History Literature / MegLangslowMysteries

* {{Bridezilla}}: In the first book, ''Murder with Peacocks'', Meg has to deal with being maid of honor and therefore de facto wedding planner for three of these at once, albeit different kinds: her brother Robb is marrying an entitled, snobby bitch; her best friend Elaine is a sweet and utterly disorganized [[TheDitz ditz]] who is more than a little untethered from reality; and her own mother, who genuinely considers every relative in the immediate and not-so-immediate vicinity her rightful servant with no reason for living than arranging the world as she wants it. It's telling that in later years, [[RealityEnsues Meg turns out to be so burned by the whole experience]] that she refuses to marry Michael unless he agrees to elope.

* [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]]: It seems a little odd that the extremely practical Meg wouldn't keep the authourities informed of relevant information, especially Chief Burke, who is portrayed as being very good at his job. But if you re-read the series from the beginning, you realise for the first three or four books, the main police officer present is incompetent, intent on railroading one of Meg's relatives, or both. Meg starts her career as an AmateurSleuth mainly in self-defense (in ''Murder with Peacocks'' this is almost literal, as she survives several mis-aimed murder attempts), and [[RealityEnsues continues the habits she was forced to start with]] until Chief Burke realises it's best to work with Meg rather than trying to keep her out of the loop (not that she'd stay out of it, since everyone in sight seems to enlist her help with something. Or her mother will 'volunteer' her to do so).

** Played straight, however, with the visiting Spanish playwright in ''Stork Raving Mad''. The couple are already hosting hordes of drama students and computer programmers thanks to a college heating failure, and they add a number of Spanish students to make him feel at home. He turns out to be a [[LifeOfTheParty party animal]] who is boisterous and controversial, cooks seafood Meg is allergic to, and rehearses loudly at all hours of the day and night. Which is not really a restful atmosphere for a woman eight and a half months pregnant with twins. That's not even counting her house subsequently becoming a murder scene. Notably, [[RealityEnsues Meg never mentions having a houseguest who isn't related to her ever again]].

** Played straight, however, with the visiting Spanish playwright in ''Stork Raving Mad''. The couple are already hosting hordes of drama students and computer programmers thanks to a college heating failure, and they add a number of Spanish students to make him feel at home. He turns out to be a PartyAnimal who is boisterous and controversial, cooks seafood Meg is allergic to, and rehearses loudly at all hours of the day and night. Which is not really a restful atmosphere for a woman eight and a half months pregnant with twins. That's not even counting her house subsequently becoming a murder scene. Notably, [[RealityEnsues Meg never mentions having a houseguest who isn't related to her ever again]].

* {{Bridezilla}}: In the first book, ''Murder with Peacocks'', Meg has to deal with being maid of honor and therefore de facto wedding planner for three of these at once, albeit different kinds: her brother Robb is marrying an entitled, snobby bitch; her best friend Elaine is a sweet and utterly disorganized [[TheDitz ditz]] who is more than a little untethered from reality; and her own mother, who genuinely considers every relative in the immediate and not-so-immediate vicinity her rightful servant with no reason for living than arranging the world as she wants ir. It's telling that in later years, [[RealityEnsues Meg turns out to be so burned by the whole experience]] that she refuses to marry Michael unless he agrees to elope.

** Justified; in the first book, Meg mentions she lives three hours drive away from Yorktown, where the first and third books take place - and that Eileen has just moved to her about-to-be-husband's farm, which is three hours away in another direction. In the fourth book, Meg moves to Caerphilly (where she will remain for the rest of the series), which is described as an hour's drive north of Yorketown. So yeah, given that Eileen already has a baby by the third book, is later mentioned as having several more, and lives at least five hours drive away from Meg, you sort of understand why they don't get together much.

* ''The Gift of the Magpie'' (October 2020)

* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: The books seem to take place more-or-less in the real world, with reference to real world television series such as ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'', but are set in the fictional town of Caerphilly, Virginia
** Although most of the wildlife descriptions and factoids throughout the books are reasonably accurate, the gull species Dr. Blake is trying to find in ''Gone Gull'' appear to be entirely fictional, and would have been a major discovery in RealLife.

--> '''Michael''' (texting): Why do our local murderers always manage to commit their crimes when you're around?
--> '''Meg''' (texting back): Dunno. Maybe the International Brotherhood of Thugs and Assassins insists.

* TitleDrop: With the name of the book in ''Some Like It Hawk'', as the name of a service that provides a hawk to chase away nuisance pigeons
** The last line of ''Toucan Keep a Secret'' does this as the punchline of a joke.

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: A significant proportion of the plots, but not so significant that it becomes formulaic.

The ''Meg Langslow Mysteries'' are a series of comedic mystery novels written by Donna Andrews. Similar to the Literature/StephaniePlum novels, each features a murder mystery with a heavy dose of humor in the story. Each also features bird-related antics, with these taking a greater role in the plot of some of the novels in the series than others.

* [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday Mystery Doesn't Settle For Simple Tuesday]]: played with; seven of the twenty-nine books take place around Christmas. A further eight revolve around some kind of holiday or festival, which will turn out to be integral to the mystery itself or a background plot [[note]]Murder with Peacocks (three weddings), Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (week-long Civil War re-enactment), We'll Always Have Parrots (sci-fi convention), Swan for the Money (Rose-growers flower show), Some Like It Hawk (Caerphilly days, a colonial-era festival AND the book takes place over the Fourth of July long weekend), The Hen of the Baskervilles (the Un-Fair, a kind of alternate State fair after the official one gets cancelled), Lord of the Wings (Halloween), The Falcon Always Wings Twice (a medieval fair).[[/note]]

* SavingTheOrphanage: Let's see... Meg's neighbour's farm, her own farm, a zoo, an animal shelter, all the town government buildings all needed rescuing at some point.

** Inverted with Rob and Rose Noire; early on, Caerphilly's notorious housing shortage sees them move into rooms in Meg and Michael's three-story farmhouse. Rob moves out somewhere in the mid-teens books (mostly because he gains a steady girlfriend and eventual fiancee with her own place), but as of ''Owl be home'' Rose Noire is still around. However, Meg really appreciates their help with their ever-expanding animal population (often dropped off without permission) and eventually the twins.
** Played straight, however, with the visiting Spanish playwright in ''Stork Raving Mad''. He turns out to be a PartyAnimal who insists on hosting parties involving half the drama students ''and'' half the Spanish students of the college, or rehearsing loudly at all hours of the day and night. Which is not really a restful atmosphere for a woman eight and a half months pregnant with twins. That's not even counting her house subsequently becoming a murder scene. Notably, [[RealityEnsues Meg never mentions having a houseguest who isn't related to her ever again]].

* ''A Christmas Rescue'' (short story set between ''Duck the Halls'' and ''The Good, the Bad and the Emus''; sometimes published in later edition of the latter, as it contains major spoilers for that book.)

* ''A Christmas Trifle'' (short story available in the anthology Chesapeake Crimes: homicidal holidays)

* ''Night Shades'' (Short story available in an anthology)
* ''Birthday Dinner'' (Short story available in an anthology)

** In the first book, ''Murder with Peacocks'', Meg is serving as unofficial (and unpaid) wedding planner to three different weddings: one bride is a neurotic, bitchy socialite, one is her CuckooCloudLander best friend who seems to have very little comprehension of things like 'order deadlines' and 'it's a bad idea to wear velvet in ninety-percent humidity in summer', and her perfectionist, honestly-believes-the-world-revolves-around-her-wishes mother. Half a dozen books later, Meg insists on eloping (it's actually a condition of her accepting Michael's proposal) because even the '''thought''' of having her mother, Michael's mother, and any amount of relatives insisting on 'contributing' to the wedding planning is enough to send the normally-unflappable Meg into a panic.

* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: in ''The Real Maccaw'' the titular parrot fingers a previously-unsuspected character - not by repeating any incriminating dialogue, but by [[spoiler: repeating his owner's name in tones of passion, and in [[ReallyGetsAround one of his lover's]] distinctive New England accent [[note]]the series takes place in Virginia[[/note]]. Interestingly, the murderer and her victim actually joked about this trope pre-murder, so she bought a similar bird and swapped them. Unfortunately the maccaw was a rare breed that couldn't be found at the pet store, so credit card records of the substitute bird's purchase became part of the evidence against her.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The police chief, Burke, may not like Meg (or anyone) meddling with his investigations, but he definitely appreciates any info and leads, no matter the source.
** inverted with several law enforcement officers Meg encounters in her early mysteries (see RewatchBonus).
* [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]]: it seems a little odd that the extremely practical Meg wouldn't keep the authourities informed of relevant information, especially Chief Burke, who is portrayed as being very good at his job. But if you re-read the series from the beginning, you notice realise for the first three or four books, the main police officer present is incompetent, intent on railroading one of Meg's relatives, or both. Meg starts her career as an AmateurSleuth mainly in self-defense (in ''Murder with Peacocks'' this is almost literal, as she survives several mis-aimed murder attempts), and [[RealityEnsues continues the habits she was forced to start with]] until Chief Burke realises it's best to work with Meg rather than trying to keep her out of the loop (not that she'd stay out of it, since everyone in sight seems to enlist her help with something. Or her mother will 'volunteer' her to do so).

* [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday Mystery doesn't settle for simple Tuesday]]: played with; seven of the twenty-nine books take place around Christmas. A further eight revolve around some kind of holiday or festival, which will turn out to be integral to the mystery itself or a background plot [[note]]Murder with Peacocks (three weddings), Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (week-long Civil War re-enactment), We'll always have parrots (sci-fi convention), Swan for the Money (Rose-growers flower show), Some like it Hawk (Caerphilly days, a colonial-era festival AND the book takes place over the Fourth of July long weekend), The Hen of the Baskervilles (the Un-Fair, a kind of alternate State fair after the official one gets cancelled), Lord of the Wings (Halloween), The Falcon always wings twice (a medieval fair).[[/note]]

* CharacterisationMarchesOn: Most of Meg's relatives who are portrayed as bumbling wannabes who try too hard in the earlier books become actually good at their chosen jobs/hobbies in the later ones, ([[BunnyEarsLawyer even when they have their own methods]].) Most notably her mother's attempts at interior decoration actually becoming classy and more or less within the budget, and her dad becoming an actual medical examiner for the police.

** As the general Caerphilly opinion of Meg changes from "outsider" to "one of ours", Chief Burke becomes less upset about (or at least more accepting of) Meg's snooping. it doesn't hurt that Meg gradually learns to keep the police informed about what she's found out.
* CoincidenceMagnet: Meg and her relatives have an uncanny ability to turn just about anything into an over the top chaotic mess by their mere presence. Then take it in stride and sort it out (more or less.)
* ComicBookTime / WebcomicTime: precise dates and too detailed references to any current events are avoided, computers and cell phones have the capabilities they had when respective books were written, but from the ageing of the twins, less than ten years passed in the books for almost 20 years of RealLife, while most adult and senior characters apparently didn't age at all.

* ContinuityNod: quite a few, including the family game Xtreme Croquet that features in ''No Nest for the Wicket'' being mentioned at several family functions afterward.

** in the first book, ''Murder with Peacocks'', Meg is serving as unofficial (and unpaid) wedding planner to three different weddings: one bride is a neurotic, bitchy socialite, one is her CuckooCloudLander best friend who seems to have very little comprehension of things like 'order deadlines' and 'it's a bad idea to wear velvet in ninety-percent humidity in summer', and her perfectionist, honestly-believes-the-world-revolves-around-her-wishes mother. Half a dozen books later, Meg insists on eloping (it's actually a condition of her accepting Michael's proposal) because even the '''thought''' of having her mother, Michael's mother, and any amount of relatives insisting on 'contributing' to the wedding planning is enough to send the normally-unflappable Meg into a panic.
** One only long-time readers will pick up on: ''Lord of the Rings''(#19) introduces a new Caerphilly resident, Ragnar Ragnarssen, a veteran of a half-dozen heavy metal bands. In ''Toucan Keep a Secret'' (#23) Meg visits him at his mansion, and reminisces about the changes from when she visited the previous resident. She's actually referring to the events of ''Swan for the money'' (#11), where the same property was the scene for both the rose show and the murders [[spoiler: not to mention the owner of the property being the murderer, which is how Ragnar got the place!]]. Interestingly, this is also a {{Retcon}}, as Ragnar is mentioned (though not named) in ''The Nightingale before Christmas'' as having bought a local farm and built his gothic mansion on it.
** early in the series, Michael splits his time between teaching and acting in a [[ShowWithinAShow short-lived cult fantasy TV series]]. ''We'll always have Parrots'' takes place at a fan convention for the show; Michael kept one of his costumes and is using it as a Halloween costume in ''Lord of the Wings'' (and is worried about fitting into it!), and it's mentioned several times that Michael's received invitations to quite a few conventions as a featured guest, but has turned them all down because he doesn't want to leave Meg home alone with the twins.

** on the more prosiac side of things, a lot of the mid-numbered books mention a schism in the town between the 'preserve the land' and 'development at any costs' [[note]] frequently led by the Pruitts, culminating in them using the entire town centre as collaterol for a loan they embezzled, thinking to recover the cost by seizing all their non-allies' property as eminent domain[[/note]] townspeople, which is also the main reason for Caerphilly's chronic housing shortage (see TheThingThatWouldNotLeave).

* GranolaGirl: Rosenoire. And she turns out to be one of the more level-headed of Meg's relatives...
** Possibly best-expressed in ''The Falcon Always Wings Twice'' with her free-range wool. The sheep (belonging to neighbour Seth Early) are so free-range Meg has occasionally found them drinking from her downstairs toilets; while Meg isn't sure about the sheep's opinion on the soothing music and aromatherapy candles Rose Noire insists on using during the shearing, they appreciate the full-body massages enough that after being sheared they'll head to the end of the line for another shearing.

** One only long-time readers will pick up on: ''Lord of the Rings''(#19) introduces a new Caerphilly resident, Ragnar Ragnarssen, a veteran of a half-dozen heavy metal bands. In ''Toucan Keep a Secret'' (#23) Meg visits him at his mansion, and reminisces about the changes from when she visited the previous resident. She's actually referring to the events of ''Swan for the money'' (#11), where the same property was the scene for both the rose show and the murders [[spoiler: not to mention the owner of the property being the murderer, which is how Ragnar got the place!]].

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The police chief may not like Meg (or anyone) meddling with his investigations, but he definitely appreciates any info and leads, no matter the source.

** A heartwarming example: in ''Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos'' (book three), Meg's mentor Faulk is an exhibitor at the Civil War festival, and Tad, a computer programmer friend of hers with a hot temper is one of the suspects. They both return for the medieval fair at the centre of ''The Falcon Always Wings Twice'' (book twenty-seven), and Meg absently mentions that they're married. Also, Tad's temper makes him a suspect again.

** A heartwarming example: in ''Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos' (book three), Meg's mentor is an exhibitor at the Civil War festival, and a computer programmer friend of hers is one of the suspects. They both return for the medieval fair at the centre of ''The Falcon Always Wings Twice'' (book twenty-seven), and Meg absently mentions that they're married.

* MistakenForGay: Michael by Meg in the very first book. It's easily deduced by savvy readers (or anyone who's read other books in the series!) but in the narrative, it's clear how Meg came to that conclusion. Michael trying to get Meg alone (he's gone along with the ruse in public to fend off a group of predatory, bitchy bridesmaids) to tell her he's straight and ask her out, only to interrupted by the discovery of yet another dead body or attempted murder, is a RunningGag in the book.

* [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday Mystery doesn't settle for simple Tuesday]]: played with; seven of the twenty-nine books take place around Christmas. A further eight revolve around some kind of holiday or festival, which will turn out to be integral to the mystery itself or a background plot [[note]]Murder with Peacocks (three weddings), Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (week-long Civil War re-enactment), We'll always have parrots (sci-fi convention), Swan for the Money (Rose-growers festival), Some like it Hawk (Caerphilly days, a colonial-era festival AND the book takes place over the Fourth of July long weekend), The Hen of the Baskervilles (the UNfair, a kind of alternate State fair after the official one gets cancelled), Lord of the Wings (Halloween), The Falcon always wings twice (a medieval fair).[[/note]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: How the killer in ''Murder with Penguins'' incriminates himself. In front of hundreds of witnesses, no less!

* MistakenForGay: Michael by Meg in the very first book. It's easily deduced by savvy readers (or anyone who's read other books in the series!) but in the narrative, it's clear how Meg came to that conclusion. Michael trying to get Meg alone (he's gone alone with the ruse in public to fend off a group of predatory, bitchy bridesmaids) to tell her he's straight and ask her out, only to interrupted by the discovery of another dead body or attempted murder, is a RunningGag in the book.

** on the more prosiac side of things, a lot of the mid-numbered books mention a schism in the town between the 'preserve the land' and 'development at any costs' [[note]] frequently led by the Pruitts, culminating in them using the entire town centre as collaterol for a loan they embezzled, thinking to recover the cost by seizing all their non-allies' property as eminent domain[[/note]] townspeople, which is also the main reason for
Caerphilly's chronic housing shortage (see TheThingThatWouldNotLeave).

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each book features a bird of some sort in the title; all titles after ''Murder with Puffins'' also reference a popular saying, often one which is the title of a film. Within the books themselves, in ''Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon'', Meg's brother has created a computer game called "Lawyers from Hell" and is now trying to spin off various clones such as "Cops from Hell," "Doctors from Hell" and "Veterinarians from Hell."