It’s Christmas time again in Caerphilly, Virginia, which means that Meg Langslow and her extended family are gathering for their usual large celebrations. This year is especially crowded at Meg’s house, as there are bunch of Canadians staying with them. They are mostly programmers, working with Meg’s brother Rob and his software company Mutant Wizards.
AcerGen is a Canadian company that offers ancestry information, and they’re wanting to add DNA testing to that as well. It will take a lot of complicated programming to make that happen, so several members of the Canadian team have moved to Virginia for the holidays to focus on their work. Their leader is Ian, and while most of the team members are considerate and hard-working, he is selfish, lazy, and entitled. He is making more work for Meg and her family, and they’re all upset to see how badly he is treating his employees.
But Meg has only so much time to worry about Ian, because she has a lot of other things going on. Her mother has arranged for her house to be exquisitely decorated and there is a cadre of family members in the kitchen helping prepare French meals for anyone in a ten-mile radius. But her father has decided to take over a section of their backyard for a big Christmas surprise, and Meg wants to add some more birdfeeders around the house and the Mutant Wizards office for the bird-loving Canadians. She’s also keeping an eye on those feeders for the juncos, who are supposed to be harbingers of snow. It’s been cold in Caerphilly, but Meg is hoping for a white Christmas to make everything more festive.
Then the family lawyer calls Meg and wants to meet, in private. When she gets to her office to meet with him, he confides that he is having concerns about the working relationship with AcerGen and Mutant Wizards. He has learned about some legal issues AcerGen is having, based on the DNA lab they’ve chosen and their use of the data. There is a woman suing the company because it found a half-brother that she hadn’t known about and told him how to get in contact with her, which she had not agreed to. And there is a criminal case that is in jeopardy based on their DNA evidence.
Meg offers to talk to others on the board of Mutant Wizards (many of the board members are family), but she takes it upon to herself to do a little spying on Ian, who is working in her dining room. The more she hears, the more troubled she is about her brother’s company being in cahoots with Ian. And while the board is moving towards terminating the contract with AcerGen, someone else is wanting to terminate Ian, permanently. When Meg is awakened in the middle of the night, she and her husband Mike find Ian outside, alone, bleeding from a head wound.
While Meg is trying to keep things as festive as possible for everyone, she is also trying to do a little research on who might have wanted Ian dead (besides herself, her family, and her houseguests). But will her snooping make her the next target for the killer?
Donna Andrews is back with her beloved mystery series starring Meg, her crazy family, and more animals than you can count. Beside the juncos the bird-watchers keeping an eye out for, there are lots of dogs, a couple of barn cats, llamas, chickens, the zoo her grandfather is in charge of, and a stray cat who is bursting with kittens, clearly about to give birth when they find her in a local manger scene. There are also all the usual menagerie of family members running around, cooking and baking, decorating (according to Mother’s plans, of course), working, singing, ducking stalkers, and solving crimes. While the mystery is a big part of the story, so is the holiday warmth and the love and security of family, which adds so much to this fun holiday themed mystery.
I have long been a fan of Donna Andrews’ books, and Dashing Through the Snowbirds is a fun addition to the series. This book (#32 in the series!) is a lot about Meg driving around running errands and doing some investigating, but one of her special skills is using the resources she has. She never hesitates to report her latest information to the sheriff or to the family lawyer or to ask for help from her nephew, who is a whiz at internet searches. Much of the story is her juggling information and errands, bringing everything together and making connections based on how much data she has been able to acquire through her busy days. She is smart and generous, and her day job as a blacksmith gives her strength.
I was also really impressed with Andrews’ knowledge of DNA usage in crime-solving and in genealogy, and in her ingenuity of using that as the basis of the crime in this book. I feel like these Meg Langslow mysteries strikes a sold balance between old-fashioned values of family and home with newer technology and fads in popular technology, and I find that really satisfying. I enjoyed Dashing Through the Snowbirds for its modern story ideas and for its homey comfort. For me, these books are the perfect blend.
Egalleys for Dashing Through the Snowbirds were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
