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Donna Andrews
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Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Meg Langslow Mysteries) Paperback – February 16, 2004

by Donna Andrews (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 819 ratings
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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.

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Previous page
  1. Book 4 of 36
    Meg Langslow Mysteries
  2. Print length
    320 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Minotaur Books
  5. Publication date
    February 16, 2004
  6. Dimensions
    4.25 x 0.75 x 6.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0312990014
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0312990015
  9. See all details
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Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Editorial Reviews

Review

“There's a smile on every page.” ―Publisher's Weekly

“This may be the funniest installment of Andrews' wonderfully wacky series yet.” ―Romantic Times

From the Back Cover

Donna Andrews has won...
The Agatha
The Anthony
The Barry
The Malice Domestic Award
for...
Murder With Peacocks,
the first novel in her bird-themed mystery series

Now, more feathers are about to fly in. . .

Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

As a favor to her brother, Meg agrees to tend the switchboard at his computer game company Mutant Wizards. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing and her boyfriend's mother's nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space. 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 dying, before Meg realizes that he's become the victim of someone who wasn't joking at all. He's been murdered for real. Now Meg has to play out one dangerous scenario to find out who's guilty-before a cold-blooded murderer ends her game for keeps.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books; First Edition (February 16, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0312990014
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312990015
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 0.75 x 6.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 819 ratings

About the author

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Donna Andrews

Donna Andrews

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I've been writing since I learned to print, but didn't get published until Murder with Peacocks won the Malice Domestic/St. Martins Press Best First Traditional Mystery contest in spring 1998. Since then I've written six more comic mysteries books featuring ornamental blacksmith Meg Langslow: Murder with Puffins (2000), Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos (2001), Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (2003), We'll Always Have Parrots (2004), Owls Well That Ends Well (2005), and No Nest for the Wicket (August 2006). I've also started another series in with the sleuth, Turing Hopper, is an artificial intelligence personality living inside a corporate computer: You've Got Murder (2002), Click Here for Murder (2003), Access Denied (2004), and Delete All Suspects (2005).

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
819 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

S. Bannon
5.0 out of 5 stars One winged buzzard and murder
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2023
Verified Purchase
Having injured her hand and being unable to work at her blacksmithing, Meg is helping her brother Rob at his computer game company. He suspects something is going on but is not sure what it might be and he hopes his sister can discover what the problem is and, more importantly, fix it. As Meg mans the switchboard and deals with the chaos that comes from game developers on deadline sharing office space with psychotherapists who refuse move their offices elsewhere things take a turn when the office practical joker turns up dead and Rob is the police’s prime suspect.
Fewer of Meg’s family are involved in this mystery, only her dad and brother with a couple of brief scenes with her mother while boyfriend Michael is in California on an acting job. But even with less family around Meg is still the voice of sanity in a sea of eccentricity in her brother’s game company. Add in a one winged buzzard and attack dog Spike, murder, blackmail, corporate spying and house hunting and Meg has her hands full.
Again a quick and joyful read. Meg’s family is delightfully offbeat, the denunciation with the murderer had me laughing out loud. I am so enjoying reading through this series from the beginning again and learning all about Meg’s family all over again. Recommended
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Mark Baker - Carstairs Considers
5.0 out of 5 stars Rob Gets His Game Going - To Murder
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2003
Verified Purchase
Meg's brother Rob has been trying to make money off the role playing game he invented for years. He's finally formed Mutant Wizards and released it as a computer game, to great success. Now he's hard at work on the sequel in a new, larger office.
But something is going on just below the surface. Rob is worried, so he asks Meg to investigate. Since she's just hurt her hand and can't work as a blacksmith, she agrees. After two weeks, she's done nothing but fill in for the receptionist and help them move into the new office space they share with a group of therapists. But then Ted, the office practical joker, turns up dead on the mail cart. He was a pain, but he was harmless, right? When Rob is hauled off for the crime, Meg leaps into action to give the police other suspects, turning up quite a few secrets in the process.
This is the fourth adventure for Meg. This one didn't feel quite as funny to me as the others, possibly because many of the supporting players from the first three weren't here for the main action. There were still many amusing things along the way, however. For example, the "affirmation bear" had me laughing every time it showed up. The mystery plot is stronger here then others in the series, with quite a few unexpected revelations and a very nice twist at the end. A couple personal sub-plots keep things interesting as well. Everything comes together for a great climax that had me laughing and turning pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next.
While those looking for the continued hijinks of Meg's eccentric family will be slightly disappointed with this book, there is still much to recommend it. I enjoyed every page and found the book over all too fast. Here's to many more entertaining adventures with Meg and her family and friends.
10 people found this helpful
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Roses
4.0 out of 5 stars A Buzzard and A Loony Office
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014
Verified Purchase
Meg is helping her brother figure out what is wrong at his new office. Of course one thing is their pet buzzard with only one wing. Then there's Spike who is visiting them right now, still an onery chihuahua who wants to bite everyone. Then there's that dead guy riding around the office on the automated mail cart. Oh, Meg's dad is there, too. It's a whodunit that reminds me of Abbott and Costello, or maybe The Thin Man with a psychotic Asta. It was a fun read and ends with the promise of more. It's on to the next book. Our intrepid couple are buying the hugh, old, rundown house our last dead guy was living in. Yeah, that's going to be fun.
One person found this helpful
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s w
5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely enjoyed this book, which takes place among software engineers
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2023
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Being a software engineer, I enioyed the author's characterization of us and thought it was spot on. As always, her characters are funny and interesting, and I love her people management tidbits tucked in because it is not my skillset. She also often has an interesting new sport or venue for her book settings... some trending new fun thing to do, or at least something new about nature to appreciate, or some fascinating forensic factoid. I mean when you start out with a woman blacksmith, they sky's the limit of fun.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Joan Christianson
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read- kept me thinking
Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2016
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Excellent mix of personalities, humour, and deduction. Didn't guess the murderer until Meg was figuring out herself. Good series so far
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Rickie
5.0 out of 5 stars Wieder...
Reviewed in Germany on February 26, 2014
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...ein unterhaltsamer Krimi von Donna Andrews. Ich dachte zuerst, das ist nicht wirklich was für mich, da ich mich nicht für Computerspiele interessiere und es in dem Buch um die Firma von Megs Bruder geht. Aber nach dem Lesen muss ich sagen, dass diese Folge nach "Murder with Peacocks" die bis jetzt beste von Donna Andrews ist.
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jacqueline corbet
4.0 out of 5 stars company of thieves
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2023
Verified Purchase
the characters are thieves of the night reaching a share of profits and to kill innocent people m and eg is only helping her brother rob until her hand heals finding evidence to clear names
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Fuchs Joan
4.0 out of 5 stars Etwas abgehackt
Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2005
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Eigentlich wieder eine nette Geschichte um Meg Langslow und ihre sehr spezielle Familie, doch werden hier einige Elemente eingeführt, die in den 3 vorhergehenden Bänden nie mit auch nur einem Wort erwähnt wurden, was das Ganze etwas abhackt. Ebenso die Tatsache, dass zwischen den letzten 2 Bänden viel Zeit vergangen ist, aber darüber praktisch nichts gesagt wurde. Dennoch eine interessante, eher technische Geschichte, mit ausgearbeiteten Charakteren und dem der Autorin eigenen speziellen Humor.
One person found this helpful
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