Book four of my 12 in 12 reading challenge for January is a return to cosy crime. I had thought that I didn’t read too many of those but it turns out that maybe I do. Again, this book is one of series and I own quite a lot of them and am working my way through in the order in which they are written.
The book has the amazing title Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon and is one of a series by Donna Andrews each of which has a bird related title although there is often a very vague relationship between that and the storyline. The books all have as their main character Meg, an ornamental blacksmith, and her family. The first in the series Murder with Peacocks is very funny indeed and I am enjoying the others as well. My mother in law is also very fond of this series since I introduced her to them.
In this book Meg’s brother has become very successful because of a computer game he has invented and Meg has gone to work for him because she has a hand injury which is topping her working (in the four books of the series I have read so far she does very little actual smithing). The story revolves around a murder in the office and Meg is surrounded by lots of people, all of whom have a motive. She has to wade her way through the motives and find out how and why the victim was killed.
What attracts me to this series, as well as the humorous writing, is that Meg is a very sensible woman. She doesn’t do a lot of stupid things and she doesn’t place herself or others in danger because of her actions. She is a straight talker and a straight thinker too which makes her attractive to me because she is a reliable narrator.
You need to suspend most of your critical faculties when reading cosy crime and just enjoy the ride. Like book 2 in my challenge this is a fun read. I recommend this series if you like cosy crime novels.
Keep reading (whatever it is !)
Anne Is Reading 