The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (Meg Langslow Series #8) » (Reprint)

Donna Andrews’s first mystery, Murder with Peacocks, won the Agatha, Anthony, and Barry Awards, a Romantic Times award for best first novel, and a Lefty for funniest mystery. She spends her free time gardening at her home in Reston, Virginia. Visit her Web site at www.donnaandrews.com.

MURDER IS NO HAPPY FEAT.

Meg Langslow never thought that moving into a new home with her fiancée would be easy. But a Virginia basement full of arctic penguins? And a dead body? That’s just bad manners…from Meg and Michael’s perspective, at least. As for Meg’s father, he took in the penguins as a favor to the bankrupt Caerphilly Zoo, where they’re set to return just as soon as the zoo’s fundraising efforts pay off. Problem is that the zoo-keeper himself has gone missing—and only the animals know the truth about his whereabouts. Now it’s up to Meg to find out more about her DOA houseguest…before the ice melts on this very cold case.

“Andrews always leavens the mayhem with laughs. So march yourself down to the bookstore or library and check out The Penguin Who Knew Too Much.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)

Publishers Weekly

In Agatha-winner Andrews's deliciously daffy eighth Meg Langslow mystery (after 2006's No Nest for the Wicket), blacksmith Meg and her fiancé, Michael, are at last moving into their new house in Caerphilly, Va., assisted (and occasionally hindered) by Meg's vast clan of maternal relations. Then Meg's dad announces that, while digging a pool in the new house's basement for penguins fostered from a bankrupt local zoo, he has discovered a dead body. As the police investigate, more fostered animals arrive at Meg's place, and when the zoo's missing owner turns out to be the corpse, Meg has to sort out the mystery, along with her plans to elope and the problems relating to various animals roaming around her property. As usual, Meg takes the familial eccentricities in stride while coping with one crisis after another. Andrews demonstrates her absolute mastery of the comedic mystery, deftly balancing outrageously funny scenes with well-paced suspense. Author tour. (Aug.)