The Meg Lanslow series by Donna Andrews

What I think of during every Zoom meeting

Cheers!

Here's to you and getting through another week of a global pandemic.

In Illinois the Governor just announced that the K-12 students will not be returning to in-person learning for this academic year.  I'm sure most Illinois teachers were expected that, but it would still be like a gut punch.  

For me, in the Grades 13-16 sector, we have three more weeks of (online) instruction before finals weeks is here.  And this week, I've been proctoring exams via Zoom.  

On the bright side, I got to chat with all my students that I've haven't seen in over a month.  

On the down side, that's sooooo much Zoom.

So much Zoom.

Soo much.

Anyway, before I got Zoomed out, some of my online friends and I did a great Zoom hangout, and we didn't QUITE have enough of us to re-create The Brady Bunch opening shot when we were gallery view, but we got darn close.  And we had some great conversation and some much needed laughs.

And one of the things that came out of that hangout was a recommendation for mystery author, Donna Andrews.  Two of my friends (Hi, Karen and Deborah!) said they loved Ms. Andrews's books and that she was funny.

Dear book friends, Karen and Deb buried the lede.  Donna Andrews has a mystery series that has 26 books.  26!  TWENTY-SIX!!  

*clutches heart and fans self*

So I read the first one, Murder with Peacocks, and Deborah and Karen were right.  This was funny.  And fun.  And well worth reading.  So I read the second, Murder with Puffins , and I liked it, too. (There's a bird theme with all the Meg Langslow book titles.) 

You know how I love me a good series, and the Meg Langslow series IS a good series.  Meg is a blacksmith surrounded by a full cast of crazy family members.  There's her dad, a retired physician with a love of murder mysteries, a brother who accidentally designed a game called Lawyers From Hell when he should have been studying for the bar, a well-connected and gossip-attuned mother, and a nephew who is followed around by an egg-laying duck.  And THEN there are the assorted crazy cousins and neighbors.  I've read four of them so far, and I'll probably grab the fifth one this weekend.  And even though all the books aren't set in the same town, the cast of crazy characters seems to accompany Meg through out.

This is an amateur sleuth series without any over the top blood or gore, so if police procedurals are too much for you, but you still like a good whodunit, you should try this series out.

Plus there are 26.  TWENTY-SIX.  You know how many pandemic days you can wile away while reading 26 books?  So blessed many.