[.uk] Murder With Puffins (A Meg Langslow Mystery) (ISBN 0312939574)

Amazon.com Review:
Meg Langslow and her boyfriend Michael want to be alone, but fate's conspired to make it all but impossible. Meg takes her aunt Phoebe up on an invitation to spend an Indian summer weekend at Phoebe's supposedly empty cottage on the coast of Maine. Braving a hurricane and a horde of determined birdwatchers, they make the last ferry to Monhegan Island, only to find their plans to be alone dashed by the unexpected appearance of Meg's entire family, including Aunt Phoebe. To make matters worse, a famous and slightly megalomaniacal sculptor, who may have been Meg's mother's lover years ago, has taken up residence on the island. When he's killed in an accident that turns out to be murder, Meg's sweet, slightly dotty father is fingered as the suspect. The elusive puffin, revered by bird lovers and captured in kitsch by an island artist named Rhapsody, is the leitmotif in this charming cozy, the second outing in author Donna Andrews's series. The first book, Murder with Peacocks, won the Agatha Award for the best first traditional mystery. Murder with Puffins is a bit short on drama and suspense, though long on charm. Meg and Michael are appealing, but the minor characters, especially Meg's parents and the colorful island locals, are infinitely more interesting. --Jane Adams

Nicely Done:
Meg Lanslow's relationship with her boyfriend Michael is going strong, but they are having a hard time finding some private time together. Meg thinks she knows the perfect place for a romantic getaway - her Aunt Phoebe's cottage in Monhegan, Maine. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned, the boat trip is rough because a hurricane is headed their way and once they reach the island, Meg and Michael realize it's been invaded by avid bird watchers. Even worse, once they get to the cottage they find that Meg's Aunt Phoebe, brother, and parents are already there! Due to the impending hurricane, Meg and Michael are stuck there and try to make the best they can out of the situation. But when a famous painter is found murdered on the island and Aunt Phoebe confesses to the murder and her father is a suspect, Meg is knee deep in murder once again. "Murder With Puffins" is a nice cozy mystery. There's a nice sense of humor throughout the book, including the title of each chapter: "The Agony and the Puffin", "East of Puffin", and "A Cat Among the Puffins" are some examples. The book is full of eccentric characters, including everyone in Meg's family. Meg is a spunky heroine but Mike is a bit bland in this book. The mystery itself is well plotted with plenty of suspects and plenty of motives, although the way the murder itself is committed is a bit unbelievable. I liked the fact that, unlike in most cozy mysteries, Meg doesn't want to confront the murderer herself but wants to go for the police instead. Nicely done.

Murder With Puffins:
Funny, upbeat and well-written mystery that's not predictable. I enjoyed Ms. Andrews sense of humor and recommend the book.

Meg is Better - Mike is Fading:
I love mystery stories in general and when I spotted this book containing puffins - one of my favorite birds - I grabbed it immediately. However, it was apparent within a page or two that this was a sequel, and that I'd be quite lost if I didn't track down the first one to read before this. After a few months of watching my local bookstores for it and never seeing it, I finally just ordered Murder with Peacocks from Amazon so that I could get the book off my dresser and into my life! Having read Peacocks and then Puffins pretty much back to back, I have to say that I appreciate greatly how Meg has "matured" between the two books. The Puffins story picks up pretty much exactly where Peacocks left off - Meg is still newly in love with Mike, and the big hullabalo over her "solving" of multiple murders has her hometown in a swirl. She spontaneously decides to run off with Mike to a relative's cottage on a quiet island in Maine for some time alone. Of course, in a plot twist that only a cozy mystery can try to pretend is plausible, her entire family has the same spontaneous idea - including bringing Mike's annoying dog - and now the cottage is chock-full of eclectic personalities. Oh yes, and there's a hurricane this exact weekend, too. You have to just grin and bear it when these sorts of things happen. There's going to be MANY more coincidences springing up. It just happens to be the weekend that the local rich guy has brought in a buyer for his plan to turn the entire island into a resort. A local escaped prisoner just happens to be lurking around. You have to assume that all of these people live in some sort of alternative reality where coincidences are standard and always work to further the plot along. My complaint with Meg in the first book is that she had been a perpetual doormat, and it was depressing if not frustrating to read about her just giving in to everyone. She has suddenly grown a backbone in this book, which is great. She finally stands up for herself and for her family. However, Mike seems to have suddenly lost HIS personality! Now he's like an anemic Dr. Watson, just tagging along gamely whereever Meg goes. I'm all for partners who can roll with the flow - but they should still have some intelligence and spark. The book loves to make fun of birders as being boring and dumb, which is odd since you would think a book about puffins would appeal to birders. It's why I got the book :) I've been out to Machias Seal Island to see puffins, and I could relate easily to the landscapes and environments she described. I'm not quite sure why she was deliberately trying to ostracize one of her target audiences. It's one thing to gently poke fun at stereotypes, but she was rather heavy handed and repetitive here. In the first book she was targetting brides-to-be, but that portrayal was more cute than nasty. Really, the overreaching problem here is that numerous characters and situations just didn't make sense. Some individuals were very one dimensional. The actions of the police and other characters in charge weren't logical in several situations. I was grateful that there weren't 80-trillion murders like in Book 1, but even so the reasons that things happened and how things wrap up are a bit tenuous. It almost seems that the author got complaints about the first book - so she fixed up those issues but then in the process introduced some new issues. I really did enjoy reading both books in general, and have high hopes that future books will "settle down" and have well rounded characters with plausible plot lines that are fun.

Fast Paced Bird Mystery:
Book 2 in Donna Andrews Bird Mystery books. Donna Andrews has written a fantastic, fast paced series of mystery books set in West Virginia and all featuring birds of some variety. This is the 2nd book which features Puffins, Seagulls, Terns and yet more Puffins. Meg Landslow is desperate to find some time away from her huge family and spend some quality time with her boyfirend Michael. The perfect getaway? An island off the Maine coast that is only popular in the summer months due to it's harsh weather conditions in the Autumn. On arriving on the last ferry before the hurricane, Meg and Michael feel ill from the harsh weather but are looking forward to curling up in the cottage before a roaring fire when the only sound is the wind howling outside. The fire is roaring, the wind is howling, and Meg's family arived a day earlier. So Meg, Michael, her Mother, Dad, brother Rob, Auntie Phoebe and Mrs Fenniman all squeeze into the cottage to stick out the storm. The rest of the island is filled with birders - here to see Puffins at one of the only points in the entire US which hosts them. The situation looks grim - and then the island's ecentric artist is found dead. Meg and Michael try to enjoy their break whilst putting up with being called "city folk" and investigating the murder. Ms Andrews points the finger at almost every member of Meg's family and she is forced to delve into all aspects of her family's history. A great sequel to Murder with Peacocks which keeps the reader guessing. Fantastic descriptions of the scenery, the birds and the lifestyle of a small island community.

A rare bird!:
Once you read Murder with Puffins you'll want to read every "Meg Langslow" mystery Donna Andrews has ever written! I am a huge fan of this series that allows us to trail along with Meg, an independent gal who still needs her man (and he's a hunk, of course!)and her crazy family! You'll laugh, cry and you will be puzzled..Andrews weaves a great mystery with lots of fun, red herrings and ..well..birds. But this book isn't for the birds! It's a rare bird of mystery writing that never gets "formulaic". Donna Andrews takes us to Maine for this book..Murder with Puffins.. and gets us into the scenery, the local flavor and of course.. her confusing (or confused) family antics. A getaway with Michael turns to murder for Meg.. but she's always up to the task of sticking her nose in where others fear to tread! Love this book and the series. It's one of the few books I actually bought and keep. Enjoy!