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Meg Langslow #4
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
Poor Meg Langslow. She’s blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She’s a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg’s road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair. There are Michael’s and Meg’s doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there’s the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing---which is why she’s tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother’s computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing---who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave---and Michael’s mother’s nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices.In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he’s become the victim of someone who wasn’t joking at all. He’s been murdered for real. Donna Andrews’s debut book, Murder with Peacocks, won the St. Martin’s Malice Domestic best first novel contest and reaped a harvest of other honors as well. This is the fourth book in the Meg Langslow series, which features the intrepid Meg and her cast of oddball relatives. Their capers are a lighthearted joy to read.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 6, 2002
176 people are currently reading
1535 people want to read
About the author
Donna Andrews
101 books2,066 followersDonna 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...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/donnaa...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 reviews
November 17, 2018
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews is a 2002 St. Martin’s Press publication.
First of all-
That title!! I was laughing before I even cracked open the book.
This fourth installment in the Meg Langslow series finds Meg working in her brother, Rob’s office, while she recovers from an injured arm. With the housing shortage, Rob and his computer game programmers are housed in the same building with other professionals, like psychiatrists for example. They don’t exactly get along, suffice it to say.
But, when Ted, the mail courier and notorious practical joker is found dead, Rob becomes the primary suspect. Once again, Meg finds her nifty detective skills are needed to get her brother off the hook and find the real culprit.
Meanwhile, she and Michael are struggling to find a home large enough for the couple and Meg is trying to nurse George, a buzzard with one wing back to health.
This installment may have been the funniest one yet. However, it was also the most in depth look we’ve had of Meg, who usually avoids deep analysis. In this story, she’s often pensive, but still maintains her wry wit and uncanny powers of observation.
The mystery is pretty zany, as is to be expected. It would seem the victim was up to his neck in office politics, both offices, as it so happens, and is threatening to share sensitive information. As such, the suspect list is a little complicated.
At the end of the day, Meg finds herself torn between two worlds. She makes a decisive choice, which is a relief, at least for now, but even I had to wonder if she should explore all her options. I am very much looking forward to the next installment and am quite intrigued by the way Meg’s character seems to be developing.
Overall, this is another highly entertaining installment in the series.
4 stars
First of all-
That title!! I was laughing before I even cracked open the book.
This fourth installment in the Meg Langslow series finds Meg working in her brother, Rob’s office, while she recovers from an injured arm. With the housing shortage, Rob and his computer game programmers are housed in the same building with other professionals, like psychiatrists for example. They don’t exactly get along, suffice it to say.
But, when Ted, the mail courier and notorious practical joker is found dead, Rob becomes the primary suspect. Once again, Meg finds her nifty detective skills are needed to get her brother off the hook and find the real culprit.
Meanwhile, she and Michael are struggling to find a home large enough for the couple and Meg is trying to nurse George, a buzzard with one wing back to health.
This installment may have been the funniest one yet. However, it was also the most in depth look we’ve had of Meg, who usually avoids deep analysis. In this story, she’s often pensive, but still maintains her wry wit and uncanny powers of observation.
The mystery is pretty zany, as is to be expected. It would seem the victim was up to his neck in office politics, both offices, as it so happens, and is threatening to share sensitive information. As such, the suspect list is a little complicated.
At the end of the day, Meg finds herself torn between two worlds. She makes a decisive choice, which is a relief, at least for now, but even I had to wonder if she should explore all her options. I am very much looking forward to the next installment and am quite intrigued by the way Meg’s character seems to be developing.
Overall, this is another highly entertaining installment in the series.
4 stars
March 16, 2024
Meg Langslow is back, this time working for her brother Rob’s startup company, the Mutant Wizards. The intrepid computer gamers are programming day and night trying to get their role-playing lawyer game ready for launch. There’s also a one-winged rescue buzzard in the reception area (because, of course.) They are sharing the space with a group of psychotherapists, who are none too pleased with their antics. One thing I love about this series is how with each book, the author takes Meg and puts her in a completely new, crazy setting. I never know what she’ll be doing, but it’s always hilarious. Someone in the company is murdered and the police have their eye on poor Rob, so it’s up to Meg to clear him by searching up other possible suspects. Hilarity ensues along the way. This is one of my favorite cozies. I love the characters and how birds (and the devilish little dog Spike) are incorporated into each one.
September 12, 2024
In this 4th book in the 'Meg Langslow' series, the blacksmith/amateur sleuth goes into action when her brother is accused of murder. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Once again there's trouble brewing in Caerphilly, Virginia. Rob Langslow feels something is amiss at his computer game company 'Mutant Wizards'. So he convinces his sister Meg Langslow - blacksmith and amateur sleuth - to sign on as temporary receptionist, hoping she can uncover the problem. Sure enough, Ted - the office practical joker/pain in the neck - is soon murdered as he rides around on the automated mail cart.
The Chief of Police, who pays minimal attention to evidence, arrests Rob for the murder. So Meg, convinced her brother is innocent, jumps into action to investigate. 'Mutant Wizards' employs a full array of oddball characters as well as sharing their premises with a group of psychotherapists, so there are plenty of suspects. Also on hand are Meg's dad, who enjoys a spot of sleuthing himself, and Meg's fiance Michael, who calls in his admonitions from an acting gig in California.
As Meg uncovers a variety of clues several possible motives present themselves. Did someone murder Ted to get his living quarters in housing-deprived Caerphilly? was Ted a blackmailer? was Ted involved in a harmful lawsuit? Meg has to find out.
The murderer is revealed in a finale that's mildly amusing but so drawn out that it becomes a bit tiresome.
This is an entertaining light mystery with fun characters, my favorites being George the one-winged Buzzard who eats microwaved mice, and Spike the bad tempered dog who bites anyone within reach.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
December 7, 2022
This may not be a fantasy world, but it's not the usual world that I live in either. Where else but in Caerphilly would you find an injured vulture kept as a company mascot with no one blinking an eye? But Meg Langslow gets on with things no matter how weird the surroundings, acting as if everything is just hunky-dory normal.
When we met Meg in the first book, she was organizing three family weddings because she was the only member of her family who seemed to be able to focus on anything long enough to see a project to the finish. Now she has been co-opted into being the office manager for her goofy brother's gaming company because he suspects nefarious goings on. Take Meg's large flakey family, add stereotypically eccentric computer programmers, then throw in a murder and you have this novel. There's a lot of silly behaviour which all the characters placidly accept. Each thing individually could pass for realistic (except the vulture) but the combination is a bit overwhelming.
These books feature a trope that is common in cozy mysteries: the Caerphilly police seem to be barely competent to investigate anything and Meg's random poking around in their case doesn't draw any censure. This is the aspect of cozies that annoys me the most. Small town police everywhere must grit their teeth with frustration when someone they know reads this genre.
Once again, I didn't have quite as much fun as I did when I read the first book. But I like Meg a great deal and I'm invested in her ongoing story now. Perhaps seeing a life much more chaotic than mine is comforting? The three ring circus that is her life continues to entertain.
When we met Meg in the first book, she was organizing three family weddings because she was the only member of her family who seemed to be able to focus on anything long enough to see a project to the finish. Now she has been co-opted into being the office manager for her goofy brother's gaming company because he suspects nefarious goings on. Take Meg's large flakey family, add stereotypically eccentric computer programmers, then throw in a murder and you have this novel. There's a lot of silly behaviour which all the characters placidly accept. Each thing individually could pass for realistic (except the vulture) but the combination is a bit overwhelming.
These books feature a trope that is common in cozy mysteries: the Caerphilly police seem to be barely competent to investigate anything and Meg's random poking around in their case doesn't draw any censure. This is the aspect of cozies that annoys me the most. Small town police everywhere must grit their teeth with frustration when someone they know reads this genre.
Once again, I didn't have quite as much fun as I did when I read the first book. But I like Meg a great deal and I'm invested in her ongoing story now. Perhaps seeing a life much more chaotic than mine is comforting? The three ring circus that is her life continues to entertain.
May 9, 2012
This was a reread of the laugh-out-loud funniest, and my favorite, of Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mystery series. In this one, Meg is temporarily filling in as receptionist at her brother's software company, Mutant Wizards, which is working on a new edition of the game "Lawyers From Hell." To complicate things, this wacky company has to share its office space with several psychotherapists, who are just as wacky.
The murder mystery starts when the office prankster, who likes to lie on top of the electronic mail cart pretending he's dying, is murdered for real, and it's up to Meg to find out whodunit, since the police chief has decided that her brother, Rob, is the prime suspect.
With pink teddy bears who spout affirmations, a one-winged buzzard who lives in the lobby, an assortment of dogs belonging to the techies, a biker type who has become a holistic veterinarian, and a wonderful variety of eccentric geeks and shrinks, not to mention Meg's mystery-obsessed dad, this makes for a lighthearted, fun read for anyone who enjoys humorous mysteries.
The murder mystery starts when the office prankster, who likes to lie on top of the electronic mail cart pretending he's dying, is murdered for real, and it's up to Meg to find out whodunit, since the police chief has decided that her brother, Rob, is the prime suspect.
With pink teddy bears who spout affirmations, a one-winged buzzard who lives in the lobby, an assortment of dogs belonging to the techies, a biker type who has become a holistic veterinarian, and a wonderful variety of eccentric geeks and shrinks, not to mention Meg's mystery-obsessed dad, this makes for a lighthearted, fun read for anyone who enjoys humorous mysteries.
March 23, 2025
Meg has moved to Caerphilly to be with Michael but housing prices are sky high and suitable houses are pretty much non-existent. They're cohabitating in a basement and Meg works out of a tiny studio. It's so small, she injured herself working and can't do her ironwork for awhile. Her brother Rob's video game "Lawyers From Hell" is doing so well there's a second version in the works but something seems not quite right to Rob and he begs Meg to come work in the office and see if she can figure it out. As switchboard operator Meg shares her space with a menagerie of animals including a one-winged buzzard, tech bros who behave like frat boys complete with a shadow copy of the game titled "Nude Lawyers From Hell" and a bro who rides around the office mail cart pretending to be dead. Add to that a bunch of cranky therapists, a crazed fan trying to sneak in, Dad's eagerness to consult on the spin-off game "Docs From Hell" and Mother's attempts to redecorate for Meg and Michael, Meg has her hands full. Michael is away working on a TV show in LA and would prefer Meg ditch the crazy and come stay with him. When the mail cart dude actually ends up dead and no one noticed, the police suspect Rob! Meg knows her little brother is clueless and wouldn't hurt a bug. She's concerned the police chief won't look at other suspects and is determined to locate information incriminating others. She'll be careful, after all, she knows self-defense and can handle any of the office bros. She's also determined to find out who made "Nude Lawyers from Hell" and put a stop to it. Can she figure all this out and keep her sanity? Or better yet, keep from getting killed?
This was the best of the series so far. It's more of a traditional cozy mystery with a lot of zany situations and screwball humor. For once the bird theme made sense, even though it didn't make sense to have a buzzard in the office, at least there was a tangible tie-in to the title. While I had my suspicions about the murderer, I only really suspected that person based on process of elimination. I did figure out who designed the shadow copy of the game when Meg noted it was witty and charming somehow. I was surprised by some of the things that happened though and the murderer's motivation for killing Ted. The technology is laughably dated. This book doesn't technically qualify as historical fiction but it is because of the antiquated technology. If you're not old enough to remember mice with cords, CD-Rom drives, huge desktop computers, backup hard drives, and zip drives, this book IS historical! I remember life before wifi- what DID we do without it? None of these people can work from home without their data and their data is stored on physical media in the office! There's no wifi, no Microsoft Teams and no clouds for working from home. Remember that? I'm old enough to remember all that and life before the cloud and barely remember life before the internet anymore. The mystery won't work if the author goes back and updated the technology. The murder is very much tied to the technology of the early 2000s. Young gaming enthusiasts will also be horrified at the lack of internet games, the non-existence of YouTube and famous gamers. Lawyers From Hell started off as a board game and the contrast between the antiquated board game version vs. the flashy computer version are discussed.
Fans of the series might be disappointed to learn the only recurring characters in this story are Meg, Michael, Dr. Langslow and Spike. Mother is mentioned and has a scene at the end but isn't a big part of the story. She mostly just interferes with Meg's life and gossips to provide information Meg can't get on her own. Meg is tough. She's able to hang with the bros because she's very masculine. As a blacksmith, most of her peers are male and she seems comfortable with men. Meg is tall, strong and knows self-defense so she thinks she can handle herself. I don't get any chemistry with Michael at all and wish she had dumped him. She should listen to Dr. Lorelei, even though the woman is a whack job and rude and gives bad advice half the time, she has the right IDEA. Meg may be the sane one in the family but I think that honor goes to her older sister. Meg seems to take delight in being thought of as a suspect, much like her dad, and she unleashes her inner Nancy Drew in spite of complaining how her dad thinks she's a real life Nancy Drew. She knows who she is and is confident and secure in her identity.
I think Meg enjoys the chaos of the office but I don't blame the temps for running away. I would! Meg keeps Spike in a crate under her desk. He's still cranky and belligerent when anyone tries to touch him or when he comes in contact with other animals. Michael's mother MAY be allergic to her BABY! Oh no! Will Meg and Michael get stuck with the little monster? There's a new vet on the scene who wants to help and I agree with him that behavior therapy is necessary. The human therapist needs to go to jail for animal cruelty for that stunt he pulled. You can't do that to a dog, especially a rescue! He has trauma and now he's separated from the only person who actually likes him, that's not good for his mental health. Poor Spike! These characters are obviously not dog people and I don't think the author is either. Katy the Wolfhound is the only animal who is very sweet and charming. The pregnant cat doesn't appreciate her cushy digs in the zany office with Meg. The buzzard known as George is not very cheerful or charming either. He emits noxious odors and strange noises, eats microwaved mice and is a bizarre office mascot. Meg has more chemistry with George than she does with her boyfriend, Michael.
George alone scares off the temps but the frat boy tech bros would run me out of there. Rob is clueless. He doesn't know the first thing about video games. He had one good idea and it's working out for him so he's determined to capitalize on it and create variations on the same thing. Sooner or later people are going to get bored. He's not at all business savvy and is just about aware he has competition and people trying to steal his ideas. Rob is not a manager and allows Meg to do all his work. When he has to fire someone, he punts that chore on to someone else, a surprising source. I can't believe Meg invested her own money in her brother's company! No way would I do that!
Tech bro Ted doesn't do any work around the office. No one is sure what he's supposed to be doing in the first place. He seems to think his job is the office practical jokester. He's a one trick pony. His joke is to ride around the mail cart all day pretending to be dead, complete with fake blood. When he actually DOES end up dead, no one actually notices right away. He was not, however, stabbed, which adds to the undetectable crime. Someone used a martial arts move to bring down Ted and then strangled him with a mouse cord. I don't feel sorry for him. The guy had it coming. He was so obnoxious! Not only was he rude and crude, Meg discovers evidence that he was a blackmailer as well! He seemed to be blackmailing the entire office staff, except Meg and maybe Rob who was clueless. I figured out which code name was Meg's. She didn't even realize she was on the list!
The tech bros are mostly a bunch of frat boys and a few women. Liz the lawyer is no nonsense. She deplores Ted's antics and it is her job to keep the company from being sued or getting into legal trouble. It's not her job to babysit the bros or feed the pets, hence Meg. Meg thinks Liz is her friend, they're bonded in sisterhood but I think Liz doesn't know how to be a friend. She's all book and brain and no heart. She doesn't seem to have a sense of humor or playful qualities. Not that I do or would be able to stand the frat/tech bros and would probably feel like murdering Ted myself. Unless Liz is cold blooded enough to kill someone for being an obnoxious twat, I don't think she was the murderer. Unless she has another motive... Could Ted have been blackmailing her about something? Luis is quiet and keeps to himself yet Ted had something on him that was worth blackmailing. Luis doesn't seem like a murderer. he's kind and helpful when Meg asks even though he helps under duress.
Which one is the Robin Hood Hacker? The guy is a hero to the masses but try telling that to the bank. He has hacking skills so he could be behind the nude game or worse! Maybe he hacked the system, copied Lawyers From Hell and is trying to sell it to their rivals to copy! Ted's blackmail list had a "Bodice Ripper" reference. Meg discovers someone is writing trashy romance novels under the name Anna Floyd. Since nothing comes up about the author online, Meg assumes it is a pseudonym. Which one of the programmers or therapists is secretly writing romance novels? I would guess Dr. Lorelei judging from her angry reaction when she caught Meg reading one. Anna Floyd's identity is very weird and a big surprise.
Meg has chemistry with Jack aka "The Hunk" or "The Same One." He's charming, polite, respectful of boundaries and very smart. I like him a lot and Meg does too. She's loyal to Michael who doesn't deserve it. Jack comes to her rescue when she's approached by Roger, a frat/tech bro who is too dumb and dysfunctional to know how to ask out a woman properly or take no for an answer. Roger also has secrets but are they worth murdering for? Now if Roger was killed, I don't think anyone would have been surprised.
It's Frankie's job to find a fix to the nude game problem but what if he doesn't want to find one? What if he's the creator and Ted was blackmailing him? Frankie is quick to blab corporate dirty laundry to the police and maybe he's trying to deflect attention away from himself. He seems too dim to be so aware of what he's doing though. Frankie thinks ROB is a genius! Yet, he might be pretending or he might think Rob is a genius for other reasons. Megs stumbles across his secret which isn't even worth blackmailing for. I don't know what Ted was thinking. Keisha, one of the other females at Mutant Wizards, enjoys gaming for the sake of gaming, whether it is a board game or video game. She's into it! She's more closely aligned with the tech bros than Meg and Meg hasn't quite bonded with Keisha.
What about the rabid fan who keeps making up dumb aliases to sneak into the office? She's weird and persistent. She's not too bright if she doesn't recognize Meg and realize Meg can see right through her pitiful attempts at disguises. Who is the man in leather and chains hanging around the office? He's a little scary. He turns out to be a surprise making Meg question her own assumptions about people. Then there's the disgruntled ex-employee making threats against the company. He's into guns but Ted wasn't killed with a gun and Meg would have seen him enter the building!
Chief Burke is a pretty basic cop. He doesn't think outside the box and doesn't know how to solve a murder. He's in over his head with this one and just wants a fast and easy way out. He does something sensible 2/3 of the way in to reveal a surprise I didn't see coming but he learned it from someone else. He's not very tech savvy himself and doesn't understand the whole video game thing.
The therapists in the office are quirky and dysfunctional too. They've been at odds with Mutant Wizards and won't vacate the office. Dr. Brown has created an affirmation bear, which doesn't quite work out the way he expected. You have to punch the thing in the stomach to get it to work. It's an obnoxious thing! Spike has the right idea dismembering it but of course the tech bros get ahold of it and turn it into Ted. SO mature of them! Dr. Lorelei is a couples' therapist. She's a militant feminist and she does have the right idea but she's touchy about subjects like romance novels and marriage. She tries to push her beliefs on Meg, who does agree with Dr. Lorelei to a certain extent but doesn't appreciate the lecture, especially as Dr. Lorelei doesn't let Meg explain. This woman is supposed to be a celebrity therapist but she sounds like a cheap phony to me. She's also supposed to be a marriage counselor but doesn't seem to be doing her job. Meg learns some surprising information and sees something she can't unsee that could be cause for blackmail. Did Dr. Lorelei kill Ted because he threatened to expose her hypocrisy? Another therapist has an anger management problem worse than Spike's. Spike probably has anxiety. I don't know what the human's problem is.
There are so many suspects! While I don't love this series, it's a good diversion from the news and keeps my brain sharp. I hope to read the next one soon.
This was the best of the series so far. It's more of a traditional cozy mystery with a lot of zany situations and screwball humor. For once the bird theme made sense, even though it didn't make sense to have a buzzard in the office, at least there was a tangible tie-in to the title. While I had my suspicions about the murderer, I only really suspected that person based on process of elimination. I did figure out who designed the shadow copy of the game when Meg noted it was witty and charming somehow. I was surprised by some of the things that happened though and the murderer's motivation for killing Ted. The technology is laughably dated. This book doesn't technically qualify as historical fiction but it is because of the antiquated technology. If you're not old enough to remember mice with cords, CD-Rom drives, huge desktop computers, backup hard drives, and zip drives, this book IS historical! I remember life before wifi- what DID we do without it? None of these people can work from home without their data and their data is stored on physical media in the office! There's no wifi, no Microsoft Teams and no clouds for working from home. Remember that? I'm old enough to remember all that and life before the cloud and barely remember life before the internet anymore. The mystery won't work if the author goes back and updated the technology. The murder is very much tied to the technology of the early 2000s. Young gaming enthusiasts will also be horrified at the lack of internet games, the non-existence of YouTube and famous gamers. Lawyers From Hell started off as a board game and the contrast between the antiquated board game version vs. the flashy computer version are discussed.
Fans of the series might be disappointed to learn the only recurring characters in this story are Meg, Michael, Dr. Langslow and Spike. Mother is mentioned and has a scene at the end but isn't a big part of the story. She mostly just interferes with Meg's life and gossips to provide information Meg can't get on her own. Meg is tough. She's able to hang with the bros because she's very masculine. As a blacksmith, most of her peers are male and she seems comfortable with men. Meg is tall, strong and knows self-defense so she thinks she can handle herself. I don't get any chemistry with Michael at all and wish she had dumped him. She should listen to Dr. Lorelei, even though the woman is a whack job and rude and gives bad advice half the time, she has the right IDEA. Meg may be the sane one in the family but I think that honor goes to her older sister. Meg seems to take delight in being thought of as a suspect, much like her dad, and she unleashes her inner Nancy Drew in spite of complaining how her dad thinks she's a real life Nancy Drew. She knows who she is and is confident and secure in her identity.
I think Meg enjoys the chaos of the office but I don't blame the temps for running away. I would! Meg keeps Spike in a crate under her desk. He's still cranky and belligerent when anyone tries to touch him or when he comes in contact with other animals. Michael's mother MAY be allergic to her BABY! Oh no! Will Meg and Michael get stuck with the little monster? There's a new vet on the scene who wants to help and I agree with him that behavior therapy is necessary. The human therapist needs to go to jail for animal cruelty for that stunt he pulled. You can't do that to a dog, especially a rescue! He has trauma and now he's separated from the only person who actually likes him, that's not good for his mental health. Poor Spike! These characters are obviously not dog people and I don't think the author is either. Katy the Wolfhound is the only animal who is very sweet and charming. The pregnant cat doesn't appreciate her cushy digs in the zany office with Meg. The buzzard known as George is not very cheerful or charming either. He emits noxious odors and strange noises, eats microwaved mice and is a bizarre office mascot. Meg has more chemistry with George than she does with her boyfriend, Michael.
George alone scares off the temps but the frat boy tech bros would run me out of there. Rob is clueless. He doesn't know the first thing about video games. He had one good idea and it's working out for him so he's determined to capitalize on it and create variations on the same thing. Sooner or later people are going to get bored. He's not at all business savvy and is just about aware he has competition and people trying to steal his ideas. Rob is not a manager and allows Meg to do all his work. When he has to fire someone, he punts that chore on to someone else, a surprising source. I can't believe Meg invested her own money in her brother's company! No way would I do that!
Tech bro Ted doesn't do any work around the office. No one is sure what he's supposed to be doing in the first place. He seems to think his job is the office practical jokester. He's a one trick pony. His joke is to ride around the mail cart all day pretending to be dead, complete with fake blood. When he actually DOES end up dead, no one actually notices right away. He was not, however, stabbed, which adds to the undetectable crime. Someone used a martial arts move to bring down Ted and then strangled him with a mouse cord. I don't feel sorry for him. The guy had it coming. He was so obnoxious! Not only was he rude and crude, Meg discovers evidence that he was a blackmailer as well! He seemed to be blackmailing the entire office staff, except Meg and maybe Rob who was clueless. I figured out which code name was Meg's. She didn't even realize she was on the list!
The tech bros are mostly a bunch of frat boys and a few women. Liz the lawyer is no nonsense. She deplores Ted's antics and it is her job to keep the company from being sued or getting into legal trouble. It's not her job to babysit the bros or feed the pets, hence Meg. Meg thinks Liz is her friend, they're bonded in sisterhood but I think Liz doesn't know how to be a friend. She's all book and brain and no heart. She doesn't seem to have a sense of humor or playful qualities. Not that I do or would be able to stand the frat/tech bros and would probably feel like murdering Ted myself. Unless Liz is cold blooded enough to kill someone for being an obnoxious twat, I don't think she was the murderer. Unless she has another motive... Could Ted have been blackmailing her about something? Luis is quiet and keeps to himself yet Ted had something on him that was worth blackmailing. Luis doesn't seem like a murderer. he's kind and helpful when Meg asks even though he helps under duress.
Which one is the Robin Hood Hacker? The guy is a hero to the masses but try telling that to the bank. He has hacking skills so he could be behind the nude game or worse! Maybe he hacked the system, copied Lawyers From Hell and is trying to sell it to their rivals to copy! Ted's blackmail list had a "Bodice Ripper" reference. Meg discovers someone is writing trashy romance novels under the name Anna Floyd. Since nothing comes up about the author online, Meg assumes it is a pseudonym. Which one of the programmers or therapists is secretly writing romance novels? I would guess Dr. Lorelei judging from her angry reaction when she caught Meg reading one. Anna Floyd's identity is very weird and a big surprise.
Meg has chemistry with Jack aka "The Hunk" or "The Same One." He's charming, polite, respectful of boundaries and very smart. I like him a lot and Meg does too. She's loyal to Michael who doesn't deserve it. Jack comes to her rescue when she's approached by Roger, a frat/tech bro who is too dumb and dysfunctional to know how to ask out a woman properly or take no for an answer. Roger also has secrets but are they worth murdering for? Now if Roger was killed, I don't think anyone would have been surprised.
It's Frankie's job to find a fix to the nude game problem but what if he doesn't want to find one? What if he's the creator and Ted was blackmailing him? Frankie is quick to blab corporate dirty laundry to the police and maybe he's trying to deflect attention away from himself. He seems too dim to be so aware of what he's doing though. Frankie thinks ROB is a genius! Yet, he might be pretending or he might think Rob is a genius for other reasons. Megs stumbles across his secret which isn't even worth blackmailing for. I don't know what Ted was thinking. Keisha, one of the other females at Mutant Wizards, enjoys gaming for the sake of gaming, whether it is a board game or video game. She's into it! She's more closely aligned with the tech bros than Meg and Meg hasn't quite bonded with Keisha.
What about the rabid fan who keeps making up dumb aliases to sneak into the office? She's weird and persistent. She's not too bright if she doesn't recognize Meg and realize Meg can see right through her pitiful attempts at disguises. Who is the man in leather and chains hanging around the office? He's a little scary. He turns out to be a surprise making Meg question her own assumptions about people. Then there's the disgruntled ex-employee making threats against the company. He's into guns but Ted wasn't killed with a gun and Meg would have seen him enter the building!
Chief Burke is a pretty basic cop. He doesn't think outside the box and doesn't know how to solve a murder. He's in over his head with this one and just wants a fast and easy way out. He does something sensible 2/3 of the way in to reveal a surprise I didn't see coming but he learned it from someone else. He's not very tech savvy himself and doesn't understand the whole video game thing.
The therapists in the office are quirky and dysfunctional too. They've been at odds with Mutant Wizards and won't vacate the office. Dr. Brown has created an affirmation bear, which doesn't quite work out the way he expected. You have to punch the thing in the stomach to get it to work. It's an obnoxious thing! Spike has the right idea dismembering it but of course the tech bros get ahold of it and turn it into Ted. SO mature of them! Dr. Lorelei is a couples' therapist. She's a militant feminist and she does have the right idea but she's touchy about subjects like romance novels and marriage. She tries to push her beliefs on Meg, who does agree with Dr. Lorelei to a certain extent but doesn't appreciate the lecture, especially as Dr. Lorelei doesn't let Meg explain. This woman is supposed to be a celebrity therapist but she sounds like a cheap phony to me. She's also supposed to be a marriage counselor but doesn't seem to be doing her job. Meg learns some surprising information and sees something she can't unsee that could be cause for blackmail. Did Dr. Lorelei kill Ted because he threatened to expose her hypocrisy? Another therapist has an anger management problem worse than Spike's. Spike probably has anxiety. I don't know what the human's problem is.
There are so many suspects! While I don't love this series, it's a good diversion from the news and keeps my brain sharp. I hope to read the next one soon.
March 6, 2020
I had never read any of this series before...but hey...it had a buzzard, also known as a vulture, on the cover and I needed something on the cover that started with the letter "V"... that's right...for a challenge. I thought it might be funny...it's been my experience after 28 years in a zoo that vultures were often funny creatures...but unfortunately it was just ridiculous and Meg was just plain annoying. I'm more than likely a minority here but I think I'll skip any more of these.
January 19, 2018
As usual, very giggle-worthy. I have to say I almost like this series more for its cast of eccentric characters, than for the actual murders!
July 21, 2010
This is probably the funniest of an extremely whimsical series. I think it's because of the unique Andrews take on the interaction between semi-functional computer/role-playing geeks and some somewhat less functional therapists. This book is recommended to anyone who has ever: Worked at a software company --- been a therapist --- seen a therapist --- considered seeing a therapist --- played a role-playing game --- worked (or wished they'd worked) at a company with a "bring your pet to work" policy and an animal-rescue station on the campus --- hunted housing in a truly tight housing market --- become seriously bored while being paid to answer the phone (and done something about it). If like me, you have done all of these things, you're in for a truly special treat. Enjoy!
March 9, 2020
I enjoyed this humorous book in the Bird series! The main character's funny parents are back, as well as therapists & computer geeks!
August 15, 2020
This installment of the Meg Langslow series was a fun, breezy read. We get to venture out from Yorktown and see Meg in Caerphilly, Virginia. Based on the descriptions, this quaint little college town reminded me very much of Lexington, over in the Shenandoah Valley. Meg's boyfriend teaches at the college there, and Meg has recently moved in with him.
Throughout the action in this book, Meg's boyfriend is away for work over the summer and Meg is holding down the fort at her brother's gaming company, Mutant Wizards. The gamers are forced to share space with a group of psychotherapists, and the two camps do not always play well together. IN the midst of all this, the office practical joker turns up dead.
Figuring out who might have killed the unpleasant jokester mingles with some hilarious office politicking in this story. We also get more of a view into Meg's thinking and the reader gets to see her at a bit of a crossroads in life, so that gave the book a hint more depth than previous installments of the series.
This mystery is a light escape of a read, and I had enjoyed it. I have to admit that I would have liked to see Meg explore her "What ifs" in life a bit more, but this is still a fun book.
Throughout the action in this book, Meg's boyfriend is away for work over the summer and Meg is holding down the fort at her brother's gaming company, Mutant Wizards. The gamers are forced to share space with a group of psychotherapists, and the two camps do not always play well together. IN the midst of all this, the office practical joker turns up dead.
Figuring out who might have killed the unpleasant jokester mingles with some hilarious office politicking in this story. We also get more of a view into Meg's thinking and the reader gets to see her at a bit of a crossroads in life, so that gave the book a hint more depth than previous installments of the series.
This mystery is a light escape of a read, and I had enjoyed it. I have to admit that I would have liked to see Meg explore her "What ifs" in life a bit more, but this is still a fun book.
August 1, 2019
So far the series is getting a bit better in every book. In this installment Meg is temporarily helping her brother Rob with his new start-up company for his computer game Lawyers from Hell. Their father is hanging around though Michael is away acting in California. When the company jokester turns up dead everyone in the building is a suspect and Meg doesn't have a lot of faith in the local police chief to not just pick the easy target - her brother. So of course she starts snooping around.
I thought this was a bit better than the previous book because I never had any trouble keeping the many new characters separate. The way they were introduced and reinforced made it easy to always remember who was who. I was pretty sure I knew who dunnit, but I may have read this one before and just remembered; there were still plenty of viable candidates to keep the reader guessing. So far this series is a cut above the average cozy, with interesting and creative settings, motives and characters for me to enjoy.
NB - This is a series that you could jump into at any point, I think. Of course it's always nice to read the books in order and keep up with the characters evolving lives, but if one particular book sounds better it should be just fine to jump in there.
I thought this was a bit better than the previous book because I never had any trouble keeping the many new characters separate. The way they were introduced and reinforced made it easy to always remember who was who. I was pretty sure I knew who dunnit, but I may have read this one before and just remembered; there were still plenty of viable candidates to keep the reader guessing. So far this series is a cut above the average cozy, with interesting and creative settings, motives and characters for me to enjoy.
NB - This is a series that you could jump into at any point, I think. Of course it's always nice to read the books in order and keep up with the characters evolving lives, but if one particular book sounds better it should be just fine to jump in there.
January 25, 2025
Fourth time listening to these book and it's definitely one of my favourites. So laugh-out-loud funny! I adore Meg Langslow!!!
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Second time around with this zany, laugh-out-loud cozy mystery. I love the dry humour and narrator Bernadette Dunne's deadpan delivery. Super excited because this is the first book set in Caerphilly A solid mystery that was fun to revisit though I was so busy fangirling over fave secondary characters debut appearances (Chief Burke, Doc, the veterinarian) and all the ludicrous shenanigans going on that I'm hard pressed to say what aspect of this cozy mystery I liked best. Gave Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon four stars first read but I've upped it to five stars this time round.
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Second time around with this zany, laugh-out-loud cozy mystery. I love the dry humour and narrator Bernadette Dunne's deadpan delivery. Super excited because this is the first book set in Caerphilly A solid mystery that was fun to revisit though I was so busy fangirling over fave secondary characters debut appearances (Chief Burke, Doc, the veterinarian) and all the ludicrous shenanigans going on that I'm hard pressed to say what aspect of this cozy mystery I liked best. Gave Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon four stars first read but I've upped it to five stars this time round.
July 16, 2013
Lots of fun, I could fit right in with Meg's family! There's buzzards and gamers and lawyers and a murderer of course! There are therapists and karate styles and more! Sit back and enjoy the craziness.
January 6, 2023
Fourth in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series revolving around a blacksmith who is an amateur sleuth. The focus is on the mystery at Mutant Wizards.
My Take
Okay, the start was different with an injured Meg answering phones for the building that includes therapists and Mutant Wizards.
It's the Mutant Wizards start that is fully supported by the extended Hollingsworth family, and Michael's contacts have helped. And it's one of the reasons I adore the Meg Langslow series — she has the most supportive and involved family! Including the many Hollingsworth lawyers who come in so handy.
Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg's perspective, so we learn all about that "kata" Meg teaches Rob. Crouching Buzzard is a crack-up. Purse fu?
Caerphilly's tight housing market is a recurring theme in the series. It also explains that odd blend of computer programmers and therapists. Therapists who don't have any boundaries. Therapists with . . . secrets. Especially the hypocritical, married Valkyrie who exclaims against romance when she's life-partnered with a closet romantic.
Oh, lol, I adored those paragraphs about Spike and the Affirmation Bear!
Meg is renowned for her organizing ability, and Rob takes excellent advantage of her "hobby". He also takes advantage of her diplomacy. Nor is Meg visually dead, for she does appreciate Jack "the Hunk", a.k.a. "the Sane One".
The company does sound like fun, I mean, Mutant Wizards? It cracks me up that the company counsel doesn't like the name. I do like that animals are welcomed.
It's that interaction between the programmers and the police that results in Meg admiring the older techies' "stubborn, independent iconoclasts with a sneaking fondness for anarchy, entropy, and coloring way outside the lines".
As for the investigation of those porn sites . . . it was too funny that the investigators prefer the historical romance movies where the heroine taking off a glove was more moving that the pictures.
Ya can't help liking the klutzy Rob. He may be feckless and immature with his "odd" enjoyments, yet he's also a good egg who mostly understands his area of expertise. What a job, lol! Nor does he seem to have an ego. Hmmm, Rob admits to there being a bunch of pictures of him in the nude. I can't wait until Chief Burke realizes that Rob is not a martial arts expert, lol.
I do wish Andrews would decide on one version of Hollingworth/Hollingsworth.
I never did understand the "need" for people to eulogize someone who dies. If they were unlikable in life, what makes them likable in death?
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon is a combination of characters and actions with a fun blend of both with a sweet ending that'll make you grin.
The Story
Poor Meg Langslow. She's blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She's a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg's road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair.
There are Michael's and Meg's doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there's the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing — which is why she's tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother's computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing — who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave — and Michael's mother's nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices.
In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he's become the victim of someone who wasn't joking at all. He's been murdered for real.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith, a.k.a. Judge Hammer, can't resist a murder. Professor Michael Waterston is employed at Caerphilly College in Caerphilly, teaching drama. On his summer breaks, he acts in a cheesy series as Mephisto the sorcerer, and that's what he's doing now, acting in LA. Spike is his mother's eight-pound Small Evil One — a canine shaped demon. The Cave is Michael's tiny basement apartment — it's hard having a relationship when they live two hours apart.
Dad, Dr James Langslow, a semi-retired general practitioner, loves talking about medicine and reading mysteries. He's also having a ball discussing details for a new game: "Doctors From Hell". Mother, Margaret Hollingsworth Langslow, is quite the classy lady with a penchant for decorating. She has some grand ideas for Michael's tiny apartment *more laughter*. Mother is also chairman of the board. Aunt Cecily.
Dahlia Waterston is Michael's mother and owns half of Be-Stitched in Yorktown ( Murder with Peacocks , 1, and Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos , 3).
Caerphilly
Chief Burke is the African-American chief of police and sheriff of the county. Officers include Danny and Sammy. The College Diner is a 24/7 diner. Clarence Rutledge, a.k.a. Doc, is a scruffy looking motorcyclist who's a vegetarian holistic veterinarian, who plans to specialize in behavioral therapy — look out, Spike! He used to be an animal-rights militant. Not Spike. Dr Rutledge.
Mutant Wizards is . . .
. . . Rob Langslow's, Meg's younger brother, new computer gaming company with "Lawyers From Hell", a role-playing game, as the kick-off. Programmers include Ted Corrigan; the over-eager Frankie, a.k.a. the Luddite, who is a programming warlock; Roger is the sys admin; Jack Ransom is one of the team leaders with a black belt in karate and jujitsu; Luis is a senior software guru; Keisha, who is one of the few women and a cyber goddess; and, Rico, a graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design, is one of the graphic designers. Darlene is the one-person Personnel department. Elizabeth "Liz" Mitchell is the company's lawyer, a cutthroat negotiator. Muriel is one of a long line of reluctant temp receptionists.
George is the one-winged office buzzard. Katy, a.k.a. Cathleen Ni Houihan, is a big Irish wolfhound who belongs to Rico. Keisha owns the two St Bernards. There're also a collie, a German shepherd, a Norwegian elkhound, and a keeshond.
The fired Eugene Mason is a Unix Crusader and gun enthusiast with a penchant for making threatening phone calls.
The six therapists who . . .
. . . share the building and its receptionist include Dr Brown with her new invention, the Affirmation Bear; she does anger management — despite her feud with an assertiveness therapist. I'm not even going to spoil all the pranks the programmers play with the bears, lol. Dr Lorelei Gruber also has a radio show, Lorelei Listens. She's going national in September. Seems she also has credibility problems. Randall is one of Lorelei's patients. Dr Glass is Lorelei's life partner. Another therapist operates Eat Your Way Skinny while another is the size acceptance guru.
Anna Floyd, a.k.a. Rosenkavalier, is a romance writer. The invading woman is a spy, a.k.a. Mata Hari, (and the vice-president) who works for The Four Gamers of the Apocalypse, Mutant Wizards' biggest and most hated competitor. Savage and Associates are divorce attorneys. The Whispering Pines Cabins had been a hot-sheets motel; now it's home for many of the programmers. It's that danged housing shortage! Except for Ted, who snagged a house that had been owned by Mrs Edwina Sprocket.
The blackmail victims include the Iron Maiden, the Valkyrie, Professor Higgins, the Ninja, and the Robin Hood Hacker.
The TV series
Walker, an actor buddy of Michael's, explains virtual dating.
The Cover and Title
The cover's background is a watery blue with the brown, hunching buzzard perched atop a floating computer monitor and a black-and-white loon in the back leaping for joy. At the very top is a purple info blurb with the author's name below it in an embossed white with black outlining. Below the brown buzzard with the red head is an orange rectangle outlined in gold and black with the title and series info in either a pale gold or white.
The title is too apt, for there is the real buzzard and all those leaping loons in the parking lot. If you need a laugh, read Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon.
My Take
Okay, the start was different with an injured Meg answering phones for the building that includes therapists and Mutant Wizards.
It's the Mutant Wizards start that is fully supported by the extended Hollingsworth family, and Michael's contacts have helped. And it's one of the reasons I adore the Meg Langslow series — she has the most supportive and involved family! Including the many Hollingsworth lawyers who come in so handy.
Andrews uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Meg's perspective, so we learn all about that "kata" Meg teaches Rob. Crouching Buzzard is a crack-up. Purse fu?
Caerphilly's tight housing market is a recurring theme in the series. It also explains that odd blend of computer programmers and therapists. Therapists who don't have any boundaries. Therapists with . . . secrets. Especially the hypocritical, married Valkyrie who exclaims against romance when she's life-partnered with a closet romantic.
Oh, lol, I adored those paragraphs about Spike and the Affirmation Bear!
Meg is renowned for her organizing ability, and Rob takes excellent advantage of her "hobby". He also takes advantage of her diplomacy. Nor is Meg visually dead, for she does appreciate Jack "the Hunk", a.k.a. "the Sane One".
The company does sound like fun, I mean, Mutant Wizards? It cracks me up that the company counsel doesn't like the name. I do like that animals are welcomed.
It's that interaction between the programmers and the police that results in Meg admiring the older techies' "stubborn, independent iconoclasts with a sneaking fondness for anarchy, entropy, and coloring way outside the lines".
As for the investigation of those porn sites . . . it was too funny that the investigators prefer the historical romance movies where the heroine taking off a glove was more moving that the pictures.
Ya can't help liking the klutzy Rob. He may be feckless and immature with his "odd" enjoyments, yet he's also a good egg who mostly understands his area of expertise. What a job, lol! Nor does he seem to have an ego. Hmmm, Rob admits to there being a bunch of pictures of him in the nude. I can't wait until Chief Burke realizes that Rob is not a martial arts expert, lol.
"Everyone always talks about how great Rob is at thinking outside the box . . . I don't suppose they realize that he hasn't the foggiest idea where the box is."I do have to wonder about all the game variations they've come up with. They all seem to be pretty much the same, simply focusing on different careers. I do like where the programmers were going with Mutant Vets From Hell as a teaching tool, lol.
I do wish Andrews would decide on one version of Hollingworth/Hollingsworth.
I never did understand the "need" for people to eulogize someone who dies. If they were unlikable in life, what makes them likable in death?
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon is a combination of characters and actions with a fun blend of both with a sweet ending that'll make you grin.
The Story
Poor Meg Langslow. She's blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She's a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg's road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair.
There are Michael's and Meg's doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there's the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing — which is why she's tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother's computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing — who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave — and Michael's mother's nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices.
In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he's become the victim of someone who wasn't joking at all. He's been murdered for real.
The Characters
Meg Langslow, a blacksmith, a.k.a. Judge Hammer, can't resist a murder. Professor Michael Waterston is employed at Caerphilly College in Caerphilly, teaching drama. On his summer breaks, he acts in a cheesy series as Mephisto the sorcerer, and that's what he's doing now, acting in LA. Spike is his mother's eight-pound Small Evil One — a canine shaped demon. The Cave is Michael's tiny basement apartment — it's hard having a relationship when they live two hours apart.
Dad, Dr James Langslow, a semi-retired general practitioner, loves talking about medicine and reading mysteries. He's also having a ball discussing details for a new game: "Doctors From Hell". Mother, Margaret Hollingsworth Langslow, is quite the classy lady with a penchant for decorating. She has some grand ideas for Michael's tiny apartment *more laughter*. Mother is also chairman of the board. Aunt Cecily.
Dahlia Waterston is Michael's mother and owns half of Be-Stitched in Yorktown ( Murder with Peacocks , 1, and Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos , 3).
Caerphilly
Chief Burke is the African-American chief of police and sheriff of the county. Officers include Danny and Sammy. The College Diner is a 24/7 diner. Clarence Rutledge, a.k.a. Doc, is a scruffy looking motorcyclist who's a vegetarian holistic veterinarian, who plans to specialize in behavioral therapy — look out, Spike! He used to be an animal-rights militant. Not Spike. Dr Rutledge.
Mutant Wizards is . . .
. . . Rob Langslow's, Meg's younger brother, new computer gaming company with "Lawyers From Hell", a role-playing game, as the kick-off. Programmers include Ted Corrigan; the over-eager Frankie, a.k.a. the Luddite, who is a programming warlock; Roger is the sys admin; Jack Ransom is one of the team leaders with a black belt in karate and jujitsu; Luis is a senior software guru; Keisha, who is one of the few women and a cyber goddess; and, Rico, a graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design, is one of the graphic designers. Darlene is the one-person Personnel department. Elizabeth "Liz" Mitchell is the company's lawyer, a cutthroat negotiator. Muriel is one of a long line of reluctant temp receptionists.
George is the one-winged office buzzard. Katy, a.k.a. Cathleen Ni Houihan, is a big Irish wolfhound who belongs to Rico. Keisha owns the two St Bernards. There're also a collie, a German shepherd, a Norwegian elkhound, and a keeshond.
The fired Eugene Mason is a Unix Crusader and gun enthusiast with a penchant for making threatening phone calls.
The six therapists who . . .
. . . share the building and its receptionist include Dr Brown with her new invention, the Affirmation Bear; she does anger management — despite her feud with an assertiveness therapist. I'm not even going to spoil all the pranks the programmers play with the bears, lol. Dr Lorelei Gruber also has a radio show, Lorelei Listens. She's going national in September. Seems she also has credibility problems. Randall is one of Lorelei's patients. Dr Glass is Lorelei's life partner. Another therapist operates Eat Your Way Skinny while another is the size acceptance guru.
Anna Floyd, a.k.a. Rosenkavalier, is a romance writer. The invading woman is a spy, a.k.a. Mata Hari, (and the vice-president) who works for The Four Gamers of the Apocalypse, Mutant Wizards' biggest and most hated competitor. Savage and Associates are divorce attorneys. The Whispering Pines Cabins had been a hot-sheets motel; now it's home for many of the programmers. It's that danged housing shortage! Except for Ted, who snagged a house that had been owned by Mrs Edwina Sprocket.
The blackmail victims include the Iron Maiden, the Valkyrie, Professor Higgins, the Ninja, and the Robin Hood Hacker.
The TV series
Walker, an actor buddy of Michael's, explains virtual dating.
The Cover and Title
The cover's background is a watery blue with the brown, hunching buzzard perched atop a floating computer monitor and a black-and-white loon in the back leaping for joy. At the very top is a purple info blurb with the author's name below it in an embossed white with black outlining. Below the brown buzzard with the red head is an orange rectangle outlined in gold and black with the title and series info in either a pale gold or white.
The title is too apt, for there is the real buzzard and all those leaping loons in the parking lot. If you need a laugh, read Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon.
November 3, 2018
A buzzard is an odd pet for an office staff unless they are the computer programmers at Mutant Wizards where they are hard at work on a new version of the computer game Lawyers from Hell. Meg Langslow is pitching in on the switchboard while an injury from her blacksmithing vocation has her sidelined. Sound calm and serene? Think again!
The staff has just moved into space they share with six psychotherapists who are not used to guarding the door against rabid fans and spies from rival companies. Security becomes a greater issue when an employee known for his practical jokes is found dead on the automated mail cart that follows an invisible track around the office. Ted was strangled with a mouse cord in a move that resembles “purse fu” that Meg taught the staff from her martial arts defense class. However, police seem to think Meg’s brother Rob, the owner of Mutant Wizards, is the most suspicious when they find a blackmail note in his in-box.
Bouncing ideas off her boyfriend Michael who is currently acting in Hollywood, Meg visits Ted’s home and finds a secret stash of an odd collection of items that includes a list of code names that Meg suspects are all blackmail victims. She begins to decipher just who is who on this list from names such as the Voyeur, the Hacker, the Ninja, Mata Hari, and the Iron Maiden. As she figures out secret identities and night-time antics, Meg pieces together just who had it in for Ted.
This is another delightful entry in the Meg Langslow series. There's no need to read the earlier entries to enjoy the hilarity of this one; but the clarification of just how eccentric Meg’s family really is from those earlier tales would not dull your enjoyment of this installment in the Langslow history.
I have enjoyed all the entries in this series, but I found this one more advanced in its writing. The story is just as loony and madcap as ever, but the biting sarcasm is gone that previously rubbed me the wrong way. There is no endless speculation ad nauseum to move the plot along. Sure the characters are just as quirky but a bit more believable and likable. Who doesn’t have a mother with decorating tips and is into gossip? Well, maybe not as deeply as the Langslow clan who can figure out who the biker dude searching for the pregnant cat under a car in the dark parking lot at midnight is. Meg’s dad, the doctor who adores mystery novels, is in his element and tags along with the medical examiner. Rob is his usual lovable and trusting self. And I got a good chuckle over the pink teddy bears who spout affirmations and the changes the programmers made in the numerous bears around the office.
Meg, well, if she can’t find a temp to take on this challenged office, she might be stuck there forever. Let’s hope not. Her misadventures are too much fun to miss.
The staff has just moved into space they share with six psychotherapists who are not used to guarding the door against rabid fans and spies from rival companies. Security becomes a greater issue when an employee known for his practical jokes is found dead on the automated mail cart that follows an invisible track around the office. Ted was strangled with a mouse cord in a move that resembles “purse fu” that Meg taught the staff from her martial arts defense class. However, police seem to think Meg’s brother Rob, the owner of Mutant Wizards, is the most suspicious when they find a blackmail note in his in-box.
Bouncing ideas off her boyfriend Michael who is currently acting in Hollywood, Meg visits Ted’s home and finds a secret stash of an odd collection of items that includes a list of code names that Meg suspects are all blackmail victims. She begins to decipher just who is who on this list from names such as the Voyeur, the Hacker, the Ninja, Mata Hari, and the Iron Maiden. As she figures out secret identities and night-time antics, Meg pieces together just who had it in for Ted.
This is another delightful entry in the Meg Langslow series. There's no need to read the earlier entries to enjoy the hilarity of this one; but the clarification of just how eccentric Meg’s family really is from those earlier tales would not dull your enjoyment of this installment in the Langslow history.
I have enjoyed all the entries in this series, but I found this one more advanced in its writing. The story is just as loony and madcap as ever, but the biting sarcasm is gone that previously rubbed me the wrong way. There is no endless speculation ad nauseum to move the plot along. Sure the characters are just as quirky but a bit more believable and likable. Who doesn’t have a mother with decorating tips and is into gossip? Well, maybe not as deeply as the Langslow clan who can figure out who the biker dude searching for the pregnant cat under a car in the dark parking lot at midnight is. Meg’s dad, the doctor who adores mystery novels, is in his element and tags along with the medical examiner. Rob is his usual lovable and trusting self. And I got a good chuckle over the pink teddy bears who spout affirmations and the changes the programmers made in the numerous bears around the office.
Meg, well, if she can’t find a temp to take on this challenged office, she might be stuck there forever. Let’s hope not. Her misadventures are too much fun to miss.
October 15, 2023
With apologies to the author and narrator, but this was the most boring book I’ve ever listened to. I kept spacing out or dozing off. Finally gave up at 86%. I had
no incentive to even finish the book. I really enjoyed the previous books and was looking forward to this one.
no incentive to even finish the book. I really enjoyed the previous books and was looking forward to this one.
April 26, 2020
After sustaining a blacksmith related injury, Meg works as a switchboard receptionist at her brother Rob's computer gaming company, Mutant Wizards. In addition to answering calls, keeping frenzied fans away, and caring for the one-winged buzzard that sits in the reception area, Meg is also supposed to investigate "something fishy" going on in the office. The "something fishy" ends up being the murder of the office practical joker, Ted. Who was strangled and left to ride around the automated office mail cart until his body was discovered.
Despite the victim being an employee and the murder taking place in the office, none of the surviving employees suspect their coworkers could be the murderer or that they could be killed next. Having formerly close-knit co-workers accuse one another of murder or fear they could be murdered next, would have been a great way to infuse humor. Instead, the humor comes from sight gags from the supporting cast of overbearing in-laws, intrusive therapists, and overly passionate animal rights activists.
Meg learns through her investigation, that everyone at Mutant Wizards had a motive to kill Ted. Despite the large pool of suspects, Meg has no problems going out to pizza and flirting with her possibly murderous coworkers. The investigating police are utterly incompetent. They jump to wild conclusions and don't even secure important locations, like the victim's home. Allowing Meg and half the staff of Mutant Wizard to snoop uninterrupted. Well except for that falling moose head. Thank goodness the killer- for no real reason at all- confesses to the murder, because neither Meg nor the police would have solved the murder otherwise.
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon definitely has all the loony-ness it's title suggest. Unfortunately, it's silliness sucked any tension or sense right out of the mystery
https://singlecatladyreads.com/crouch...
Despite the victim being an employee and the murder taking place in the office, none of the surviving employees suspect their coworkers could be the murderer or that they could be killed next. Having formerly close-knit co-workers accuse one another of murder or fear they could be murdered next, would have been a great way to infuse humor. Instead, the humor comes from sight gags from the supporting cast of overbearing in-laws, intrusive therapists, and overly passionate animal rights activists.
Meg learns through her investigation, that everyone at Mutant Wizards had a motive to kill Ted. Despite the large pool of suspects, Meg has no problems going out to pizza and flirting with her possibly murderous coworkers. The investigating police are utterly incompetent. They jump to wild conclusions and don't even secure important locations, like the victim's home. Allowing Meg and half the staff of Mutant Wizard to snoop uninterrupted. Well except for that falling moose head. Thank goodness the killer- for no real reason at all- confesses to the murder, because neither Meg nor the police would have solved the murder otherwise.
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon definitely has all the loony-ness it's title suggest. Unfortunately, it's silliness sucked any tension or sense right out of the mystery
https://singlecatladyreads.com/crouch...
April 11, 2017
4.5 stars. While it still doesn't reach the 10/10 would recommend status of Murder with Peacocks, this is a solid and very entertaining addition to the Meg Langslow series. The mystery is sufficiently twisty and turny to keep the reader guessing until the end, and there's a fabulous cast of new characters, most of whom work at Mutant Wizards, developing Rob's Lawyers from Hell into a computer game.
While it did feel a little repetitive at times - Meg goes to work, Meg deals with stupid questions, Meg calls the temp agency and begs them to send someone to cover the switchboard, Meg deals with unwanted advances from guys in the office and wishes Michael wasn't in Los Angeles, Meg waits until late at night and goes back to the office to snoop - there were so many fun moments and encounters that I didn't really care.
While it did feel a little repetitive at times - Meg goes to work, Meg deals with stupid questions, Meg calls the temp agency and begs them to send someone to cover the switchboard, Meg deals with unwanted advances from guys in the office and wishes Michael wasn't in Los Angeles, Meg waits until late at night and goes back to the office to snoop - there were so many fun moments and encounters that I didn't really care.
June 25, 2017
A good entry in the series. This book isn't set around Meg's blacksmithing. She's working at her brother's software company looking after the switchboard and looking into odd things happening around the office.
Odd things like the office practical joker riding around on the autonomous mail cart, moving through the office several times before anyone realizes he's actually dead and not just faking it. The office isn't short of suspects, but Meg's brother is quickly arrested. The usual happens - she investigates, mayhem happens and crimes are solved. This series has so much humour in it. It's a fun read.
Odd things like the office practical joker riding around on the autonomous mail cart, moving through the office several times before anyone realizes he's actually dead and not just faking it. The office isn't short of suspects, but Meg's brother is quickly arrested. The usual happens - she investigates, mayhem happens and crimes are solved. This series has so much humour in it. It's a fun read.
August 20, 2009
ok cute funny.
Andrews's fourth wacky bird-themed mystery (Murder with Peacocks, etc.), Meg Langslow, a temporary switchboard operator at her brother Rob's computer-game company, Mutant Wizards, must find the real killer when Rob, who made his fortune from a game called Lawyers from Hell, is accused of strangling the office pest to death with a computer mouse cable. The office boasts a menagerie of remarkable pets, notably George, a buzzard with only one wing who has a perch by Meg's desk.
Andrews's fourth wacky bird-themed mystery (Murder with Peacocks, etc.), Meg Langslow, a temporary switchboard operator at her brother Rob's computer-game company, Mutant Wizards, must find the real killer when Rob, who made his fortune from a game called Lawyers from Hell, is accused of strangling the office pest to death with a computer mouse cable. The office boasts a menagerie of remarkable pets, notably George, a buzzard with only one wing who has a perch by Meg's desk.
June 12, 2019
3.5 stars
The central elements of the 4th installment of the Meg Langslow series are solid. Meg, her parents, Rob, Michael, and Spike are there, being their quirky, comedic selves. The setting and plot of the mystery however are less stellar than the previous book. There are quite a few new characters, too many, in fact. and the number of red herrings makes the execution feel scattered and chaotic in places. It’s still a fun read. On to #5.
The central elements of the 4th installment of the Meg Langslow series are solid. Meg, her parents, Rob, Michael, and Spike are there, being their quirky, comedic selves. The setting and plot of the mystery however are less stellar than the previous book. There are quite a few new characters, too many, in fact. and the number of red herrings makes the execution feel scattered and chaotic in places. It’s still a fun read. On to #5.
November 2, 2020
I really like this series! Meg is a lot of fun and the situations she finds herself in are hysterical. It's funny how she never seems to get to do her black smithing work. This time she is helping out Rob at his video game company (that office has just as much going on at night as it does during business hours). I love how her family is always involved and they are funny characters as well. Looking forward to reading more in the series. #readforkimberly
July 20, 2010
Despite the author's attempts to strengthen the female protagonist with martial arts training and a sarcastic tongue, she still comes off as the stereotypical horror movie heroine, blindly walking into ridiculous situations. The premise was mildly amusing, but overall the book was not worth reading!
August 27, 2023
2021: This was a re-read. The entire series is a keeper to be enjoyed in more than one read. The hyper-organized Meg Lanslow, a blacksmith by trade, and her always close, interfering family land with both feet in another death. Always enjoyable.
2023: See above.
2023: See above.
July 15, 2018
I liked this installment better than others in the series. I enjoyed the kookiness of the Mutant Wizards office and thought it added a much needed comic element to this series. A good mystery with lots of red herrings and honestly I didn't figure this one out.
November 1, 2019
Wegen einer Handverletzung zeitweise in ihrem eigentlichen Job arbeitsunfähig, hat sich Meg überreden lassen, bei ihrem Bruder Rob - seines Zeichens Entwickler eines erfolgreichen Computerspiels und inzwischen Chef einer kleinen Firma - die Telefonzentrale zu betreuen. Verkompliziert wird diese Aufgabe dadurch, dass im gleichen Gebäude auch noch eine Psychotherapiepraxis ansässig ist und sich die Therapeuten und die Softwareentwickler nicht unbedingt grün sind, sowie durch die Anwesenheit diverser Vierbeiner und eines einflügeligen Bussards namens George.
Eines Tages liegt der Büroscherzkeks Ted säuberlich hindrapiert auf dem automatischen Büropostwagen. Auf den ersten Blick kein Grund zur Sorge, spielt er doch gerne mal mit Hilfe diverser Requisiten das Mordopfer ... doch diesmal ist es wirklich ernst: Ted wurde offenbar niedergeschlagen und dann mit einem Mauskabel erwürgt.
Eins ist klar, Teds Mörder muss unter den Mitarbeitern zu suchen sein, denn die Tat ist mitten im alltäglichen Bürowahnsinn geschehen. Die örtliche Polizei ist einigermaßen ratlos, und Meg beginnt wieder einmal auf eigene Faust und mit ihren ureigenen Methoden zu ermitteln.
Dabei kommt wie schon in den Vorgängerbänden einiges an Chaos heraus, an dem unter anderem der wohlbekannte giftige kleine Köter Spike, Bussard George, Megs unverbesserlicher Vater und ein rätselhafter Bikertyp beteiligt sind.
Der Verlauf der Ermittlungen ist spannend und läuft auf ein unvermutetes Ende zu, aber der hauptsächliche Reiz liegt auch in diesem Buch wieder in Andrews' Talent für Komik. Schlagfertige Dialoge, Megs selbstironischer Erzähltonfall und ein Händchen für Running Gags sorgen für reichlich Spaß beim Lesen. Und, für mich bisher der allerbeste witzige Einfall in der Serie, ein Karton voller "Affirmation Bears" - Teddybären, die auf Knopfdruck Lebensweisheiten hervorsprudeln und das natürlich in den unmöglichsten Momenten tun.
Der Grat zwischen Komik und Klamauk ist schmal, aber Donna Andrews schafft die Balance wieder einmal bravourös und ich habe mich köstlich amüsiert.
Eines Tages liegt der Büroscherzkeks Ted säuberlich hindrapiert auf dem automatischen Büropostwagen. Auf den ersten Blick kein Grund zur Sorge, spielt er doch gerne mal mit Hilfe diverser Requisiten das Mordopfer ... doch diesmal ist es wirklich ernst: Ted wurde offenbar niedergeschlagen und dann mit einem Mauskabel erwürgt.
Eins ist klar, Teds Mörder muss unter den Mitarbeitern zu suchen sein, denn die Tat ist mitten im alltäglichen Bürowahnsinn geschehen. Die örtliche Polizei ist einigermaßen ratlos, und Meg beginnt wieder einmal auf eigene Faust und mit ihren ureigenen Methoden zu ermitteln.
Dabei kommt wie schon in den Vorgängerbänden einiges an Chaos heraus, an dem unter anderem der wohlbekannte giftige kleine Köter Spike, Bussard George, Megs unverbesserlicher Vater und ein rätselhafter Bikertyp beteiligt sind.
Der Verlauf der Ermittlungen ist spannend und läuft auf ein unvermutetes Ende zu, aber der hauptsächliche Reiz liegt auch in diesem Buch wieder in Andrews' Talent für Komik. Schlagfertige Dialoge, Megs selbstironischer Erzähltonfall und ein Händchen für Running Gags sorgen für reichlich Spaß beim Lesen. Und, für mich bisher der allerbeste witzige Einfall in der Serie, ein Karton voller "Affirmation Bears" - Teddybären, die auf Knopfdruck Lebensweisheiten hervorsprudeln und das natürlich in den unmöglichsten Momenten tun.
Der Grat zwischen Komik und Klamauk ist schmal, aber Donna Andrews schafft die Balance wieder einmal bravourös und ich habe mich köstlich amüsiert.
March 24, 2021
I continue to read through this series. Some stories have interesting plots and some-well.... This was one of those well?.....? Meg and her boyfriend Michael live in a one room apartment. Meg is working for her brother's start up gaming company to find out some issues. There is a murder of one of the workers who seems to be do nothing much but ride around on the mail truck that makes stop at various work stations.
This story has a plot line which is followed but it is just some parts of the story that I find a bit difficult to accept even if this is fiction. A one winged vulture kept in the reception room. It eats mice Meg warms up in the lunch room microwave oven and vomits if it gets frightened! Ew! And it appears that several of the game company programmers are living double or triple to a room in a local motel and are looking for better rentals yet there seems to be several that have dogs (some very large dogs like St. Bernard and Wolf hounds) that they bring to work with them. And Meg and Michael have his mother's dog so his mother can rule out allergies (she has had this dog for several years if I remember correctly. These oddities just distract the reader too much.
This story has a plot line which is followed but it is just some parts of the story that I find a bit difficult to accept even if this is fiction. A one winged vulture kept in the reception room. It eats mice Meg warms up in the lunch room microwave oven and vomits if it gets frightened! Ew! And it appears that several of the game company programmers are living double or triple to a room in a local motel and are looking for better rentals yet there seems to be several that have dogs (some very large dogs like St. Bernard and Wolf hounds) that they bring to work with them. And Meg and Michael have his mother's dog so his mother can rule out allergies (she has had this dog for several years if I remember correctly. These oddities just distract the reader too much.
November 9, 2023
Poor me. I read this the old fashioned Kindle e-book way. I didn't listen to the audio book, so it wasn't as much fun. However, I found a couple of Easter eggs I might have missed if I had listened instead of reading it. There are links to follow! They don't lead anywhere exciting, but it's cute in a primitive way.
Spoiler alert: The buzzard is alive! The leaping loon? Well, if you've read enough.of these Meg Lanslowe mysteries you know there is no shortage of loons.
Spoiler alert: The buzzard is alive! The leaping loon? Well, if you've read enough.of these Meg Lanslowe mysteries you know there is no shortage of loons.
May 23, 2025
Another mystery that stumped me, mostly because I was too focused on all the silly sidelines. Andrews has a talent for writing characters that you tend to fall in love with, like Meg or her Dad, and even when plots are completely crazy, it somehow makes sense for the Langslow clan.
Wish there had been a bit more effort put into Rob's character here since it was about his business/office. Overall though a decent cozy mystery read.
Wish there had been a bit more effort put into Rob's character here since it was about his business/office. Overall though a decent cozy mystery read.
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