Very well done cozy mystery series. Perfect theme and enjoyable characters. Looking forward to reading more and sharing with other cozy fans.

This was my first Donna Andrews, it was okay, but not as funny as I was hoping. I was looking for a Mary Kay Andrews or Janet Evanovich. It may be my fault since I started far into the series, I may try reading one of the first and see how it goes.

Gone Gull
A Meg Langslow Mystery #21
Donna Andrews
Minotaur Books, August 2017
ISBN 978-1-250-07856-8
Hardcover

From the publisher—

Meg is spending the summer at the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, helping her grandmother Cordelia run the studios. But someone is committing acts of vandalism, threatening to ruin the newly-opened center’s reputation. Is it the work of a rival center? Have the developers who want to build a resort atop Biscuit Mountain found a new tactic to pressure Cordelia into selling? Or is the real target Meg’s grandfather, who points out that any number of environmentally irresponsible people and organizations could have it in for him?

While Meg is trying to track down the vandal, her grandfather is more interested in locating a rare gull. Their missions collide when a body is found in one of the classrooms. Can Meg identify the vandal and the murderer in time to save the center’s name―while helping her grandfather track down and rescue his beloved gulls?

You would think that this series would have begun to show signs of becoming stale and tired by now but that hasn’t happened. Donna Andrews has the magic touch and always seems to come up with fresh ideas and new things to laugh about but the early books still stick with me, especially particular characters beyond Meg.

This time, we have to get along without some of the old regulars (although two of my favorites, Spike the Small Evil One and Meg’s dad, are here) because Meg has gone out of town but her grandparents do a lot to make up for the missing. Meg’s blacksmithing has taken something of a back seat over the course of the series but it’s central to the story in Gone Gull as she’s agreed to teach classes for a few weeks at her grandmother’s new craft studio. Unfortunately, someone seems to have it in for the center, perpetrating small acts of sabotage, and no one is sure who’s doing it. Then Meg discovers a body and the real sleuthing begins.

I have to say the mystery to be solved isn’t as much in the forefront as the wild and quirky activities of the characters but it’s still a good one with some twists and turns to keep the reader occupied while chuckling at what’s going on. Oh, and the gull referred to in the title? That bird and Meg’s grandfather are the source of more than a few laugh out loud moments and, for me, was the icing on the cake. Having said that, I’ll be glad if we have Meg back in her usual surroundings next time.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, November 2017.

I love this series, and the wonderful characters. Caerphilly sounds like a great town, with all their quirky people and large families. The plot of the stories are always well written and developed and often make me laugh out loud. This book has more twists and turns, that kept me reading page after page. I strongly recommend this book and the whole series for anyone who likes well written cozy mysteries that are unique and delightful.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Gone Gull is an adorable addition to the Meg Langslow series. Meg's grandmoher, Cordelia, has opened up her craft center but after a rash of vandalisms the center is danger of closing. Things go from bad to worse when Meg stumbles upon a body while searching for the vandal. This book has everything you hope for in a Meg Langslow mystery: beloved characters, fierce octogenarians, kooky family dynamics, and a twisty mystery that'll keep you guessing.

Oh how I love this series; every time I read one, it is like going home and having old and dear friends waiting there for me. I have not yet been disappointed by these stories and I seriously think that this is the only series [and maybe Kylie Logan's League of Literary Ladies] I can say that about. Every single one is hilarious and fun and always has a good mystery.

For this one, Meg and her [ginormous] family are spending the summer at Biscuit Mountain helping out her [newly found] grandmother and her new craft center. All is going well [well, mostly well; they are dealing with some unexpected vandalism that has shook them, but they are still plunging forward] until a dead body appears [I guessed it was one of two people; I was right. Both times. ;-) ], and then a second dead body appears and it all goes downhill from there.

Very well told, hilarious as always and filled with just enough suspense to keep you guessing [I had no clue until just before it was discovered who the baddie was and I WAS surprised at who the vandal was, but not why] and of course the love of family that permeates these books. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them.

This amazing next in series is book number 21 in the series ! Each book is a delight and I do highly recommend the entire series
This is another hit book in the series. In this next in series our protagonist Meg and her family are in the Blue Ridge hills helping her Grandmother Cordelia with her recently opened craft center. Unfortunately, her Grandfather has determined that his priority is to find out the whereabouts of a thought extinct gull. One of the instructors has shown Meg's Grandfather photos he took of this rare gull but is killed before the gull's location can be shown. Meg begins her next sleuth and the case involves a case of characters that are fun and add to the sleuth. A winning mystery for number 21 in the series and as always a winning combination of mystery, great witty writing and fun with whimsical writing . . I recommend the entire series.

I have not been reading this series in order but still completely followed along and enjoyed this book. There are a lot of characters, many of them family and good friends of Cordelia and Meg, as well as followers of Meg's famous (or infamous) grandfather. Their lives have intertwined over the years both personally and career wise. What they seem most to have in common is their dislike for the man who ends up being the main victim, although there is more than a murder to be solved this time around.
The group has created an artist's training center which brings together crafters of all interests and experience levels. Besides being targeted by a rival business, there are developers who want Cordelia's land. To that end, they want her to fail. Add in the bird watching community with its very competitive and contentious ways. This leaves for more suspects than a small police force can handle.
Meg has family with special skills that also are working on the cases, whether related to each other or not. Throughout he book, personalities clash again and again and it is discovered that everyone has secrets.
One thing I love about cozy mysteries is how much I learn about different hobbies and interests.
I also appreciate the characters we meet and the quirks they have, maybe because they make me feel a little better about myself.
While I loved the inquiries and investigative aspect of the book, things get very dangerous near the end. It looked very much like Meg might not make it to the end!
So you may find it hard to believe that Donna's signature humor still finds its way into the writing, making this a delightful read.

Another enjoyable foray into the world of Meg Langslow. The mystery is not particularly jaw-dropping, as mystery novels go, but the characters will keep you reading from beginning to end.

Meg Langslow and her crazy family are at it again. In Gone Gull, the 21st book in this series, Meg is helping out her grandmother Cordelia at the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, teaching metalworking for the summer. She is joined by her husband Michael, teaching children's theater (including their 8-year-old twins), her father, her mother, and a bevy of other relatives all teaching various arts, crafts, computer and law enforcement classes. 

It's the second week of summer classes, and Cordela and Meg are concerned. The first week saw a rash of vandalism--photographs covered in condiments, watercolors destroyed by rain. They were hoping that the vandal had had his fun and moved on, but then several pieces of questionable lingerie show up in one of the studios. These curiosities mean that it's time for Meg to gather the forces to investigate. 

Cordelia is worried that her art center rival is behind all this, Calvin Whiffletree of Jazz Hands Art Academy, and that he won't stop until he shuts her down. Meg's grandfather is worried that someone from Smith Enterprises is sending in a mole (or a series of them) to infiltrate and bring Biscuit Mountain down so they can buy the property for a song. Meanwhile, Meg keeps an open mind and checks out all the teachers and students she's not already related to. 

But the investigation gets serious when one of the art instructors turns up dead. Is this the work of the vandal too, or does it have something to do with a painting of a seagull he'd done recently? While Meg and her family hunt down the killer, her grandfather is off on a wild gull chase, trying to find the bird in the painting. It's up to that crazy Langslow clan to once again save the day, solve the crime, and make the world safe for the birds and the bird lovers. But as talented as they are, can they accomplish all that in time to save Biscuit Mountain from those who want to destroy it?

Donna Andrews has scored anew with her amazing storytelling and the charming Langslow family. After twenty books, these still feel fresh and make me long to be a part of a crazy family like Meg's. For anyone not familiar with the work of Donna Andrews, this series is a fantastic read for cozy fans and the first name I reach for when I want a funny, charming, well-written murder mystery. Read her books in order, read them in any order, just read them and share them with your friends. There is not a bad one in the bunch. For anyone who is familiar with this series (Hi, Mom!), Gone Gull is as fantastic as the rest of the books in this series and might even rival my personal favorite, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, as the best of the best. Clever, charming, and a true dream to read. 



Galleys for Gone Gull were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.

Gone Gull: A Meg Langslow Mystery
By Donna Andrews
St. Martin’s Minotaur
August 2017

Review by Cynthia Chow

Readers familiar with this hilarious mystery series will be relieved to know that wherever Meg Langslow and her family travel, chaos follows. Meg has left Caerphilly, North Carolina to teach Blacksmithing at Virginia’s Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, which was purchased and renovated by her grandmother Cordelia. While Meg, husband, and their twin sons are camping out in a borrowed caravan and tent, other artists are hunkering down in their studios to guard them from recent acts of vandalism. Some of the attacks have been more embarrassing than destructive, but they have been as damaging to finances as to the egos of temperamental artists. Meg barely has time to implement her multitude of familial resources to narrow down suspects before one of the most irritating artists, Edward Prine, is found literally stabbed in the back in his own studio.

With a family that seems to revel in chaos, it’s fortunate that so many have the computer, law enforcement, or military experience to balance them out. Her mystery-loving father is eager to lend his medical assistance with forensics, while Meg’s ubiquitous notebook delegates the rest of her relatives to tasks suited to her needs and their skills. Her arrogant nature-television-show-host grandfather Dr. J. Montgomery Blake gets in the way more than he assists, but his mission to track down the Ord gulls thought to be extinct but photographed by Prine could be a clue to the death. That doesn’t mean that Grandfather also doesn’t assume that the vandalisms were instigated by corporate developers, nor Cordelia from believing it to be a rival art center. It will take more than cousin Rose Noire’s Wiccan smudging to eliminate the mojo caused cheating spouses, another murder, and Grandfather’s relentless trash-throwing Operation Gull Quest.

This continues to be a series that induces snorting laughter, as much from Meg’s complacent acceptance of her relatives as from their eccentric exploits. Meg’s humor, and the author’s talent at showcasing it, are as sharp and clever in this 21st of the series as the debut. The hilarity is matched by truly sentimental moments, with Grandfather revealing his overwhelming love of family and nature just when he seems close to crossing over into total obnoxiousness. Southern eccentricities never seemed so enchanting - or depicted so vividly - as in these novels by Donna Andrews, who continually finds way to surprise even the most jaded of mystery readers.

I have read this series since book one and this one does not disappoint!

Visiting with Meg and her family is always interesting. I love the Craft Center setting of the book and thought that I'd love to spend a week there.

This book has what we've come to expect: quirky family, interesting mystery and some twist and turns. I stayed up too late reading this one as I could not put it down.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars, I really liked it!

Book 21 in the series.

Another fun outing with Meg and family, this time at the new Biscuit Mountain Craft Center. I dearly love Meg, and it is wonderful to see her back to blacksmithing, even if it is only to teach the basics to the craft retreaters.

Of course Meg ends up smack dab in the middle of a mystery. Someone seems to have it in for the center, playing nasty pranks that could lead to the end of Cordelia's new business. Meg sets out to find out who the culprit is before that happens. And then she finds the body of one of the craft teachers.

All my favorite family members have at least bit parts in this story, which just adds to the fun.

It did start off a bit slowly, but once it got moving I couldn't put it down.

I am definitely waiting impatiently for the next Meg book, Ms. Andrews' usual holiday installment!

The book opens with Meg Langslow helping her grandmother Cordelia run Cordelia's artist retreat. There have been several incidents of misbehavior as well as some out right sabotage. Both Meg and her grandmother suspect the work of another artist cooperative, one that is not as well run (because Meg's family does everything flawlessly).
However, when the mischief escalates to murder, Meg is not amused. Then a second body turns up.
Regular Andrews readers will probably be delighted. I was little bummed that we didn't get a little more character development but there isn't usually a ton in these books.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out August 1

Gone Gull is the newest book in the Meg Langslow series. This time, Meg and her family have headed up to Biscuit Mountain to help her grandmother, Cordelia, with her summer program. Meg is teaching a blacksmith class, and the prior week had been wrought with pranks. As they head into the second week, Meg and Cordelia try to make sure the prankster has left. However, now the pranks have been upgraded to murder! When a fellow artist is found stabbed to death in his studio, we see Chief Heedles again visiting a crime scene. Meg is determined to do what she can to stop the vandal and the murderer! As usual, her curmudgeonly grand father gets involved when the murder victim also holds the secret to finding a rare breed of gulls previously thought extinct. After another murder victim pops up, there is a direct threat to her family as well. Meg steps up her game with the help of her beloved family members.

What I love about these mysteries (other than Meg herself) is Meg's family! My only complaint is that as her twins get older, we see less interaction between Meg and Michael. But as usual, Ms. Andrews has written a very entertaining mystery!

This book was not my cup of tea. I don't publicly post negative reviews so I will not share this.

I enjoyed seeing Meg with her grandmother Cordelia and how they've adjusted to having her in their lives. This was a solid mystery with some misdirection thrown in too keep you guessing. The addition of New family members makes it even better

So happy to see another book in the Meg Langslow series. This book has Meg back at the anvil teaching a blacksmithing class at her grandmother's art center. There is a lot of malicious vandalism and they are looking into both a real estate developer who want their land or a rival art center that is harassing them about copying their classes. When a murder happens, Meg and her grandfather help out the police but grandfather seems more interested in finding a rare species of seagull. Funny with a great mystery. Don't need to read the previous books but it does help with some of the humor.

I really enjoy this series and I definitely enjoyed this book. I love the family with all the quirky characters. The mystery was good. It never seemed like the author wasn't giving all the clues you needed, but I never figured out who did it. This one is definitely a keeper.

Another hit by Donna Andrews. Meg's grandmother has started an artists' retreat, with a wide range of classes and fun. Too bad there has been vandalism and dead bodies showing up. Fun to see Meg and Michael's twins getting older, and can't wait to see what they will be like as teenagers (they are eight in this book). Evil Spike is still there, and mean as ever. Overall, I enjoyed the book, although all the characters kinda threw me a bit to keep them straight, since there were plenty of teachers, students, cops and family running around. Highly recommend this book and author and series. It would still be fun without reading the others in the series, but I encourage you to give the others a try as well.