This was a fun read! The bird watching theme will make this book a treat for birders! The multi generational family members who together solve a light mystery are all written with a warm, realistic tone. This is the first book, I’ve read by Donna Andrews and it has inspired me to look for more titles from her which I am going to do this very minute! Highly recommend!

Meg and Michael have dozens of programmers staying at their home during the holidays so they can finish a project for her brothers company. When the boss who has brought them all to Caerphilly is found murdered the suspect list is endless. The motives for his murder are many, they range from faulty DNA results to invasion of privacy. Meg is doing her best to track down the killer while maintaining the holiday spirit for everyone. With so many questions to be answered can Meg find the murderer before.the whole holiday is ruined for all?

I always look forward to each year an early holiday gift in the form of Donna Andrew's annual holiday installment in the bird themed Meg Langslow series; this year's book is Dashing Through the Snowbirds. This Christmas a herd of Canadians from an Ancestry like company have taken up residence at the Langslow residence while they work on a project with Meg’s brother’s company's computer programmers. Things are going wrong with project and they get even worse when one of the group turns up dead on Meg’s property. There is also a subplot for those that enjoyed the true crime podcast storyline in the previous novel, about Meg’s nephew Kevin’s fellow podcaster, Casey, being stalked by a fan. As usual Meg’s quirky relatives play a large part in the charm of the story. Particularly in this novel, Meg’s grandfather causes trouble and lends a helping hand. For cozy mystery fans Dashing Through the Snowbirds is a warm cup of holiday cheer.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters are great. A little humor to go with the mystery as well.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy Christmas stories and cozy mysteries, so this was one that caught my attention. It was interesting to see how the DNA was tied to genealogy and the murder. Numerous red herrings will keep the reader sleuthing along with the characters. While this book is part of a series, it can easily stand alone. Things started out a bit slowly, but the pace picked up. The story is well written, and the characters are complex and believable. This is a great option for your holiday reading list.

Another fantastic entry in the Meg Langslow series. The mystery is interesting and, while pretty easy to figure out still has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Of course the characters are, as always fun. Ms. Andrews strikes the perfect balance between quirky and likeable so no one comes off as annoying our unrealistic. To be honest, I'd enjoy these books without the murders because the Langslows and they're kin are just so much fun.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I love my visits with Meg, Michael, and her family. Every book is like a visit with old friends. Great holiday mystery. I look forward to my next cisit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Meg and her whole crazy extended family are back in the extra-Christmas-e, Dashing Through the Snowbirds.

Meg's brother Rob is hosting (at Meg's house of course) a Canadian team of software developers as part of a new contract his company just landed. However, there are big troubles brewing within the affiliated company. The CEO, Ian, is just plain obnoxious. His company's financials may be much darker than they appear in the contractual documents. Worst of all, that leaves a boatload of suspects when he is found bludgeoned in Meg’s back pasture. All of this drama fails to even dent the prevailing Christmas cheer felt throughout the book.

I've been reading this series since the beginning, and I always look forward to the holiday tales to get me in the spirit of the season. Meg, Michael and the whole extremely large family seem as familiar as my own family now. While this book can be read as a standalone, the characters’ stories do have a series-spanning theme that should also be explored.

I love the characters, the atmosphere, the mystery and especially the humor in Dashing Through the Snowbirds. I think you will too. 5 stars and a favorite! Don’t miss it!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

fun read! lots of interesting complex characters, murder and mayhem ensue with lots of twists and turns. A real page turner and a must read!

Another fun mystery read in the Meg Langslow mystery series. The Christmas elements along with a great plot make for a wonderful Christmas read.
Lots of intrigue and interesting suspects await you in Dashing Through the Snowbirds.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Donna Andrews has done it again with her holiday book. It is amazing how Meg is allways in the thick of things. She doesnt sleep but gets through everything keeping everything straight and making it fun and enjoyable holiday read. Enjoyed getting the latest book on arcs even though I am behind in my reading. I truly enjoyed it and hope to see more!!!!

The latest installment in Donna Andrew's bird-themed cozy mystery series is definitely a fan pleaser. All the regular characters are back in this Christmas mystery. I enjoy that while technically a Cozy Mystery, Andrew's books aren't as sappy as your typical florist/caterer/antique shop own/etc. protagonist. I found Dashing Through the Snowbirds to be less silly/contrived than some previous books in the series. My only complaint was an editing error - in one scene a suspect is handcuffed with her hands behind her back and then later in the same scene she is described as gesturing with her hands (ooops - hard to do while restrained.). Overall I quite enjoyed the story and will definitely recommend it to customers looking for a fun holiday mystery.

This might be my favourite Christmas story yet! One of my absolute favourite series, this had me laughing out loud and confusing those around me. The zany plots, the many suspects, the surprises and food, all were super.

I love the absolute chaos that happens in every Meg Langslow book and the Christmas ones are always the most fun. While we are missing the dive bombing blue jays that were flying around in the last Christmas book we have snow, murder, a stalker (or several), a host of relatives running around all being expertly directed by Meg's mother, and a flock of quite unhappy Canadians who would rather be anywhere else then in this house in Virginia right before Christmas.

The murder doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book but there is so much going on that it never feels like the plot is dragging. I liked how much Rob's company is pulled into the plot and seeing more of Kevin and Festus in their professional roles. There are a number of plot points going on from corporate malfeasance to the identity of potential stalkers to just the regular Langslow family Christmas chaos and I loved each and every one of them.

This is such a fun series but there are a lot of characters and side characters and animals so it can be a bit hard to keep up with whose who. While you really can jump in anywhere the more books you read the better the series will get as you get to know the characters more and more.

I guess I'm in a sentimental frame of mind, wanting to vicariously live in either a town like Goosebush, where strong friendships have created a fictive family that takes care of each other, or in Caerphilly, where the extremely large Langslow family, with its dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, constantly pour in and out of Meg's kitchen and life, always ready to pitch in and help with the task at hand, whether that's cooking for a crowd or solving a murder. Meg Langslow has so many relatives that pepper her mysteries that sometimes I get confused over who is who, but that's not the case this time, in the latest book in this long running series. It's Christmas in Caerphilly, and Meg's house is overrun with the employees of a genealogy company her brother's company is in the process of buying. There's a deadline looming on the project they are all working frantically on so that they can return to Canada for Christmas. But then the boss is murdered, and everyone's plans change. Ms. Andrews has this formula down to an art, yet somehow manages to make each book read fresh, and this is no exception. Meg's large family is still present, but their involvement in the murder investigation is scaled back from other books in the series, which means the cast of characters is not unwieldy and their oft-crazy shenanigans don't upstage the murder. I wish I had a big family that was always underfoot, like Meg, so a visit to Caerphilly is always wonderful. This soon-to-be-published book is a great holiday read, and I recommend it (and the whole series).

There’s not a better time to visit Meg and her extended family than at Christmastime. Meg’s mother has assumed the responsibility of decorating the house with elaborate trimmings with hidden speakers for piping in music but, of course, this involves the help of numerous relatives. Cousin Nora, the cooking whiz, of the family has arrived to take over the kitchen while her dad has been working on some secret construction between the two properties. To add to the confusion, the house is accommodating workers from Canada who are working on an project with her brother’s computer firm—upset Canadian snowbirds who are missing their families over this season. The group begin watching for Junco birds since they are sure they are indicative of snow. Add to all this confusion, the very unfriendly boss of the Canadians winds up dead on the ice rink that Dad has been constructing. Meg, in her twin mobile reminds me of Santa with her ever-present planner as the delivery person, picker-upper for all, and constant meeting person in addition to helping the sheriff figure out who committed the murder in an ever growing list of suspects. With the wonderful descriptions of food, a visit to Grandpa’s zoo and a delivery of baby kittens, it definitely lives up to the Christmas theme. Donna Andrews never fails to delivery for fun and action plus the opportunity to solve a mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an ARC of this book; this is my honest review.

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.

Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow books are always fun, and this one was no exception. Andrews must be delightful in real life because her sense of humor infuses her books, and the zaniness of Meg's family and friends lights up the pages. There is always something highly amusing going on.

"Dashing Through the Snowbirds" is one of the Christmas-themed books; they are uniformly enjoyable. This time Meg's got Canadians staying with her, a dozen of them, including the murder victim. I don't like spoilers so I won't give any. Suffice it to say that Meg solves the mystery and the book ends satisfactorily.

This is #32 in this long-running series. As one would expect, some books are better than others. This is a particularly good one, and is heartily recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Another great cozy mystery with Meg Langslow and her huge family! It's a Christmas time mystery and it's a lot of fun. It has all the right ingredients for a murder mystery: a victim that is very unlikeable, a lot of suspects, a lot of secrets and a determined sleuth. The book is a fast read and I enjoyed all of it. I love Meg and her family. They are quirky and fun. I've only read two of the books in this series but feel pretty confident that I could pick up any and find enjoyment in the story. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I received an ARC of this book. I loved this charming tale of family and suspense. Complex yet easy to follow, this one is a page-turner. Highly recommend!