Dashing Through the Snowbirds (Meg Langslow Mystery #32) by Donna Andrews
Narrated by Bernadette Dunne
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Published: October 11, 2022

Dashing Through the Snowbirds is the 32nd book in the Meg Langslow Mystery series by Donna Andrews. I have not read the previous books and I found this one easy to read as a standalone cozy mystery. This was such a fun holiday book with a great mystery! I really enjoyed it! This is a quick read and a great addition to anyone holiday book collection.

I loved the narration by Bernadette Dunne.

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

I enjoy cozy mysteries when I’m in th Ed mood for them, and add a Christmas theme to them then all the better! This is part of a series that I’d not read yet and while I enjoyed it there were references to things that happened in earlier books. A different theme (computers, genetics) that I’ve read before in a cozy mystery do that made it interesting as well.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This is the four or fifth book i have read from this series, i admit it's not my favorite cozy mystery but i do like reading them around the holidays because they are festive! They are certainly aimed at a older crowd i feel though lol

3.5 stars!

This was a fun cozy holiday mystery that filled my heart after reading, and I would love to go back and read Donna Andrews' previous novels now. I'm fairly new to reading cozies, but how fun it was to read a holiday themed mystery this time of year. The audiobook was narrated by Bernadette Dunne, and I thought she was a great choice for narrator.

*many thanks to Minotaur and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

I love this series and each book gets better and better. In this recent addition Meg is hosting some guests from Canada that are in town to work with Kevin on a major deal for his company. Many family members are also coming to town for the holidays. I loved the Christmas setting for the book and the surprise that Meg's Dad has arranged for the family. There were many suspects in this mystery and a lot of motives to choose from. Did Meg have a killer staying in her house? There were many laugh out loud moments and narrator Bernadette Dunne did a great job bringing the story to life. I can't wait for more stories in this series.

I received a complimentary copy of this audio book from Macmillan Audio through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dashing Through the Snowbirds is the latest in Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow Mysteries. In this installment, the Langslow family is once again preparing for Christmas but this year they have a plethora of houseguests as Rob and his team at Mutant Wizards have partnered with a Canadian company to create a new genealogy website focused on consumer DNA tests. In addition, Meg's father has been building an ice rink as a Christmas surprise for the family on the property. In the middle of the night after the big reveal of the rink, the CEO of the Canadian company is found murdered on the ice.

Throughout this entire series, the author has done an excellent job of character and plotline creation and consistency from book to book. With all of the varying family and workplace dynamics, this story could have quickly gone off track but once again the author has brought an engrossing plot with a multitude of suspects, red herrings and twists that keep the reader guessing until the very end with regard to both the motive and the culprit. I look forward to many more stories involving the Langslow family and their many relatives.

The narrator of this book has done an exceptional job of creating and maintaining unique voices for each of the individual characters in addition to the connecting narration. The pace and timber of the narration is such that the listener can easily follow the storyline without getting lost or their attention wandering.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was so entertaining and I am so happy that it's a series with a ton of books! I now have a huge back-log of her books to get through and I couldn't love it more! I especially like the loving and huge family they have and how their interactions, while sometimes frustrating, show their love and care for each other. Can't wait to get started on that back-log of books!

#NetGalley

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a great job of using different voices for each character! I loved the Christmas feeling of this book. I thought it was clever how the suspects kept showing up at Meg’s door. This book is full of action and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens next!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my copy of Dashing Through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews Narrated by Bernadette Dunne in exchange for an honest review. It published October 11, 2022.
As always, Bernadette Dunne does a fabulous job with another Meg Langslow mystery! I truly look forward to, and prioritize listening to all of these books!
Donna Andrews brings it again for another fun Meg Langslow mystery! I love the banter and relationship between the large family, and the townspeople. I found the mystery to be interesting and not super predictable. This was a fun one to read, and festive, but you could totally get away with reading it any time during the year!

This book was light and airy, and is perfect if you’re in a reading slump. Looking forward to rereading around Christmas.

It has been lovely to read two Meg Langslow books back-to-back; that totally filled my good book cup up to the top.

Meg and Michael always have a houseful for Christmas [amongst other times of the year], but this year there are even more guests as a company that Mutant Wizards is now working with is being forced to stay at work over Christmas by their not-so-nice boss and unfortunately, there is [quite literally] no room at the Inn; Meg and Michael then are kind enough to open their house to these strangers and well, chaos ensues. And when a body is found in the new ice rink that Meg's dad has installed for Christmas, it is all hands on deck to try and get it solved before Christmas is totally ruined.

Filled with the typical chaos found in these books [in the BEST way possible] and all the people I have grown to love [and all the puppies and cats and the rest of the menagerie], this was a very good, fun read and would be perfect for a light Christmas-time read. ♥

I also had an audiobook ARC for this book and while I am grateful for it, I will not be doing that again. I totally forgot that I am not a fan of this narrator and with this series anyway, I'd rather read read them than listen.

4 Stars for the book, 2 stars for the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Donna Andrews, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for both the book ARC and the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars, I loved it.

Book 32 in the series.

I'm not a big Christmas fan, but I always look forward to the Meg Langslow holiday books each year. This year was no different. They're always a fun, somewhat crazy tale, filled with Meg's over the top family, along with Caerphilly favorites. This one once again made me laugh out loud multiple times.

I switched between the audio version and the ebook version depending on what I was doing, and I love the audio narrator. It made a fun distraction while walking on my treadmill in the evenings.

I will absolutely continue to read whatever this author puts out.

Dashing Through the Snow Birds was listed as a cozy mystery, a genre that I am fond of. However, this particular story was hard for me to finish. I was at least a third of the way through the book before I could discern any sort of mystery. And it took me forced effort to continue with the story. The extensive descriptions and extraneous details that lent nothing to the story or mystery, were difficult to get through.

They were multiple characters, with little description of them. Which made it difficult to follow the characters movements.

Having realized that this is the latest addition of a long running series, I realize the author may be writing to her longtime fan base. Which is fabulous, but also is detrimental to any new readers of her series. I love series, and may find book one in the series, just to see if a few of the beginning books were easier to follow. Many times, books in the later part of the series have so much backstory built in, that the author forgets to include information for new reader of the series.

Because I was given an advanced listener copy from NetGalley, I did finish the story. Had I borrowed from the library, I may not have finished the book.

As I said, I love series of books, and since this one has been such a long running series, I will search out the beginning and see if I can start from there. I am interested in the family that the series follows, and all of their unusual occupations and relationships. So, I will at least give a few of the authors (Donna Andrews) other books in a series a try.

Was surprised this was the 32nd book in the Meg Langslow’s cozi mystery series. Can be a standalone, but the writing was so well thought out and the mystery kept me listening longer than my morning walk. I just had to know want would happen next.
Meg has a houseful of unexpected guests from Canada working with her brother on a DNA project. Of course being that Christmas is around the corner family are also coming to visit. The place is a little hectic with all the comings and goings, plus the boss of the Canadians is a jeck that has gotten on everyone’s wrong side. So when he is founded dead in the middle of the night under mysterious circumstances there is no end to whodunnit.
The narrator was very good and really kept me interested throughout the story. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #DashingthroughtheSnowbirds

I am in love with this series. This is all the cozy I want. Once again it's Christmas and once again Meg Lanslow's house is packed to the gills. Once again, it's her brother Rob's fault, as his company hired a Canadian DNA company and all the employees are in-house. Unfortunately the head of this company is a jerk, and more unfortunately, he is found dead in Meg's back yard. I love these audiobooks, I love these stories, I love it.

DASHING THROUGH THE SNOWBIRDS is the thirty-second book in the well-loved Meg Langslow Mystery series by Donna Andrews. Once again, the author brings Christmas to life on the pages. Filled with holiday cheer, family and friends gathered from near and far, delectable feasts, and… murder. Favorite characters populate the story with protagonist Meg Langslow taking the lead as she tries to entertain a group of Canadian employees forced to spend the holidays stuck at her home. I especially enjoyed how Meg’s nephew is getting involved in the investigations. He’s become a great sidekick.

I appreciated the theme of genealogy and DNA analysis and what can go wrong with a corrupt company that handles such sensitive information. The plot was well-paced and while there was a bit of technical information to make it feel more authentic, the storyline never bogged down. In fact, the humor woven throughout and the matter-of-fact attitude of Meg gave the book a holly jolly feeling. While you can easily read the book as a standalone, this is one of those series you’ll love starting from the beginning to get to the know the characters as cherished friends.

I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, thanks to MacMillan Audio. Narrator Bernadette Dunn masterfully captures the voice and attitude of Meg Langslow, as well as the other characters in the book. Her impressive voice range never left any doubt as to who was speaking and added to the overall enjoyment of the book.

Number 32 in the Meg Langslow series, it's Christmas time and Meg's boss is made to stay in Canada for work instead of with her friends and family. Then her boss is murdered. Can Meg solve the crime? Fans of series will enjoy this holiday themed read.

Donna Andrews is a new to me author. Obviously this is a long running series of cozy mysteries but the first one I've read. Or in my case, listened to. I liked the narrator of the book. The voice was kind of unique and pleasant to listen to.

The story itself could have been interesting but I felt bogged down by some many unnecessary words. I spent much of the beginning asking when the mystery was going to start because it was taking forever to get to it. So many details/words that I didn't care about made it feel like we'd never get to the point. We went through all Meg's thought processes which sometimes took time to get through. And there was just so much going on that had nothing to do with the mystery. It was as if the mystery wasn't interesting enough so it had to be filled in with a lot of whatever to give more something. One example was in the food. One could have simply said that the cook had made a lot of pizza with a large variety of toppings. But instead a long list of toppings was given. I didn't care what kind of pizza they were going to eat. Pizza toppings didn't add to the story. I had the feeling that if one removed all the fluffy stuff the book would be half the length.

Having never read other Meg Langslow books, I kept wondering if these people had a bed and breakfast and that is why all the people were staying there. And I kept wondering why they had to "entertain" the guests. If I'm staying somewhere for a work project, I wouldn't be expecting anyone to entertain me. Perhaps all the things that I didn't really get were things that would have been clear to me if I'd been reading the series all along.

Overall, this was just an okay read for me.

Sex: no
Language: some
Violence: yes
*I received a complimentary audio version of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.

We are back in Caerphilly and it is Christmas time and the Canadians have come to town to stay with Meg and her family and Aunt Nora is cooking all her French finest gourmet to keep the homesickness at bay. What are they going to do when a body is discovered on the skating pond and it just so happens to be the CEO who they had just evicted that night because he was so rude? Well, first when his father comes to town he tells everyone they can go home to their families but there is a storm coming in. This cozy mystery is full of all the antics just as the previous ones. Don't get too comfortable because there is a twist around each corner.

Dashing Through the Snowbirds is the 32nd!! book in the Meg Langsow series…it is however the first book that I have read…or rather listened to. And while I was still able to understand and enjoy the book quite a bit, I can’t help but think I’d have enjoyed it even more had I been more familiar with the history of these characters…which I intend to slowly rectify as I work my way through the previous 31 books in the series. (I’ve now downloaded the first two books in the series: Murder with Peacocks and Murder with Puffins)

As for the story of Snowbirds, it’s Christmas and Meg has more than a few unexpected (and not exactly all that welcome) guests in the form of the CEO of Acergen (a small Canadian DNA company) and his team, that are there to work with Mutant Wizards (the company run by Meg’s brother). Since it’s Christmas and everything else is booked up, Meg pretty much takes them all in. Well the CEO is more or less a jerk so it’s no surprise he ends up dead. And while few tears will be shed for him, there are way more than a few suspects on hand. And as this is the Meg Langsow series, you guessed it, Meg jumps in to help solve the case.

This book was narrated by Bernadette Dunne and she does an great job. It’s a fun story which I definitely enjoyed (especially as I love almost any story that features Christmas). As I said earlier, I think I’d have enjoyed it even more had I been more familiar with the series and characters that inhabit it. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of Dashing Through the Snowbirds.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3J6FCXGXWMGLK/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv