Book Review: Murder With Puffins

Author: Donna Andrews
Title: Murder With Puffins
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Publish Date: June 15, 2001
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster.

Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents and siblings, along with their spouses are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.

Review: Murder With Puffins is the second book in the Meg Langslow mystery series. This one started out a bit slow for me. Usually the first few books in cozy mystery series are quick to get to the murder, in this book it was more like, quick to get to the hurricane that was coming up the coast.

However once Meg and Michael discover the body things start moving along. I'm not sure that it really is all about clearing her father's name so much as finding the killer. They never really say her dad is going to be arrested or anything like that.

What I found amusing and totally out of it, is how Meg was always breaking in to the dead guy's house. Seriously! This is a huge expensive house on this island. The owner didn't have any security? No one else finds anything wrong with this?

I think the whole implausibility factor is what makes these books such fun to read. No one could get away with some of the stuff Meg does.

The birders were great on the island. Truth be told, I'd never heard of a Puffin before I read this book. And the local artist that writes children's books about them was a hoot.

But really aren't these birds adorable?

I also love Michael. He's such a good sport about things. This whole situation would put off "real world" men. I mean he was expecting a weekend alone with his girlfriend, and what he gets is a house full of her family, a hurricane and a dead body!

I'm looking forward to reading more of the series so I can find out how their relationship progresses.

Rating: 4 flowers