Donna Andrews’ Rockin’ Around the Chickadee is my first introduction to the Meg Langslow Mystery series. Meg is celebrating differently this Christmas season. Her sister Delaney is experiencing a difficult pregnancy, so the family is working to keep her quiet and calm. Simultaneously, her grandmother is holding a Presumed Innocent conference in a nearby hotel. When the man who is 100% opposed to the work of the conference is found murdered in Michael and Meg’s yard, the holiday, naturally, takes a turn.
I liked Meg right away. She is frank and down to earth. She loves her family, and takes a fairly no nonsense view of managing them. Like many women she juggles her family with work and a variety of other commitments. I appreciate that even in her role as detective she enlists her twin sons in helping to solve the murder. It’s kind of adorable. What a fun and quirky community has been created around Meg Langslow. This book is my introduction to the series, and I sure hope to get to know them better. If you are new to Meg Langslow mysteries as well, I promise you can hop right in and enjoy the work - but be prepared to add to your TBR pile. The Christmas bits here were lovely…I will be especially seeking out the other Christmas books in the series. I just love lights, celebrations, holiday songs, and all that goes with the genre.
If, like me, you enjoy a good cozy mystery, Rockin’ Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews is a good one - with fun twists and turns and a family vibe. The Christmas elements add to the loveliness. Grab a copy for your holiday reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! What a fun way to get into the holiday spirit! This is a cozy murder mystery set in December. There is much merriment and holiday decor amidst the murder of a not-so-likeable character. I enjoyed the book and want to read more of Donna Andrews books now.

I feel like a broken record but I just loved this latest installment of Meg Langslow's cozy mystery series. Rockin' Around the Chickadee have Meg's grandmother hosting a Presumed Innocent conference, for aiding people wrongly convicted. A podcaster and internet troll Godfrey Norton, who doesn't believe in mistaken convictions shows up to harass the people in attendance. After a few shenanigans from Norton, he is kicked out of the convention and turns up dead the next day. This was a great mystery, with a lot of interesting suspects. It takes place just before Christmas, and there are some lovely Christmas scenes as well.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced listener copy. The audiobook
is great and Bernadette Dunne does an amazing job narrating, as usual. She has all the voices for all the regular characters down pat. She is a joy to listen to. I highly recommend this book, it's a fun holiday cozy mystery. 4.5 stars

3.5 stars. Not an overly Christmas story, just happened to be set near the Christmas season, just like the Innocence Project Conference that Cordelia and Kevin have planned in Caerphilly. The conference aims to shed light on wrongful convictions, with even a few exonerees in attendance. But when an annoying true crime fanatic ends up dead outside Meg's barn, the conference attendees are the prime suspects. Will everyone at the Innocence Project Conference be so innocent?

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rockin’ Around the Chickadee AUDIO by Donna Andrews is the newest Meg Langslow mystery which finds us at at conference, organized by Meg’s grandmother, focusing on those wrongly accused and how to get their convictions overturned. Of course, Festus, as a lawyer, is hugely involved, as are all the law enforcement people in town. Meg meets come very interesting people and Kevin, who is normally in the basement, has met a woman who seems to interest him. That and the fact it is nearly Christmas is keeping everyone busy. Rob and Delaney are expecting heir baby any day and still without a house to buy, but that will work out. If not, Meg has plenty of bedrooms.

I love this series, which wasn’t what I said when I was first introduced. These are a group of interesting people, mostly family, who live in the Small town of Carfilly, Virginia. They are a group of characters, well-written and by this time, well-rounded. It is an amusing cozy mystery which presents some interesting cases to solve. This is one of them. Many of the people here are already accused murderers and no one liked this guy. Meg works hard to figure it out and, of course, is successful.

Bernadette Dunn is the narrator and I didn’t like her at first, either, but I have changed my mind. I thought she made Meg sound to old, and I still think that, but it seems to fit her personality. She makes listening very entertaining.

I was invited to listen to Rockin’ Around the Chickadee by MacMillan Audio. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #DonnaAndrews #BernadetteDunn #RockinAroundTheChickadee

The latest Meg Lanslow mystery, Rockin' Around the Chickadee, will be out soon and fans of the series will be thrilled with this newest entry.. Donna Andrews, author of the series, has won numerous awards for the mystery series and one doesn't disappoint. Meg's grandmother has organized a conference, called the Presumed Innocent Conference, to explore the wrongly convicted. Meg's sister-in-law, Delaney, is pregnant and due near Christmas, with strict instructions for bedrest leading up to the big event. The family are all trying to help Delaney stay calm, but it's tough when a dead body turns up on her property!

The body belongs to a conference attendee, one who has ruffled feathers by claiming most people incarcerated are definitely guilty. As many of the other conference members are seeking to get someone exonerated, or have been themselves, the field of suspects is wide open. So, while attempting to figure out who the murderer is, Meg also has to help keep her sister-in-law calm and on an even keel.

The unabridged audio book I listened to, courtesy of NetGalley, was read by Bernadette Dunne, who has narrated other books in the series as well as a wide range of books in other genres.

This was a cozy, festive murder mystery. I thought the true crime convention right before Christmas was an interesting touch. It set up the murder mystery well by having an unlikeable attendee end up as the victim. When everyone has a reason to not like the attendee, how do you narrow down the suspect pool. I will say the mystery ended up fairly easy to solve but meant you could just relax and watch the story unfold. I really enjoyed the holiday family dynamic and the struggle when holidays don’t go to plan/deviate from traditions. I read this via narration and Bernadette Dunne absolutely nailed the narration. I don’t think I would have enjoyed this as much as I did without her narration. She brought the cheer, holiday shenanigans, and mystery to life. I would recommend checking out the audiobook for this.

It’s the Christmas season in Caerphilly but, with Delaney, Meg Langslow’s sister-in-law, very pregnant, festivities are being held away from the house. Among these activities is a Presumed Innocent Project sponsored by Cordelia, Meg’s grandmother which has attracted many people including exonerees, others seeking help to exonerate friends or relatives, as well as true crime bloggers and their fans. When a body of one of those bloggers is found dead behind the Langslow house, Chief Burke has his hands full given the number of suspects. The blogger had believed that the vast majority of exonerees were guilty, had been rude and obnoxious to other attendees, disruptive during the conference and was finally tossed out of the host hotel when he abused an attendee’s dog. With all this facing the chief, Meg jumps in to help by doing her own sleuthing.

Rockin’ Around the Chickadees is the 36th entry in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series by Donna Andrews and, as always, it is a whole lotta fun. Reading one of these books always feels like linking up with old friends and meeting new ones while providing an entertaining mystery to grab my attention. I also appreciated the information about the number of wrongful incarcerations that led to the actual Innocence Project and thought their work fit perfectly with the Christmas season.

I read the book from St Martin’s Press while listening to the a audiobook from Macmillan Audio narrated by Bernadette Dunne who does an excellent job of giving individual voices to very large cast of characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio. All opinions expressed are my own

I discovered this series two years ago when I was looking for Christmas cozy mysteries and picked up Dashing Through the Snowbirds. While I've kept up with the new books as they've come out, I haven't gone back and read the older titles (yet!). So if you are new to the series and worried about starting with Rockin's Around the Chickadee which is book 36, don't be. These can easily be read as stand-alone novels.

I love listening to this series. I've read one or two, but I always enjoy more the ones that I get the audiobooks for. Bernadette Dunne does a great job with all the characters. I've listened to a few other books that Dunne has narrated but she must be really good at coming up with unique voices as I didn't realize she had read the others.

It might be because they are keeping the holidays low-key, but it isn't the focus of the story. There is no holiday magic where the curmudgeon has a life-altering experience and becomes joyous and generous or the unlucky-in-love girl finds her soul mate under the mistletoe. But it does make a nice background setting for the story.

I did like the comment about holiday decorating. I'm paraphrasing as I don't remember how it was stated but it was something along the lines of Christmas decorations should look like joy vomited all over the place. It's a great comment and though I don't always have the time and energy, when I do I tend to "over decorate" but now I'm just going to think that I'm vomiting joy everywhere.

If you read my review of the last book Between a Flock and a Hard Place, then you know I had a small complaint about how late in the novel the murder occurred. That isn't the case in this book. It happens early on and while some of the conference is mentioned the story stays focused on the case.

There is a new character that we meet because of the true-crime conference that I hope we get to see again. I really liked Ezekiel. I'm not sure we will get to see him again as often these background characters only appear once. But he got a job locally so maybe he will make an appearance from time to time in future novels. As having been falsely accused and imprisoned, I think his character brings a different perspective to the cast of characters.

Whether you don't care for the Hallmark-worthy holiday stories or need a break from the overly sweet Christmas romance novels, you should add this book to your Christmas reading list.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Sunday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/10/rockin-around-chickadee-by-donna.html

Rockin' Around the Chickadee is Donna Andrews's 36th book in the Meg Langslow Mysteries. If you haven't read the first 35, you could still jump right into this series for a holiday read. It continues with characters introduced in previous books but contains a stand-alone mystery with a true crime twist and a holiday backdrop.

The story starts with cheerful chickadees in the backyard and then quickly builds a mystery that initially seems impossible to solve. The mystery is fair, and the clues were planted in smart places. I enjoyed the True Crime conference backdrop. The sleuth is easy to root for.

Bernadette Dunne, the audiobook narrator, does a nice job of bringing the characters to life. She delivers the humorous lines just right, and her pacing is always very good in the suspenseful parts. I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook bit by bit every night before I went to bed. It was good, cozy, bedtime listening with a puzzling mystery and fun, quirky characters. I also learned something about chickadee calls that I didn't know before reading this. I always enjoy a good bird fact.

Thanks to Net Galley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

In the midst of a True Crime conference being organized by Meg Langslow's grandmother, there are many people with different interests. And one guy who goes by a fake name and he is a "difficult" individual. When he turns up dead, there are many people who can be considered suspects.

This book is part of a long series and there are many characters who part of the continuing story. Since this is the first book in the series that I've read, I was able to read the book without knowing the character histories, but I think it would have been better to have been familiar with them.

Although this is a cozy mystery, its length is that of a typical novel, that is to say, longer than most cozy mysteries. I listened to the audio version of the book. The narrator has a unique voice, which was perfect for the book. And she had different voices for characters.

Macmillan Audio presents Rockin’ Around the Chickadee: A Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews is book 36 in the series. Do not let that number put you off like it did for me for a few days. This is a stand alone audiobook narrated by Bernadette Dunne and I must say if you love singing Christmas carols in the middle of Fall like I do this is totally the listen for you. This was my first ever Donna Andrews novel and the mystery is just as cozy as a roaring fire on a snowy morning. Yet, this amateur sleuth story does come with a few trigger warnings including details about blood and animal abuse (the animal is not seriously injured). Even with that I can honestly say this book was so good I didn’t even mind that the murder did not happen in the first 2 chapters of the book, a detail I usually complain about, but with the many layers and the narrator helping give everyone their own personality, I forgot for a while murder was on the menu and just enjoyed the story. It really felt like I was a third party onlooker and not sitting on the bus heading to and from work. Needless to say I will be checking out the first book in this series so I can meet the family from the start and see the drama unfold from the beginning.

Rockin Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews
Narrated by Bernadette Dunn
Book 36 in the Meg Langslow Series

This is the eleventh Christmas book over the course of this favorite series and I have enjoyed them all. Admittedly, some more than others but I have re-listened to all of them over the years. Happily, this one has less Dickens and no owls (that I recall) which made me happy.
The primary storyline is about Grandma Cordelia’s Presumed Innocent Conference at the Inn, with all the usual characters that we have come to love. A nasty bad guy gets murdered and you might find the culprit surprising but I found it pretty obvious. However, for me the point of these stories is the eccentric cast of characters and the family togetherness and the just plain fun.
As usual the narration was excellent and the whole experience was completely enjoyable.
Oops, I forgot to say there is a baby at the end. Since Delaney’s pregnancy is the other storyline this is not a spoiler.

This book was exactly what I was expecting and was a perfect cozy read after a really hard historical fiction book.

This lighthearted and fluffy mystery was a fun commentary on true crime and the double edged sword that people's fascination with it brings. The book seems to say that the interest leads to cases getting more attention and culprits found, as well as wrongful convictions being more likely to be turned over, but at what cost to the people involved? It's a good question that I think most of us that ready true crime/mystery/historical fiction have pondered in the last few years as we have seen cases gain traction in mainstream media and podcasts come out on long forgotten missing persons.

This book asks that question in a fun way, one that lets you still enjoy a fictional romp around Caerphilly with all the regulars, and a few new faces that might just stick around.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cozy mysteries and true crime inspired stories.

Thanks for the ARC, I enjoyed it. :)

Edit: I have listened to the audiobook and I have changed my review from 4 stars to 5 stars.

I thought this story was so so fun already but boy does the narrator make it so much better. Bernadette Dunne, the narrator that you are!!!! Bernadette Dunne makes the characters come to life and just gives such an amazing performance for Rockin' Around the Chickadees by Donna Andrews. I love companion reading with my audiobook and this one is totally worth the splurge to get it in both printed and audio format. I highly highly recommend the narration!

Original Review: I fear I might be in the holiday spirit at the end of August. During the holidays, Meg's grandma is putting on a true crime convention where the hope is to find wrongly convicted cases to help overturn. There is an unpleasant attendee who thinks more people should be in jail and no convictions should be overturned even if there is new DNA evidence. The unpleasant attendee ends up dead and since most people in the convention disliked him, it is pretty hard to figure out the culprit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the mystery was entertaining but not very difficult to solve which I like in a cozy mystery. The nice thing about Donna Andrews' books is that while you get a similar cast of characters on most books, they do not stagnate but continue to grow. I really enjoyed that Rob is having his own family and I liked seeing that the twins are growing up. I mean it is easy to for me to say that I like this series, after all I wouldn't have read the previous 35 books if I didn't. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys holiday cheer and cozy mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and Donna Andrews for giving me the opportunity to review this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I just finished the latest Donna Andrews book. Rocking Around The Chickadee was a blast! I loved it!

ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHICKADEE is the 36th book in the Meg Langslow Mysteries by Donna Andrew. I’m not sure how she does it, but the author always makes her holiday-themed cozy mysteries fresh and entertaining. The cast of characters, from protagonist Meg Langslow, to her immediate family and distant cousins along with friends, have continuously grown and evolved, much the same as any real-life group of people. And while this can be read as a standalone, being “involved” with the characters from the very start has felt rewarding. In this newest release, the family is eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new baby to the family. Meanwhile, Meg, her grandmother, and her nephew are involved in the Presumed Innocence Conference—organized to help people who have been wrongly convicted. I love how Meg and her family are firm believers in social justice. There are some statistics woven into the story that are quite disturbing and I appreciate the author bringing the issue to the attention of readers. And while this character-driven book is full of charm, the mystery itself is well-plotted and captured my attention. If you enjoy holiday-themed cozy mysteries filled with delightful characters, then you’ll enjoy Rockin’ Around the Chickadee!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook narrated by Bernadette Dunne. The narrator does an excellent job in capturing not only the voices but also the personalities of each character. I also find it admirable that over the course of the series, the voices for each character remain the same, bringing continuity.

I dnf after 30% of the audiobook. I felt the story moved very slowly and I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters. In all fairness to the author and narrator, I have not read or listened to any of the previous novels in this series and that may be where the problem lies.

In the midst of the holiday season, at a true crime conference, an unsavory character makes everyone's lives miserable. And then he turns up dead. This leaves the investigators with a long list of people who might have a motive to kill him. Meg Langslow is there to help, as usual, but this time, her job includes keeping her pregnant sister-in-law cool and calm. Can she juggle keeping everything in line and helping to unearth the killer?

Thank you Donna Andrews and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook copy of this ARC. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

I absolutely love a good cozy holiday mystery. This one was definitely a fun one! The only thing I could have wished for more of is a stronger holiday vibe. Other than that, I greatly enjoyed following along with Meg in the investigation. This is the first Meg Langslow book by Donna Andrews that I have experienced, and it left me with wanting to go back and learn more about Meg's family and friends in the previous books.

I am really glad that I got to experience this book in the audio format. It is the perfect book to listen to as it is easy to follow while also being entertaining and mysterious. My recommendation is to definitely pick up this holiday mystery as the holiday season begins and colder weather rolls in!

I really enjoy cozy mysteries. I haven't read this series yet but since I like cozy mysteries, audiobooks, and Christmas time tales I wanted to give this one a try. I like that it isn't necessary to have read the previous stories to not feel completely lost. I'm sure it can be helpful, but I didn't feel lost. It was a good story and I think the narrator did a good job.