Stork Raving Mad

May 17, 2010
In Agatha-winner Andrews's wacky 12th Meg Langslow mystery (after 2009's Swan for the Money), chaos erupts in the crowded household of expectant parents-to-be Meg Langslow and her husband, Caerphilly College associate professor Michael Waterston. Not only are they hosting numerous students made temporarily homeless due to a broken college heating plant but their library becomes a crime scene after the murder of English department diva Jean Wright. At first, it appears Wright received a fatal blow from an Egyptian fertility goddess statue, though later evidence suggests she was poisoned. The victim had arrived with Dr. Enrique Blanco of administrative services to inform Ramon Soto, a student of Michael's, that they are canceling the performance of his dissertation topic, an obscure "anti-Franco, anti-Fascist" play, because it contains "offensive and unsuitable material." Hilarity ensues as Meg refuses to let her pregnancy prevent her from catching a surprising killer.

June 1, 2010

The stork races the meat wagon to blacksmith Meg Langslow's house.

When you're eight-and-a-half months pregnant, much of what's going on around you seems surreal. For Meg Langslow, who's used to dealing with both mysteries and menageries (Swan for the Money, 2009, etc.), it's all monkey business as usual, except that this time the zoo's population is humans, two of them the twins she's about to deliver. A breakdown in Caerphilly College's heating system has led her husband, Prof. Michael Waterston, to offer the hospitality of his basement and other domestic spaces to half a dozen students rehearsing Ramon Soto's staging of a play by persecuted mid-century Spanish playwright Ignacio Mendoza, who predictably turns up as the latest and oldest houseguest. Hot on his heels follow Dr. Jean Wright, a colleague who sits on Michael's promotion committee, and Dr. Enrique Blanco, the college president's pet administrator. Driven by an irrational hatred of the drama program, Dr. Wright announces that the topic of Ramon's dissertation research, duly approved long ago, is unacceptable and demands that he cancel the production. Hardly have the interested parties begun hurling insults at each other when Meg stumbles over Dr. Wright's dead body. You won't believe how she's been killed.

The 12th installment in the unending farce of Meg's domestic adventures is not so much funny as frantic, with the overgalvanized cast members constantly upstaged by the unborn twins, whom Meg variously dubs Hansel and Gretel, Boris and Natasha and Butch and Sundance.

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July 1, 2010
It seems impossible, but once again Meg Langslows home has been invaded by tons of eccentric characters. Regular readers of Andrews series, of course, have long recognized that such occurrences are business as usual in Caerphilly, Virginia. Its not enough that Meg and husband Michael are expecting twins any day, and that the usual family members are running in and out of the home, but they are also hosting a couple of dozen displaced drama students. Youd think the college could somehow get the heating plant fixed, but remember this is Megs wacky world. Meg and Michael are also playing host to the eccentric Spanish playwright whose play is being produced by one of Michaels graduate students. Trouble starts for real when the dean of the college English department announces that the play must be canceled. Next thing you know, the dean is dead, and Megs house has become a crime scene. Naturally, Meg must help Chief Burke solve the crime. This is the twelfth entry in a long-running series that gets better all the time. A fine blend of academic satire, screwball comedy, and murder.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)