Duck the Halls - (Meg Langslow Mysteries) by Donna Andrews (Paperback)

About the Book

Includes an excerpt from The nightingale before Christmas.

Book Synopsis

This time, Meg has got herself into a Holy mess!

"A yuletide funfest."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

In Duck the Halls, the brilliantly funny Donna Andrews delivers boughs of holly and barrels of laughs with Meg's latest adventure in her award-winning, New York Times bestselling series. A few nights before Christmas, Meg Langslow is awakened when volunteer fireman Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, where Mother insists the show must go on, despite the budget-related protests of Mr. Vess, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen. . .only to turn up later during the concert, slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens. The next morning is Sunday, and the congregation of St. Byblig's, the local Catholic church, arrives to find it completely filled with several hundred ducks.
"Extravagantly funny." --Publishers Weekly

It's clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Vess is found dead. Who would have murdered such a harmless--if slightly cranky--old man? Who has the time, during the busy holiday season, to herd all of these animals into the town's churches? And will Meg ever be able to finish all of her shopping, wrapping, cooking, caroling, and decorating in time for Christmas Eve?

"A quirky...humorous...holiday treat." --Booklist

Review Quotes

"Andrews leavens the action with her trademark humor, including dueling Christmas dinners and an extravagant--and extravagantly funny--live nativity scene." --Publishers Weekly

"Duck the Halls offers a wealth of yuletide yuks amid the Christmas carnage, and Andrews' faithful fans will flock to greet the birth of her latest funfest." --Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Meg, as well as her quirky extended family, makes this humorous cozy a holiday treat." --Booklist

About the Author

DONNA ANDREWS's debut novel, Murder with Peacocks, introduced the Meg Langslow series and won the Agatha, Anthony, and Barry Awards for best first novel, as well as a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for best first mystery. She has also received three Lefty Awards (Murder with Peacocks, We'll Always Have Parrots, The Real Macaw) and two Toby Bromberg awards for funniest mystery (Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon; Swan For the Money). She spends her free time gardening at her home in Reston, Virginia.