonder how the county can afford it all. I love it. Don’t get me wrong, but I am curious. Of course, this is a novel, and anything can happen in fiction *grin*. More of that Langslow-Waterston hospitality is in all the groups that Meg and Michael host at their place. Sleep-overs, potlucks, camp-outs for such a variety of people.
Aww, Michael calls it “insufficiently developed understanding of the concept of private property”. Mother calls it “a little problem”. Most of us consider it kleptomania.
Ooh, it seems Meg and Michael missed the big brouhaha over the summer about the destruction of a bald eagle nest. They may also miss being at home for Christmas with that blizzard, but they’ll enact their own nativity scene *more laughter*.
For all that Andrews pokes fun at Rose Noire’s passions, she does keep an open mind about some of it.
Lololol, there is some nudity before the parade . . .those geese suits can be quite warm.
Then there’s the dirt Heather dishes on ol’ Werzel. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Oh, sweet! It seems Dad likes to leave “proof” of Santa having been and gone, and it’s a brilliant idea to use that boom lift. What it is to have friends in the construction business. It doesn’t hurt that Ernest and Cousin are so protective, either, lol.
The Story
Poor Meg. She thought being the Mistress of the Revels for Caerphilly County was an honorary title. Now, she’s ticked at the major problem someone has dumped on her!
Then there’s that unexpected robbery by two culprits who no one would have ever suspected. And a nasty set of truths comes out.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith with a skill for organization, is married to Dr Michael Waterston, a drama professor at Caerphilly College. Spike is their eight-and-a-half-pound Small Evil One. Ernest is the llama Meg gave Michael for Christmas.
Rob Langslow is Meg’s brother who owns the successful Mutant Wizards, a gaming company where Jorge Soto is an employee. Rosemary Keenan, a.k.a. Rose Noire, is a cousin with a New Age passion who lives with Meg and Michael. Cousin is the name of the donkey Rose Noire adopted. Mother is quite proper and loves decorating — ANYthing. Pam McReady is Meg’s sister and has six kids: the youngest is Eric — he recruited the local Boy Scout troop, who’ll be earning badges. They’d been calling themselves the Dung Fu Fighters, *grin*. Cousin Alice. Aunt Penelope is an obstetrician. Good thing! Cousin Heather is a reporter for an alternative paper, busy writing exposés.
Dr Montgomery Blake, a world-famous conservationist and animal welfare activist, is their newly discovered grandfather, Dad’s father. Larry, Moe, and Curly are the camels joining the parade. Caroline Willner runs the Willner Wildlife Sanctuary and is a good friend to Blake.
SPOOR members are battling over the geese. Mrs Markland who died last year, keeps popping up. Dad is the current president.
Caerphilly, Virginia, is . . .
. . . where Meg and Michael live and where the college is located. The very tall be-chained Dr Clarence Rutledge is the town and zoo holistic veterinarian and animal behavior therapist — he’s working on Spike. Seth Early is the Langslow-Waterston’s neighbor with the adventurous sheep. Ellie Draper is the town librarian.
The Shiffleys populate better than half the county and own the Shiffley Construction Company run by Randall Shiffley — he’s also a scoutmaster. Rufus Shiffley is Wilfred’s youngest.
The Pruitts are the corrupt half of the county. Norris Pruitt is light-fingered.
Henry Burke is the chief of police after having been a homicide detective in Baltimore. Minerva is his amazing wife who sings with the New Life Baptist Church choir. (Lucas Hawes is their half-decent baritone.) Calvin Ripken Burke, a six-year-old, is one of three grandsons whom they’re raising after their parents’ deaths. Sammy is one of his deputies. Debbie Ann is the police dispatcher. Dr Smoot is the acting medical examiner, with issues. Sheriff Price is the county sheriff, and he, long ago, appointed Chief Burke as the assistant sheriff and wisely leaves it to him.Ya gotta love Price’s campaign platform: “if elected, he’ll reappoint Chief Burke as assistant sheriff and stay out of his way.” Yep, Price keeps getting re-elected.
Horace Hollingsworth, a cousin on Mother’s side of the family, is a crime scene technician with the Yorktown sheriff’s department. They frequently loan Horace out to other law enforcement agencies who are too small to have their own CSI.
We’re stuck with Ralph Doleson, a total grouch, for Santa. He owns the Spare Attic, a storage facility, and the Whispering Pines, that had been a hot sheets motel and is now a grungy garden apartment building. Technically, it’s where Rob lives. Previous Santas had been Wilmer Pruitt who was also a little too light-fingered. Orville Shiffley had been too fond of the drink.
The Reverend Pratt. Noel Grace is the newborn. Dr Edith Braintree is the chair of the tenure committee.
The Caerphilly Clarion is the local newspaper. The ambitious J Ainsley Werzel is a reporter for The Washington Tribune. He gives journalists a bad name. Emerson Drood is the article that caught everyone’s attention.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a snowflake-scattered central gradation with a royal blue at top and bottom gradating to a snowy center with six geese in red scarves and Santa hats. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name directly below in red outlined in white. Below the graphic is the title on a slant in the same red with a white outline. Below that towards the right is a red ornament with the series info scripted on it in white.
The title is way too accurate, at least for one of the Six Geese A-Slaying.
December 20, 2022
Another nice cozy mystery with a Christmas theme. Meg Langslow is on the track to finding the killer again!
November 28, 2023
3.5 stars. A good (though not great) cozy mystery.
September 9, 2022
Several Laugh Out Loud moments. Excellent plot, characters and enjoyable mystery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 362 reviews