Mystery Book Group -- Dec. 10, 2009
Donna Andrews Six Geese A-Slaying
(photo by Joe Henson)
http://www.donnaandrews.com/
In the fall of 1997 she started on the road to publication by submitting her first completed mystery manuscript to the Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Press Best First Traditional Mystery contest. Upon learning that Murder with Peacocks had won, she acquired a copy of Peterson's Field Guide to Eastern Birds and settled down to have fun in her fictional world for as long as she could get away with it. Murder with Peacocks won the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and Romantic Times awards for best first novel and the Lefty award for the funniest mystery of 1999. Subsequent books have also received Agatha and Lefty nominations, and Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon won the Toby Bromberg Award for Excellence (presented by Romantic Times) for the Most Humorous Mystery of 2003. Owl's Well That Ends Well (April 2005), the sixth book in the series, features a murder at a giant yard sale. No Nest for the Wicket (August 2006), the seventh book, explores eXtreme Croquet, and in The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (August 2007), Meg discovers penguins--and a body--in her basement. In Cockatiels at Seven, Meg must solve a crime while encumbered with toddler. She must organize her county's holiday parade and solve a related murder in Six Geese A-Slaying. And the latest, Swan for the Money, features competitive rose growing and belted Tennessee fainting goats.
| Awards: | |
| St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Award for Best First Traditional Mystery, 1998, Agatha Award, Anthony Award, and Barry Award, all for best first novel of 1999, and Lefty Award, for funniest mystery book of 1999, all for Murder with Peacocks; Agatha Award, best novel of 2002, for You've Got Murder; Toby Bromberg Award for Excellence, Romantic Times, 2003, for Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon; Agatha Award for Best Novel nominee, 2003 for Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loons, 2004 for We'll Always Have Parrots, 2005 for Owls Well that Ends Well, 2007 for The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, 2008 for Six Geese a-Slaying; Lefty Award, 2005, for We'll Always Have Parrots. | |
| Personal Information: | |
| Born in Yorktown, VA. Education: Graduated from the University of Virginia. Memberships: Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Private Investigators and Security Association. Addresses: Home: Reston, VA. Office: 11654 Plaza America Dr., Ste. 313, Reston, VA 20190. E-mail: donna@donnaandrews.com. | |
| Career Information: | |
| Writer. Previously worked on the communications staff of a large financial institution, Washington, DC. |
Meg Langslow Mysteries
1. Murder, with peacocks (c 1999)
While trying to manage being the maid of honor in three weddings, Meg Langslow finds herself in the midst of a mystery when her former sister-in-law's soon-to-be stepfather is found dead.
2. Murder with puffins (c 2000)
Meg and her boyfriend Michael's romantic Monhegan Island getaway is overshadowed by a hurricane that maroons everyone there, including Meg's intrusive family, and a murder in which her father is named the chief suspect.
3. Revenge of the wrought-iron flamingos (2001)
At the celebration of the British surrender at Yorktown, craftswoman Meg Langslow finds herself investigating a murder while trying to stay on the right side of her future mother-in-law.
4. Crouching buzzard, leaping loon (2003)
Operating the switchboard at the business office shared by her brother's computer-game company and six unusual therapists, Meg Langslow finds herself drawn into a mystery when the company's practical joker is murdered on top of a mail cart.
5. We'll always have parrots (2004)
Journeying to a cult TV show's fan convention in the hope that her actor fianc?e will be able to renegotiate contract terms with the program's manipulative leading lady, Meg finds herself investigating when the star is found murdered.
6. Owls well that ends well (2005)
Hoping to clear out years of junk that has accumulated in a recently purchased, dilapidated mansion, Meg and Michael host a big lawn sale that becomes the scene of a murder when a body is doscovered in the barn.
7. No nest for the wicket (2006)
Croquet is a genteel game, usually played on a summer afternoon on a tranquil green lawn. Extreme Croquet is a whole other story. That's what Meg Langslow and her new friends are playing on the several-acre farm of her new neighbor, a countryside studdedwith rocks, steep hills, and placid, seemingly immovable cows. While this society game can get quite warm, it hasn't reached the stage of actual homicide--at least not until Meg knocks her ball down a small cliff and encounters the body of a dead woman.
8. The penguin who knew too much (2007)
While digging a pool in the basement for a flock of penguins from the bankrupt local zoo, Meg Langslow's father accidentally stumbles upon a body buried beneath the floor, sending Meg on a desperate quest to find a killer.
9. Cockatiels at seven (2008)
Reluctantly agreeing to babysit for her friend Karen's toddler son Timmy, Meg Langslow ends up with the child when Karen goes missing, and she launches a personal investigation while coping with some very dangerous people interested in Timmy.
10. Six geese a-slaying (2008)
With their home being used as the marshalling point for the annual Caerphilly Christmas parade, Meg Langslow, her husband Michael, and Chief Burke find the festivities interrupted by murder when the local curmudgeon playing Santa turns up dead.
11. Swan for the money (2009)
Meg Langlsow volunteers to help her parents when the Caerphilly Garden Club sponsors its first annual rose show. But after a few hours of dealing with her parents' competitors, Meg is worried--someone is attempting to kill the wealthy woman on whose estate the competition is being held. Could it be one of the eccentric rose growers after the coveted Black Swan trophy? Or one of the animal welfare activists--which includes Meg's zoologist grandfather--resorting to murder against the intended victim's treatment of farm animals?.
Turing Hopper Mysteries
1. You've got murder (2002)
When Zack, a workaholic computer expert, suddenly disappears, his friend, Turing, a sentient artificial intelligence personality created by Zack, begins to suspect foul play and turns sleuth to find out what happened to her creator.
2. Click here for murder (2003)
When her human colleague, Ray Santiago, is found murdered, Turing Hopper, an artificial intelligence personality, joins her human assistants, Maude and Tim, on a search for the killer and turns up dark secrets from Ray's past.
3. Access denied (2004)
When Turing Hopper, Artificial Intelligence Personality and sleuth, uncovers information tied to criminal Nestor Garcia's long-dormant credit cards, she sends her human assistants to investigate.
4. Delete all suspects (2005)
When a high-tech geek named Eddie ends up in the hospital, the victim of a hit-and-run "accident," Turing the AIP computer comes to the aid of her private detective friend Tim to find out who was responsible.
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