Meg is at it again in this flapping good cozy! As usual, Meg is always helping out everyone in the community, and this time she's at Trinity Episcopal Church. Just as she's locking up, she makes sure the toucan that is being fostered is comfortable and cozy. All of a sudden there comes the sound of hammering below. She creeps into the underground crypt and finds a body that doesn't belong. Disarray follows this body making her think that it's not just murder on someone's ind.

The victim? He was very unhappy about his wife's ashes and appeared to be trying to take them back. Did someone want to actually murder this man? Or did they just interrupt him during a robbery. If so, why leave behind a stunning ruby?

Or could the innocent toucan be the motive after all? Join all the crew as they assist Meg in solving this unflappable mystery.

A dead body is found in the church's crypt, ehem, columbarium, and it's one that's not supposed to be there! Meg, who is filling in with some church chores for Robin who is on maternity leave, finds herself getting in the middle of pot shots and a toucan that everyone seems to think is a parrot that can speak. I breezed through this read. I was intrigued by the possibility of hidden jewels and it reminded me of some of the jewel princess chapter books I read as a kid. I didn't want to put this one down! The best part of this story was Meg's dad working with Ragnar to try and recreate the party night that the jewels reportedly went missing.

Quick, easy read with characters to you love or characters you love to hate. The plot twists and turns had me guessing until the very end.

Meg has some experience helping the police solve crimes in the small town of Caerphilly so when she discovers the body of a man who’s been murdered in the Trinity Episcopal Church it doesn’t take long before she’s up to her neck in Caerphilly’s newest mystery. Toucan Keep a Secret, the twenty-third book in the Meg Langslow series has Meg delving into local history as she researches an old jewel heist.

What I enjoy about this series is that Meg, a busy wife and mother of twins, is so widely connected to everyone in town that she is often a community stage manager, going from one place to another solving problems day in, day out with a side order of crime-fighting tucked in there. One of the delightful aspects of this series is that Meg’s character is living a happy life with a stable home and half the cast of quirky characters in these books are beloved Langslow family members. The mystery and drama don’t play out in her home life which is a lovely thing to encounter in a series.

The story starts with Meg working late into the night at her church. She's filling in for the pastor who is on maternity leave. She thinks she's alone, but hears hammering. She looks out the window & sees a light in the columbarium (the underground crypt where cremated remains are buried), After calling 911 Meg investigates. She finds that several niches have been opened and the body of one of the parishioners is in the middle of the mess. This is the lead in to a good mystery that involves a decades old local robbery.

Toucan Keep a Secret is the 23rd book in the Meg Langslow mystery series. It was a nice read, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if I had read the previous books. The author does a pretty good job of describing the main characters, but there's nothing like reading a series in order. There were a lot of minor characters and I kept getting them mixed up. At first I clicked on them to see when they entered the story, but I soon decided it wasn't worth it.

This was an enjoyable read, but I strongly recommend reading the earlier books first.

I love the Meg Langslow Mystery series and this is the 23rd book. Meg is still super busy, extra now that the Reverend Robin Smith is on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. Meg is locking up the church after several late meetings and notices lights in the cemetery. She discovers on of the church members dead in the crypt, columbarium as the members of the church like to call it. Meg works closely with Chief Burke and discovers this murder is tied to a cold case robbery from many years ago. The family is all available to help and it's hard to believe the twins are now in school and on the local baseball team. This can be read as a stand alone but it's more fun knowing who all the characters are and how they fit in Meg's life. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Oh how I love these books!!
Once again Donna Andrews delivers a great book, full of fun, relatable characters, a very good mystery and laughter throughout the whole book.
Meg, Michael and the Twins are just such a great main base family and add all of Meg's kooky family that swirls around them and then the characters of the town of Caerphilly just top everything off like a lovely cherry on top of a fantastic ice cream sundae!

This adventure features mostly Meg and her father with showings from her Mom and Michael and the boys, but its mostly Meg and her Dad [plus the sheriff] and a very messy toucan. And several very dead people. And a old mystery that also needs solved before the murderer strikes again.

This was such a good book and I loved every second of it. She really cannot write them fast enough to suit me! ;-)

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is hard to believe that TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET is the twenty-third installment in the long running Meg Langslow series. Time spent with Meg and her zany family is always time well spent. At this point, these characters are like extended family to me, and they are what keep me coming back for more.

This time around, Meg helps out at her church when the reverend is put on bed rest. While locking up to the building and checking on the temporary resident toucan, Meg discovers one of the vestry members murdered in the columbarium. Additionally, several of the crypts have been damaged and a rather impressive ring has appeared, leading to a thirty year old crime. Meg, along with Chief Burk and her father, work through the suspects and the clues to get to the truth.

The mystery within the pages of TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET is interesting but quite easy to solve. Even so, figuring it out along with Meg is fun and always entertaining. Meg’s family is not featured as much as in previous books, and I miss them. The pace is steady and Andrews always manages to insert plenty of humor and absurdity in the story.

I recommend TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET to any cozy reader. I cannot wait to see what Meg gets into next.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.

4.5 stars. A terrific addition to the series. The setting allowed the author to introduce some new eccentric characters into the book (one of my favorite features of the series). The author strikes a terrific balance between the central mystery and the ongoing events of the community (which are always so fun!). I especially loved the wrap up to this one after the murderer was revealed. I even got choked up over one interaction - something I rarely do with this funny series, but the moment was heart-tugging and perfect. The author hit all the right notes with this story!

I've seen this series around for years and probably even own a few but I don't think I've ever read one of the previous 22. However, the title was just too good to pass up so I decided to take a chance! One of my favorite things about a cozy mystery series is when starting the book feels like reuniting with old friends. Normally this doesn't happen unless I've been reading a series for awhile but I kind of felt that right from the start here. I found Donna Andrews' writing style so relaxed and so engaging that I was instantly pulled in. I was really surprised with just how easy it was to jump in this far into the series. I had no problems getting into the story and keeping track of who was who. The mystery was really good though to be fair the digging into past mysteries is probably my favorite storyline but I felt it was done really wonderfully here with lots of bits and pieces of information, gossip, and research. I'm really curious to read more from the series so I'm excited that I have 22 books to catch up on! Don't let that this is #23 scare you away. This is a fun series with a really interesting and likable main character set in a small town peopled with entertaining but not over the top characters.

A fun cozy series to add to any cozy mystery lover's reading pile (let's be real, our TBRs are huge!)

Be warned, this series is huge- this is book #23! Get your reading lamp ready because you won't be putting this book down until it's done.

This is my first time reading a Mag Langslow book (why didn't I read this series sooner?!) but did not make it difficult to keep up even though I had not read any of the previous books in the series.

I found Mag a really great leading character. She's likable and a blue collar worker who is relatable.

She is caught up in a mystery for the books. The mystery is done very well, kept me guessing and wanting MORE!

Be back later, I have 22 more Mag Langslow books to read with awesome bird puns!

ARC via NetGalley

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

Book 23 in the series.

I always love to read about Meg and her family. The plots are always entertaining and I had several laugh out loud moments with this one. Meg is the typical nosy protagonist, but she's not stupid about it. She doesn't deliberately blunder in to dangerous situations, even while she does her best to help the police figure out who is responsible. The cold case element to this book added another layer that was interesting.

It was a fun, fast, read that I pretty much didn't put down until it was done.

Being a long running series, I suggest starting with early books, not because you have to, but because they're FUN and it's always interesting to see how the main characters have changed.

Love this delightful series. Amusing and engaging addition. It kept me guessing and a little confused, but always entertained.

Meg Langslow lives in Caerphilly with her husband and two young sons. Since the current female pastor is on bed-rest during the last weeks of her pregnancy, Meg and other members of the Trinity Church have volunteered to lock up church and check on Admiral Nimitz, a bird the pastor is taking care of while its owner is deployed, every night. During her turn as the locking up person, Meg hears loud banging somewhere on the church property. Checking this noise out, she finds a dead church member in the church crypt. Meg becomes informally involved in the investigation into how the man was murdered. As Meg ferrets out clues, she discovers a long ago, unsolved crime, that may have some connection to this latest murder. Further investigation into this long past, unsolved crime reveals it is involved in this latest murder. Though not officially a member of the legal team investigating the murder, Meg manages to get access to whatever is discovered, while doing her best to keep the legal team appraised of what she finds, as they move on to a resolution of the murder and other crime. However, the team, the Trinity Church and its members are not quite prepared for how this whole investigation turns out.

I have not read any other books in the series, but this one was a good stand-alone. There were only a few minor questions about things that obviously had happened in earlier books and characters who had been introduced, and these questions disappeared quickly as I got into the book. I was a bit taken back by the way Meg and the local law enforcement immediately began working in tandem on the crime. Usually, the main character in any series, unless he/she is a law enforcement official, does not get along quite so easily or quickly with the locals or become so involved from the get-go, even when there are few locals to investigate the crime. Meg is obviously a well know, well accepted and well-respected member of the community. She also obviously has not much of a job as an assistant to the mayor, since she spent all of her time working on the murder in the book. I found this interesting and a bit different from the settings of other books. However, Meg is a very likeable character and does do her best not to interfere or cause problems, keeping law enforcement well apprised of what she learns. The story flowed nicely and moved along at a steady, solid pace. I enjoyed reading the book and found the author’s writing style quite comfortable. I think this is a good addition to the series, though, as I said, I have not read any other books in this series. I probably will after reading this one. I think anyone who enjoys a good, solid, mystery and/or who is not really interested in a romance intertwined in the story line will enjoy this. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

I ADORE this series and this 23rd next in series is as pleasing as the first in series ! This book can be read as a stand alone if you have not read the entire series. I highly recommend the series as one of my favorite cozy series . I read this book in one sitting as it was far to much fun to put down until the end.
In this next in series our protagonist Meg, is locking up at her church one evening when she sees a light in the supposedly empty crypt. Upon entering she discovers the body of a member of the vestry who's been bludgeoned to death with a crowbar, and also the scattered ashes and broken urns of several late members of the congregation, as well as a priceless ruby ring! These mysteries are soon to be solved by our intripd crime solving savvy Meg as she traverses many clues and suspects. A non speaking Toucan also has the key he silently holds inside to one of the clues. The town of Caerphilly is always a delight. I love how Meg has such warm and strong friendships with her friends. Meg is a skilled compassionate protagonist with a heart . 5 stars! This series is great fun and I wish it will continue for many more years.
Thank you to Net Galley and to the publisher for the ARC for review. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

Toucan Keep a Secret about a thirty-year-old robbery and murder.

By all accounts, Junius Hagley was not a nice man. Frustrated by the paperwork to disintern his wife’s cremated remains, he took matters, and a crowbar, into his own hands to rectify the situation. When someone interrupts, and then murders him, Meg investigates for Pastor Robin, who is on pregnancy bedrest.

It’s always a pleasure to return to Meg’s world. After 23 books, her family and friends feel like my friends too. I would have liked more time with Michael and the boys—even with her ironwork—which were much more prevalent in the early entries in the series. Still Toucan Keep a Secret is a good cozy mystery worth 4 stars.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This cozy series, in which each book can be read as a standalone, continues to impress largely because it keeps it real. Meg, our intrepid amateur, is less a detective than someone who works closely with the police in her small town. I like that she knows the 911 dispatch, the chief, Herman the forensics guy etc and that she works with them rather than around them. She's also got a great family but those dynamics don't overwhelm the plot which in this case revolves around a 37 year old robbery/mystery and a current murder in the columbaria. Meg's got a good sense of humor, a thoughtful mind, and is nice and calm when others might not be (for example while being shot at in a parking lot.). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This was a really good read.

I have enjoyed all twenty-three books in this wonderful series and this one is my new favorite. Meg and her family have such a love of life, living it as it comes, This time Meg is locking up the church after the vestry meeting and hears banging coming from the columbarium - please don't confuse it with a crypt - and sees a light inside when it shouldn't be there. Just like the dead body shouldn't be there. Somebody has been trying to pry off the plaques from various niches with a crowbar then goes so far as to use it as a murder weapon. Amid the scattered ashes and broken glass and china Meg finds the body of one of Trinity churches least favorite members.
If that wasn't enough to deal with, now there is a toucan who needs tending to - his name is Nimitz and he is a very messy bird. That's no reason for somebody to want to snatch him. Meg is then asked to act on behalf of the church to contact all of the next of kin of the damaged niches and find out how they want to proceed with the repairs, putting the urns back where they belong. That gives Meg the perfect excuse to ask a whole lot of questions because every single one of the defiled niches and urns had a connection to a jewel robbery that happened way back in the 1970's.. The jewelry was never recovered, the crime never solved. Until, of course, Meg gets involved, with the blessing of the local police.
I'm hard pressed to say which character in this series is my favorite. Is it Meg? Is it her delightful father, a retired doctor? Is it her larger than life grandfather with his private zoo? Not to forget her young sons and her mother and her grandmother. These are people I would love to call family and friends. There would never, ever be a dull moment.

Toucan Keep a Secret by Donna Andrews is the 23th book in the Meg Langslow series, and another great addition. One evening Meg Lanslow is locking up the Episcopal
Church when she hears hammering in the columbarium and goes to investigate, finding a dead body and some open cremated remains. Determined to keep Rev. Robyn Smith calm while she is on bed rest for her pregnancy, Meg investigates. 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.

TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET by Donna Andrews
The Twenty-Third Meg Langslow Mystery

With Reverend Robyn Smith on bed rest, Meg Langslow is on duty at Trinity Episcopalian. Loud banging interrupts her from securing the church for the night and leads her to the graveyard only to find Julius Hagley, one of the Muttering Misogynists, dead inside the vandalized columbarium. Did he interrupt an intruder or did the women in the vestry finally have enough of him? Or was his murder somehow connected to an old unsolved jewel robbery, an event that ties all the disturbed cremains together?

A return to Caerphilly, Virginia is a return to fun. Donna Andrews leads her zany cast of characters through a well plotted mystery filled with laughs.

It doesn't matter if you've read each previous book in the series, have been away a while and missed a few, or if this is your first Meg Langslow Mystery, you can jump right in and not feel lost or as if you had missed something. Despite being the twenty-third book in the series TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET remains fresh.

I quite enjoyed the tie in to an unsolved mystery. Delving into the past while seeing its effects on the present bring added dimension to the story. I also love how Meg gets the whole family and community involved, in helping the toucan, helping the Smiths, and solving the murder! TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET is a great addition to this long-running series.