Some Like It Hawk (A Meg Langslow Mystery #14)

Some Like It Hawk (Meg Langslow #14)

by
3.8 of 5 stars 3.80  ·  rating details  ·  611 ratings  ·  119 reviews
Meg helps run Caerphilly's summer arts and crafts festival while trying to smoke out a murderer—turn up the heat, because Some Like it Hawk!

The hilariously funny Donna Andrews delivers another winner in the award-winning New York Times bestselling series that has captured human and avian hearts alike. Meg Langslow is plying her blacksmith's trade at “Caerphilly Days,” a fe...more
Hardcover, 344 pages
Published July 17th 2012 by St. Martin's Minotaur
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,188)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Mysterious Ed
#14 in the Meg Langslow series. A representative entry in this long-running, award winning series. Meg is often referred to, in earlier books, as a lady blacksmith; there are references to her blacksmith upper body strength, her barn based forge, and the custom made rose secateurs (Swan For the Money (2009)) she made for her mother.
But at the town festival, for the first time (that I recall) since Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingoes (2001), she actually fires up the forge and produces somethi...more
Holly
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith showcasing her trade during her town's Caerphilly days, a festival inspired by her town's Notoriety as "the town that mortgaged its jail". The mayor has run off with the town's money and the 'Evil Lender" (Bank)has foreclosed on all of Caerphilly's public buildings, and all the employees have evacuated-except one. Phineaas Throckmorton, the town clerk, has been barricaded in the courthouse basement for more than a year. So the real reason for the festival is to make...more
Kathy Davie
Fourteenth in the Meg Langslow usually much funnier mystery series revolving around Meg the blacksmith and her interfering family.

My Take
I can't wait for the funny bits to hit...and I'm, mostly, still waiting. Definitely not one of my favorites in this series. Although, I did enjoy the big Evil Lender getting theirs in the end!

I do love what everyone does to keep the entrance hidden. Andrews really did do a clever job on this one. I guess I just miss having so many of the family participating th...more
Debbie
I love this series. Great cast. Good plots. Lots of humor, but it doesn't overwhelm everything else. The town of Caerphilly faces lots of challenges. The former mayor made off with the treasury, leaving the town in debt to the "Evil Lender", and that bank took over the public buildings, and is trying to get private ones, including Meg's farmhouse, through eminent domain. To raise funds, the town is sponsoring Caerphilly days, with almost round the clock entertainment attracting busloads of touri...more
Patty
Donna Andrews has been writing about Meg Langslow for quite a while now, in fact this is book 14 in the series. I now own all of the series but this is the first I've read. I've heard wonderful things about the series but other books just seemed to keep pushing to the front. Well, no more! Even though I normally read series in order I made an exception for this book because I won it as an ARC and promised to read and write a review.

Having missed out on the first 13 books I'm going to be very car...more
Jane
I received an advance reading copy through Goodreads First Reads. I was very excited because I had never won anything before, but my excitement soon turned to puzzlement. Imagine my surprise when, as I'm sitting on a plane trying to finish this book before we land, I hit page 312, Meg's about to crack open the whole mystery, and...my copy of the book ends.

Since all the previous books in this series didn't end on cliffhangers, I'm going to assume something was wrong with my copy. It's difficult t...more
Jill Olsen
I don’t read a lot of mystery books but this series got me hooked, especially when I could read books 1-11 right after continuing the story line. I do like the characters and how each book continues the story and then at the very end it sets up the plot for the next one. I am always surprised by who the murderer turns out to be. I keep looking for clues but there is a twist that I didn’t see coming (because I hate it when I can figure it out before the characters in the book do).

The series start...more
Judy
I have always loved this series. This one is not quite as funny as some of the earlier books, but it is still entertaining and easy to read. Meg finds herself as always juggling family life and helping out her community. In this case the town is putting on Caerphilly Days, an arts and crafts festival whose main aim is to disguise a tunnel (left over from pre-Civil War days) which is being used to provide provisions to the town clerk, who has barricaded himself in the basement of the courthouse i...more
Jeannie and Louis Rigod
This adventure of Meg and company was quite a bit different but well drawn. I felt like I was in Meg's shadow as she tried to fight crimes, crawl tunnels, eat her way through the entire town's religious bodies and more!

I did like that the Chief of Police realized that he needed Meg's help. I was a bit surprised that Michael and the Twins weren't more involved in some way, although I can't see how, if we want to keep them safe. I guess I need a thousand pages so it is well that Ms. Andrews writes...more
Lucy
I love this Meg Langslow mystery series. I'm glad she got to do some blacksmithing in this one, even if it was partly for the noise-making. As usual there's a strange and funny main plot point, but there's also an actual murder. How many ways can you think of to have lots of noise in an on-going festival, to camouflage something else that makes noise? Of course a bagpiper. And a large church choir. I really liked the staged American history with lots of cannons and the way the on-stage progress...more
Darlene
An interesting premise sets up the book, which connects it to an all too familiar current event: foreclosure. The last book had the city of Caerphilly reeling from the machinations of its (now)ex-mayor. (spoiler alert if you haven't read the previous one) This one takes up a few months where the last one left off. Caerphilly is on the hook for all the money that the mayor stole by mortgaging the town properties. The town binds together in an effort to make some money out of their loss and organi...more
Don O'goodreader
Meg Langslow is in the middle of everything that happens in Caerphilly, VA. So when Caerphilly Days, one of those celebrations of local entertainment, crafts, and food that exist primarily to attract tourist dollars, is planned to raise money for the bankrupt town, she is everywhere, especially in the Courthouse basement when the body is found.

While it is mostly silly and fun, Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews is a murder mystery.

For very little more: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2013/0...

"Pa...more
Denise
I haven't read all Donna Andrews' books, but I've read a lot including books not in this series. I've enjoyed the whole series, though in the beginning there was a bit of excessive silliness and the longest days, but Meg is a solid, capable female lead character. Since I've always liked Meg, her organization, and her ability to keep her head in emergencies and deal with a very large family. Though I'm not great at putting into words what has changed, I'd say that in the most recent books not onl...more
Lynda
Another amusing volume in the series. Meg and the citizens of Caerphilly, Virginia are involved in a noisy all summer long festival to protect the town archivist who is barricaded in the basement of the courthouse. Following up on events in the previous book, the town and courthouse have been foreclosed on by a large bank in collusion with the previous mayor. Unknown to the bank, there is a tunnel to the basement so the archivist can get supplies and provide whatever documents the new honest may...more
Deb
The goings on in Caerphilly, virginia are still outrageously entertaining, even if my favorite of this series is still the Christmas parade edition. Meg's life with her extended family is unending chaos, and the huge Victorian they, a menagerie and various friends and family inhabit is wonderful to imagine. Now one wing of the house is the public library! The twins are now 18 months old and very busy exploring the world and getting in trouble. Meg's mom and dad barely have enough to do in this o...more
Meg
The citizens of Caerphilly have banded together to keep their town operating after the Evil Lender foreclosed on all the town's buildings. To give the town's economy a boost, Meg and her fellow craftsmen have capitalized on their misfortune of being "The Town That Mortgaged Its Jail" to hold the "Caerphilly Days" - a festival of the arts.

However, they have an ulterior motive. The town clerk has barricaded him in the city hall's basement and refuses to leave, even though the Evil Lender is now t...more
Susan
The little town of Caerphilly has lost its civic buildings to a company the citizens call the Evil Lender, but they have one hope: the County Clerk is holed up under City Hall, getting supplies through a tunnel that the Evil Lender doesn't know about. When someone is murdered outside the barricade that keeps the security guards from invading his enclave, the local chief of police--and Meg Langslow--suspect that the Evil Lender is behind it. Over a July 4th weekend, Meg and various members of her...more
Angie Holtz
From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

I adore the Meg Langslow mysteries. Years ago when I first discovered one thanks to my sister-in-law, I read through them all in a matter of months. Now I wait, very impatiently, for the next book to come out. This does not disappoint. Meg now has 2 toddlers, but her life is as crazed as ever. The town's ex-mayer took out loans on all the town buildings, pocketed the cash, then stepped aside as the lender came in and took ownership of them all. Now the Library is in her...more
Mirjam
Humour is something is I love to find in books. Whether it's offered in witty dialogues or slapstick events I am bound to respond with huge smiles, chuckles or even a big laugh. Donna Andrews is one of the authors who excels at offering both. Her Meg Langslow series is not only an auto-buy, but one that I often re-read and always look forward to with great anticipation. Some Like It Hawk is not the funniest book in the series, but it still brightened up my day and provided me with some much need...more
Joanne
Latest in the Andrews series about Meg Langslow and her wacky family, who keep tripping over dead bodies. Here their whole small town is in on helping the town clerk stay holed up in the basement of the courthouse, which is in a financial dispute by An Evil Lender after the previous mayor's shady financial dealings.

The murder is really secondary, which is too bad, because I would think it would have greater emotional impact in the town and for its characters, but they tend to go blithely on thei...more
Erica
While none of the Meg Langslow mysteries have quite matched the laugh-out-loud fun of the original Murder With Peacocks, Some Like it Hawk was a fast, enjoyable read. Meg and a cast of lovably eccentric characters are working to save their beloved Caerphilly from foreclosure by the Evil Lender. The city clerk has barricaded himself in the basement of the courthouse, aided and abetted by most of the townspeople, but their plans go awry when a bank official is murdered just outside the barricade....more
Kate Baxter
What a charming and delightful light mystery for reading in between the heavier tomes. Our heroine is awkward and a slightly overweight sleuth. I found myself smiling as she got into more scrapes than one deserves. There's an interesting mixed L.A. neighborhood of renters and owners in the book and everyone has a motive for murdering the starlet has-been. On the surface, the story may seem "fluffy" but Laura Levine cleverly works three mysteries simultaneously: who murdered Cryptessa?; is he or...more
Natalie Davidson
I really enjoyed this installment from the citizens of Caerphilly and all of their quirks. The story was a bit slow in going, but once the murder happened (around page 55) it picked up considerably.
The highlights included Horace and the PI Denton's involvement in the monkey suit.
The "Church tent wars" were hilarious.

A few things were disjointed in this particular installment:
I think the urgency of the Evil Lender, the Pruitts, and the ex-mayor should have been a bit more spelled out and more ins...more
Katharine Kimbriel
Aug 07, 2012 Katharine Kimbriel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Donna Andrews fans, cozy lovers, humorous mystery lovers
Shelves: humor, mystery
This is another fine cozy in the Meg Langslow series, continuing the tale of Meg, her crazy extended family, and her habit of falling into mysteries, usually with a body or two attached.

The strength of these books is Meg’s rock solid love of her family (including husband and kids) and her desire to get crime wrapped up so she can get back to her Real Life – creative blacksmith, professor’s wife and mother to youngsters. The stories take place in small town Virginia, with an extended cast of char...more
Denicemarcell
The twins are toddlers and Eric is a teenager!, just barely but still. really scary how time flies even though the reader does keep up with Meg, Michael and the cousins on a yearly basis.

Fun,fast,laugh outloud read as always. More than a little tense at the climax.

small quibbles=the left hand page says Rob took Eric and the twins home, Michael and the students went to the college to debrief, the right hand page has Michael answering the phone at home and telling Meg about all the boys being asle...more
Susan
Not as overtly comical as some installments, but just as much a page turner! Meg is helping host Caerphilly Days - a lengthy summer festival that should help the county/city get back in the black after the pilferage of the ex-mayor. A lone clerk is holding off the Evil Lender from taking full possession of the county's courthouse (and its records) by secret use of an antique tunnel. Getting Phinny supplies and keeping matters hidden, but orderly represents the rest of the organizational challeng...more
Kara Lustiber
I have always liked this series. The characters are fun and heart-warming. The author is doing a good job keeping the light alive as Meg's character marries and has children. In this novel, the town has gathered its forces to supply a squatter who has holed up in the cellar of the town hall. The squatter has been framed for the murder of an employee of the corporation which now owns the town buildings. I gave the book a slightly lower rating, because you can't comprehend the book without reading...more
❂ Jennifer
I love this series - it's probably one of my top 5 favourites and it's always good for a chuckle. I will admit to some concern when Ms. Andrews brought twins into Meg's story as I'm not a mad keen fan on reading about mommy-hood. I'm happy to say that Ms. Andrews handles it family additions beautifully - they don't detract from the story and give some of the secondary characters (like Spike) someone to play off of. With Meg's crazy extended family around she's able to continue sleuthing in fine...more
Debra
I don't really read these books because of the mystery. (Um, remind me, who actually did get killed in this one?) I read them because of the zany-ness, the humor, and the likeable characters. Donna Andrews is what Janet Evanovich aspires to be - silly, fun and each book a fresh treasure. Not sure that the buying public agrees but they are just wrong.

This particular one should especially interest archivists and to a lesser extent librarians. Thank you, Ms. Andrews, for making the job relevent.
Mark Baker
When a bank repossessed all the buildings in Caerphilly, the town clerk boarded himself in the town hall basement. Now Meg, her family, and the rest of the town are smuggling supplies to him. But when a body turns up just outside his barricade, the jig may be up. Can Meg find the killer without giving away the secret? I love these characters, and I will never complaint about spending time with them. However, I felt the plot could have used more twists or something. And these books have lost some...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 39 40 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
Some Like It Hawk: A Meg Langslow Mystery (ebook)
Some Like It Hawk (A Meg Langslow Mystery #14)
Some Like it Hawk (Audio CD)
Some Like it Hawk (Paperback)
Some Like It Hawk (Hardcover)

60646
Donna 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...
More about Donna Andrews...
Murder With Peacocks (Meg Langslow, #1) Murder With Puffins (Meg Langslow, #2) Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (Meg Langslow, #3) Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Meg Langslow, #4) We'll Always Have Parrots (Meg Langslow, #5)

Share This Book

Your website