Round Up the Usual Peacocks - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Round Up the Usual Peacocks (Meg Langslow #31) by Donna Andrews

Rating:  Really Liked it! (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Kevin, Meg's cyber-savvy nephew who lives in the basement, comes to her with a problem. He's become involved as the techie for a true-crime podcast, one that focuses on Virginia cold cases and unsolved crimes. And he thinks their podcast has hit a nerve with someone . . . one of the podcast team has had a brush with death that Kevin thinks was an attempted murder, not an accident.

Kevin rather sheepishly asks for Meg's help in checking out the people involved in a couple of the cases. "Given your ability to find out stuff online, why do you need MY help?" she asks. "Um . . . because I've already done everything I can online. This'll take going around and TALKING to people," he exclaims, with visible horror. "In person!" Not his thing. And no, it can't wait until after the wedding, because he's afraid whoever's after them might take advantage of the chaos of the wedding at Trinity or the reception at Meg and Michael's house to strike again.

So on top of everything she's doing to round up vendors and supplies and take care of demanding out-of-town guests, Meg must hunt down the surviving suspects from three relatively local cold cases so she can figure out if they have it in for the podcasters. Could there be a connection to a musician on the brink of stardom who disappeared two decades ago and hasn't been seen since?

Genre:  Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I love this series so of course I couldn't resist this one - especially since I love a book involving cold cases.

My Impression:   This was a bit of a different kind of mystery.  To start with there isn't a murder.  A true crime podcaster is almost run down while crossing a street at a quiet intersection and signs point to that close call involving someone who isn't happy that the podcast is dragging up old cases.  And the aunt of one of those true crime podcasters just happens to be Meg Langslow.  Since Meg's mother is planning the wedding of the century with hosts of family members in tow Meg jumps at the chance to skip out of wedding chores and do some investigating.  

It was fun digging through the two cases she focuses on and I always love when Meg's dad and Chief Burke are involved and Ragnar even made an appearance to add to the fun and mayhem.  The investigations were interesting and the author did a good job with throwing in a surprise twist or two.

I have never been a big fan of peacocks and this book has convinced me that I was right to feel that way about them.  That said the scenes involving the peacocks were absolutely hilarious.  This was a fun read with the amount of hijinks I expect from this series.  I enjoyed the slightly different take on the mystery.  This is a long running series with a lot of characters which can be a bit confusing if jumping in at this point though I still think you'll enjoy this read if you start here.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  I really enjoy this series and am looking forward to reading the upcoming books and going back and reading the earlier books that I missed.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you enjoy cozies with entertaining characters and solid mysteries this is a series you must try.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *