It’s Christmas in Caerphilly, and Meg Langslow has gotten herself wrangled into directing the Christmas pageant for Trinity Episcopal. During the rehearsal, when “Mary” announces that the baby Jesus needs a diaper change, Meg calls a break for the cast and goes to check on the baby. This year, the baby Jesus is being played by Noah, the infant son of Reverend Robyn. But when Meg takes the baby to Robyn’s office for the fresh diaper, she discovers that Noah has been with Robyn the whole time.
So who is this baby? And where did it come from?
As Meg looks over the baby, she finds a note. It’s from the mother, saying that she can’t afford to take cake of her, but that Rob is clearing doing with with Mutant Wizards, so he should take of her. Because she’s his. This hits Meg hard, as Rob is her brother, and Mutant Wizards is the software company he owns. But she’s also worried, because she knows that he is about to propose to his girlfriend Delaney, and Delaney will definitely not be happy about this development.
Meg calls the Chief of Police first, so they can try to find the child’s mother, and then she calls Rob with the bad news. He denies any possibility that the child could be his, but Delaney gest upset and storms out anyway. Another look at the note makes then think that the girl’s name is Lark, and soon police officers and a social worker are at the church, looking for the mother and collecting evidence, including DNA from the infant.
It turns out that Meg and her husband Michael are the only available foster parents during the busy Christmas season, so Lark goes home with Meg, to keep her safe. And when her mother does show up, it turns out that she needs a place to be safe also.
Janet Caverly has been living in nearby Clay County. Her husband got a job with the city. As an assistant treasurer, he had knowledge of what happened in the county. And when he was asked to launder the money that the sheriff had been making from his illegal moonshine and marijuana sales, he couldn’t stomach it. He tried going to the federal authorities, but the sheriff found out and came after him. Janet took the baby to safety while her husband tried to find a way out the job, and out of the county. But the Clay County police frame him for murder, so Janet knew she had to go on the run.
While the men want to infiltrate Clay County like ninjas to try to rescue Mark, Meg has another idea. She understands that it takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes it takes a village to keep that child’s family safe too.
Lark! The Herald Angels Sing is book 24 in Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series. I am a big fan of these books. While these books all have the birds in the titles, the stories are more nuanced than most cozies. Andrews uses a lot of creativity in her plotting, but one thing that is consistent is Meg’s crazy family. Her family has a lot of personality and a wide variety of useful skills and connections. While she is the star of these mysteries, a lot of her investigating is her reaching out to family and friends to find details that she puts together into a final theory. And I love this about her, so I love these books.
I listened to Lark! The Herald Angels Sing on audio, so I got to listen to Bernadette Dunne read to me during this busy holiday season. I loved this way to enjoy the book. It is indeed a delightful holiday gift with appearances from Grandfather, the twins, sheep, Meg’s father as Santa Claus, Spike, and a whole host of relatives and animals to add texture and life to a fun, charming holiday mystery.
