Book Review: Murder With Peacocks

Author: Donna Andrews
Title: Murder With Peacocks
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publish Date:Jan 15, 2000
Rating: 4 Stars
Book Blurb: THREE WEDDINGS...AND A MURDER

So far Meg Langslow's summer is not going swimmingly. Down in her small Virginia hometown, she's maid of honor at the nuptials of three loved ones--each of whom has dumped the planning in her capable hands. One bride is set on including a Native American herbal purification ceremony, while another wants live peacocks on the lawn. Only help from the town's drop-dead gorgeous hunk, disappointingly rumored to be gay, keeps Meg afloat in a sea of dotty relatives and outrageous neighbors.

And, in a whirl of summer parties and picnics, Southern hospitality is strained to the limit by an offensive newcomer who hints at skeletons in the guests' closets. But it seems this lady has offended one too many when she's found dead in suspicious circumstances, followed by a string of accidents--some fatal Soon, level-headed Meg's to-do list extends from flower arrangements and bridal registries to catching a killer--before the next catered event is her own funeral...

Review: This is the first book in the Meg Langslow Mysteries series, and it is a cute, fast, and fun mystery.

The cast of characters is vast. It includes Meg and her family and love interests, her best friend and soon to be husband and his brother Barry, who won't leave Meg alone, and the Bridal store owner's son, who everyone thinks is gay.

The reader is instantly drawn into every wacky predicament that Meg runs into while trying to organize three weddings, while people start dropping dead and accidents start happening to people close to her.

I loved the way this book was written. It was part chicklit and part mystery and the mystery was so good that it kept you guessing right up to the last page.

The relationship between Meg and Michael (the bridal shopkeeper for the summer) is sweet, especially because it doesn't quite get off the ground.  Every time Michael tries to tell her he isn't gay, something interupts him, so all the reader sees is a great friendship building between the two.

The brides add to the humor of the book, as each one gives new meaning to the term Bridezilla, and I'm not sure if that was even a word at the time this book was written, but OMG! each bride was obnoxious!  I think the worst was the mom, even though she didn't quite seem as demanding as Eileen who kept changing her mind on things and not having a dress chosen two months before the wedding or Samantha who was just simply a bitch.

Of course, without these brides, the book wouldn't be any fun and the same can be said for some of their soon to be husbands. Meg's mom has the oddest of the bunch. Jake is just not what you'd expect for Margaret, who is the most outgoing of the bunch, and his sister-in-law is a bit crazy and likes to stir up trouble. Of course, she's the first one to end up dead.

The amateur sleuthing between Meg, Michael and her father is great fun. This was a really entertaining book and I hope to find others in this series soon.