Six Geese a-Slaying

By: Donna Andrews

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Meg Langslow and Michael's house is serving as the marshalling point for the annual Caerphilly holiday parade. The theme is the 12 Days of Christmas, and it features 12 drummers from the school's marching band, 11 bagpipers, 10 leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college's drama department, and so on. There are also assorted floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the three wise men on Caerphilly Zoo camels, and Santa in a bright-red horse-drawn sleigh.

As the organizer, Meg's job is already hard enough, but when her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, "Something's wrong with Santa...", things take a tragic turn. It turns out that the local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now it's up to Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, to tackle a twofold mission: solve the murder and save Christmas.

©2008 Donna Andrews (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Always Fun to Indulge in a Meg Langslow Christmas Mystery

It’s a Christmas tradition for me...re-reading mysteries set during the holidays. I begin with Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and other classic village mystery authors.

Once I’ve finished with the English manors, grand house parties, and social graces, it’s time to laugh out loud as I re-listen to every Meg Langslow Christmas mystery the talented Donna Andrews has written.

Six Geese a-Slaying might just be the funniest of the bunch. I have listened to it many times, but the asides and sly comments still make me laugh like the first time I read the book. Listening to Bernadette Dunne narrate makes these charming books even funnier.

I could go on, but I have Duck the Halls queued up and ready to play. (Like Six Geese, Duck the Halls also features Chief Henry Burke and his wife Minerva, and the comedic factor goes up, up, up when the dry humor of Chief Burke is front and center.)

Thank you, Donna Andrews. Keep the laughs coming!

Really good book

Great humor and characters that you will fall in love with like family. The mysteries are always intriguing.

I love this series

Six Geese a-Slaying had me equally laughing and guessing right until the very end. To honest I didn't suspect really suspect the killer until nearly the end of the book. I've already downloaded the next one and can't wait to start.

A terrific parody of Christmas parades

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.

Holiday mayhem — Meg style

This book starts a little slow, but stick with it as it picks up well as it proceeds. Character development is strong and new personalities add to the story, fleshing it out with a very satisfying ending.