The Twelve Jays of Christmas

A Meg Langslow Mystery

By: Donna Andrews

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

Another hit for me

I am wondering though is Meg’s mother ever going to get up off her throne and do something besides give orders. I’m kinda tired of “Meg Dear”

A bit disappointing

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, with the bits of animal lore and the quirky town, but the mystery was telegraphed from the start. Nevertheless, I look forward to the next installment!

Cozy mystery

As always, the Donna Andrews Christmas mystery delivers. Although the mystery is predictable, the warm fizzles did not disappoint. All the characters are familiar and lovable. What always brings a year to my eye is the continuing good will displayed by the Carfilly community. Enjoy this feel good mystery

Another Christmas in Caerphilly!

Sometimes characters and plots in long and successful mystery series can become formulaic. Not so the case in The Twelve Jays of Christmas, number 30 in the Meg Langslow series. This delightful entry finds Meg nursing a sprained ankle, coping with a houseful of relatives, and without husband Michael and their twin boys. Meg's booted ankle keeps her from joining the family on a long planned ski trip so she ends up coping with an an eccentric (read rude and obnoxious) artist, his browbeaten assistant, annoying trespassers not to mention pair of wombats in the basement and escaped jays endangering the Christmas decorations. Of course murder ensues and there is no dearth of suspects with reason to detest the victim. A neatly woven sub plot concerns Meg's brother and his new fiancee who are trying to avoid the grandiose wedding plans of Meg's formidable mother. The narration is excellent and it does not have to be the Christmas season to enjoy this book.

Charming and fun with a twist

Meg is back to her old form! The characters are varied but sympathetic or at a minimum, intriguing. This was one of my favorites.