Honestly, the town of Cearphilly would have imploded by now if it were not for Meg and her family. Lucky for those who live there, Meg has become the most adept problem-solver, calmly and creatively tackling the most ridiculously funny catastrophes. In this entry in the long-standing and consistently on point series, dozens of turkeys invade (with a little help) a quiet neighborhood that is already dealing with a less than capable home improvement show working on one of the homes. As usual and expected, someone is murdered and multiple mysteries and suspects abound. (The murder is expected by me, that is - the long-time reader. I’m not sure why Meg seems surprised when bodies show up. She should just start looking around for them when the unique disaster first happens.)

Fast-paced, full of fun, and clever distractors make this an excellent escape from your own daily routines (unless, of course, you are rounding up turkeys, climbing fences, getting your basement-dwelling nephew to put up and review security cameras, and trying to keep track of who is going to be a dinner and/or overnight guest on any given night, in which case this one might hit too close to home). Seriously – stop reading my review and buy the book, clear your calendar, and start reading and laughing!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this hilarious cozy mystery.

What do you do when wild turkeys overrun your street? All while a house is being made over for tv? Meg and her family always land in the middle of these situations. The town would be lost without them. Donna Andrews has again given us a laugh out loud mystery!

I recieved a free eARC of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

I have literally had this book pre-ordered since it was announced. Donna Andrews is one of my favorite mystery authors, so naturally I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read and review it.

If you haven't met the town of Caerphilly. VA, a small college town in a farming community in Virginia, with a rather large population of colorful characters. I suggest reading an earlier book or two in the series. While I enjoy returning to visit Meg and the other townspeople, I suspect coming in this late in the series would be a bit confusing, at best. As someone who grew up in a VA college town in a farming community, the fictional Caerphilly feels like home to me.

If you have enjoyed Meg's prior adventures, you'll enjoy this one, from the less than competent reality show, flock of feral turkeys, and problems that can be solved with the help of Meg's organizing skills (her blacksmithing didn't come into play in this one, although her parenting skills do) and a community that works together. . Like in Andrews' prior books, all violence happens off screen and is non-graphic, and characters who have bad things happen tend to be less than nice people. This series is often one of the first I recommend for kids who are advanced readers and want books with a little higher reading level, but aren't ready for sex or anything too intense, and this installment is more than the same.

And, I do have one question....can the Weed Warriors come to my house?

I look forward to when this book is released and I get my copy to keep.

35 books in and Meg is just as delightful as ever! Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced chance to read this new installment of one of my favorite series!

I am a huge fan of Donna Andrews and the Meg Langslow series. Meg and the community she's build feel like my friends and I am always up for another one of their adventures. When a series has gone on as long as this one has, the characters and setting are a huge part of the appeal. Fans want to visit them for a little mini-vacation from reality. That means the mystery aspect of the book needs to be even more tightly plotted than usual. Donna Andrews is always up to this challenge. If you are already familiar with this series, you will enjoy this latest installment, with feral turkeys, a sub-par home makeover show and cyber crime to boot. If you haven't met Meg and company yet, you can start anywhere. I'm usually a stickler for reading in order, but in this case I started with a couple of the Christmas stories. I liked them so much I went back to the first book, Murder with Peacocks, and read the series through.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my copy of Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews in exchange for an honest review. It publishes August 6, 2024.
Another fun book in this series, I'm so glad that Donna Andrews is still writing them. I really appreciate all the bird facts, and the fact that I get to learn along with help solve a mystery! One thing about this book that took me by surprise is that there was quite a lot of fowl...er... foul-language. I was a little taken-aback by this, as I don't recall noticing so much colorful language in previous books.
Overall, this fits right in with the rest of the series!

This is another fun Meg Langslow cozy mystery. This time Bland Street in Caerphilly is overrun by turkeys and television crews. When a resident brings in a reality TV show to renovate her house, someone gets angry enough to have feral turkeys brought to the street causing massive chaos and hilarity. When Meg and the mayor go to investigate, they find that the house is in bad shape and that the show hasn’t followed any of the permits from the town. Later that same resident, Mrs. Smetkamp is found dead in her shed, Meg is on the case wearing her “Special Assistant to the Mayor” hat. This is another fun bird themed book and installment to the series. I enjoyed it.

This is such a fun cozy mystery series that never disappoints. I love the bird-related titles and the fact that birds and other animals feature prominently in each book. This particular installment, we get turkeys, lots and lots of turkeys; and it's not even Thanksgiving. We also get many of the familiar characters that long-time readers of Donna Andrews will have come to know and love, but as usual, we meet a few new people as well. These books are quirky and delightful. They're perfect for an afternoon read or to take on vacation went you want some light reading. This one is especially timely because it centers around a home makeover show that has the whole town in an uproar. Donna Andrews always finds a way to take current trends or popular fads and plant them smack dab in the middle of her cozies making them appeal to a wide range of readers. I think Between a Flock and a Hard Place is a great read for long-time fans and newcomers alike.

Meg has a new assignment from the mayor. A home renovation television program has come to town to redo the Smetkamp's home in a charming, historic neighborhood. The neighbors are outraged, Mrs. Smetkamp is making constant demands, and the company is playing fast and loose with building permits.

Then someone herds the town's feral turkeys to the neighborhood. The turkeys are large, aggressive and resistant to being herded back to where they belong which is at Meg's grandfather's research facility. They manage to shut down the building project and cause all sorts of chaos in the neighborhood. While the sheriff is looking for the culprits, Megs father and grandfather want to find them too - because they want to know how they managed to get all the turkeys into the neighborhood. They've been having trouble moving the turkeys around.

While Meg is trying to arrange a turkey round-up, the mayor who is also a building contractor discovers that the TV crew has demolished almost all of the load-bearing walls in their reno and made the house not only unlivable but an active danger for anyone entering it. He immediately shuts down any activities at the reno.

On the night of the round-up, Meg discovers Mrs. Smetkamp's body is the small woodworking shed at the back of her home. It is an obvious murder since she was stabbed with one of the wood rasps from the scene. As usual, there are a lot of suspects from her disgruntled neighbors to the TV crew who had been trying to work with her.

This was another fun and funny episode in a long-running series. I enjoy Meg's ability to keep her head and solve problems.

It's hard to describe how happy it makes me when I have a new Donna Andrews to read. I feel like I'm spending time with friends that I haven't seen in a long time, but they are the sort of friends that you can pick right up with as if you had just seen them yesterday. This book was no different. Donna Andrews hasn't dropped the ball yet, and I'm now looking forward to the next book eagerly.

Donna Andrews has done it Again!!! Her latest Meg Langslow novel, Between a Flock and a Hard Place is equal measures of cute, hilarious, mystery, and thrilling, but cozy-style thrilling.

In this latest installment of Meg Langslow’s life in Caerphilly, she finds herself having to devote almost all of her time as the Mayor’s minion, as the most bizarre events are taking place in Caerphilly. Instead of her normal blacksmith work, she finds herself babysitting the production crew for a home improvement show, who are supposed to be renovating the Smetkamp’s historic house.

On top of this tedious job, she finds herself in the middle of Turkeygate: a wild turkey infestation that was rehomed to disrupt the film crew, but instead, the turkeys disrupt the entire neighborhood and threaten the lives and wellbeing of the local residents and their property. Meg’s grandfather is willing to offer them sanctuary in his zoo/wildlife refuge, but they have to get them there first.

Meg, Randall, Chief Burke, and Sheriff all have to work together to find who and how the turkeys were moved to the Smetkamp’s house, and also what the shady producer of the show is up to. Just when they think that they’ve solved one mystery, another thrilling incident or two pop up.

Will Meg, Randall, and Chief Burke get buried under the pressure of it all?

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Minotaur books for this wonderful ARC that I loved!!!

Between A Flock and A Hard Place by Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow #35) 5 stars

The first Meg Langslow mystery for 2024 – Awesome

Wearing her Special Assistant to the Mayor hat, Meg Langslow has to navigate a contentious neighborhood dispute. The Smetkamp’s have been chosen to be in a home makeover reality show – Marvelous Mansions. Unfortunately, the makeover show appears to be run by somebody with no construction experience and the noise and inconvenience have been angering the neighborhood. The tensions increase when wild turkeys are moved into the Smetkamp’s front yard. So other than construction woes, the neighborhood must now deal with feral wild turkeys – the poop, the noise and the damage.

In the midst of checking the excavations, the Mayor (who also runs Shiffley Construction) looks at the interior and discovers that the building could collapse due to poor safeguards. The Mayor shuts the show down and two dead bodies are later found on the property, one really old body and Mrs. Smetkamp. First, identify the older female corpse and two who killed Mrs. Smetkamp. For the later, there are numerous suspects and Meg, the Chief will have their hands full trying to find out the real culprit.

I thought this one was hysterically funny (the turkeys!!); the mystery was excellent and the few red herrings really had me going in another direction. I got to see my favorite Pomeranians and all I can say is more please. My favorite supporting characters also make appearances here. Every book is a treasure and I can’t wait for the Christmas themed mystery “Rockin Around the Chickadee” (October 2024). Rob and Delaney are getting ready to have their baby and everyone is hoping for a peaceful holiday. (LOL)

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press/Minotaur Books for this ARC.

This is Book 35 in the series and this is no surprise because the series is that good! each, and every single entry leaves me, hoping for the next one to come out soon. Meg is a strong female protagonist that is so genuine and relatable that you can’t help but think of reading each entry as visiting with a friend. A friend you have fun solving a mystery with.

Between a Flock and a Hard Place is the thirty-fifth in Donna Andew's Meg Langslow Mystery Series, if you have missed them till now you are in for a treat. These are cozies with fun family and friends, reoccurring characters that you will enjoy catching up with as much as the story. The books progress forward so you may want to enjoy them in chronological order, however, the mysteries are all self contained.

Meg Langslow is a blacksmith, but also has a part-time position assisting the Mayor with odd jobs, this time it is helping out with a reality home makeover show set that has become a disaster with not only angry neighbors but also a menacing flock of wild turkeys that have taken up residence; the source of the turkeys and how to remove them is the first mystery Meg most solve but the morning of a planned round up they find the owner of the house, Mrs. Smetkamp has been murdered and not by a turkey. I find myself solving a lot of Andrews mysteries ahead of the conclusion, but with several clever red herrings this one surprised me.

Humorous small town cozy
A small town's residents band together to correct a prank gone bad and uncover more they they expected during the filming of a house renovation show. Penned with delightful and realistic characters
and funny situations, this a a winning combo. I recommend to any reader especially if one need a lift in mood. Very well plotted with intrigue and humor.
I requested and received a NetGalley arc gratis and give my opinion in the same.

4.5 / 5.0 stars

Oh, Ms. Andrews, you truly, never disappoint your readers. This thirty-fifth cozy mystery book in series was absolutely hilarious.

Meg Langslow, our plucky protagonist, blacksmith, mother of twin boys and Executive Assistant for Special Projects to Caerphilly's Mayor Shiffley, has been called to historic Bland Street for an "intervention". It turns out that the much abhorred Smetkamps have won a home makeover from the TV show, Marvelous Mansions, and the neighbors are none too pleased with all the noise and inconvenience the construction crew has caused. To top that off, during the stealth of night, someone dropped off over a hundred feral turkeys on the Smetkamps lawn. The belligerent birds are wreaking havoc on everyone's gardens and lawns and attacking anyone who may try to defend their own property. During the Great Roundup, a body is discovered and a mystery needs solving. Who better than Meg to assist in that process?

Just reading about the feral turkey attacks and the defensive attire of the brave ones going in to save the day would be worth the price of this book. But the mystery itself, is equally entertaining. There are lots of red herrings, plausible perpetrators and likely felons.

Ms. Andrews is brilliant in her character creation: featuring a strong yet compassionate female lead with a highly eccentric family and great secondary characters makes for amusing reading. Her world building of the college town of Caerphilly (pronounced "carefully" ? ) is wonderful. The writing is solid and quite amusing times. When readers ask me for recommendations for a cozy mystery series, hands-down, it is this one. If you enjoy cozies, then this book could well be one for you.

I am grateful to Ms. Andrews and her publisher, Minotaur Books, for having provided a complimentary uncorrected digital copy of this book. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.


Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Number of pages:‎ 304
ISBN:‎ 978-1250894083

I love her books usually. There have been some ups and downs, but overall she's a great author. In this entry the Smetkamps win a makeover from Marvelous Mansions, a tv remodeling show. Unfortunately some pranksters deliver a truck load of feral turkeys to the job site and Meg is called in (as the assistant to the Mayor) to deal with the situation. Before the turkeys can be contained Mrs. Smetkamp is found murdered and Meg has to find out who killed the woman.
My two complaints are: she uses a cliche which kind of gives away the killer and she seems to rush through the climax of the story.
If you're a fan of Ms. Andrews it will be a fun read, but not her best effort.

As always, Donna Andrews' books make me so happy. She provides the perfect cozy mystery with equal measures of interesting quirky characters and current trends in society that make each story fresh. In this book, the current trends of reality makeover shows and cyber crime were handled by Meg's wonderful community of family and friends who always have the time and will to help each other and their community. I also really appreciate Donna Andrews' environmental themes - this time invasive species of plants. I highly recommend this series to readers of cozy mysteries.

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

I love this series! It’s fast paced, the bird incidents are hilarious, & the characters are life like. I have noticed that Michael, the boys, Meg’s grandmother don’t show up much any more. Also how old is Meg’s grandfather.? It seems like he should be in his 90’s or 100’s. #BetweenaFlockandaHardPlace #NetGalley

This is the 35th installment of the Meg Langslow series. It can also be read as a stand alone, but you'll want to go back & read them all! A reality show comes to town to "fix up" a house. When someone releases a flock of wild turkeys on the property the progress stops. Who brought the turkeys there? How did they bring them? When there is a murder, Meg has much more than turkeys on her mind. People tangling with turkeys had me laughing out loud. The plot is twisty with several red herrings. Meg is fearless and determined. She's a very relatable & lovable heroine. Meg's goofy family continues to provide amusement and laughs. You won't want to miss this one!
Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Donna Andrews for an advanced copy to review. I will post a review to Amazon on release day.