A cozy mystery with amazing world building. This is the 33rd in this series and even though I haven’t read any others in the series I was able to jump right in. I loved that I read this right now during summer as it invoked so much cozy nature.

Bees, gardens, and murder abound in this quaint little story by Donna Andrews. I loved all of the characters and the I will definitely be going back and reading some other books from this series.

The rural aspect of this story pulled me in immediately and the dogs, Murder, and lovable characters kept me going page after page.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s press for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Meg returns in this novel about the hummingbirds and the bees. Meg’s dad is adding a hive on the Langslow property and he’s without the help of Edgar the local bee expert. Edgar is missing probably out on an owl hunt. Edgar is having his own issues with his hives adjacent to a McMansion community of wealthy chronic complainers. I love Meg’s crazy family and their town. It’s such a treat to read a new one. #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MegLangslow

Meg's father recruits her to help him install a new batch of bees in the hive in her backyard. Then Mayor Shiffley recruits her to placate the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard), as she calls them – a group of newcomers to Caerphilly who have built McMansions next door to working farms and then do their best to make life miserable for the farmers. And finally Meg’s grandmother, shows up, trailed by a nosy reporter who is writing a feature on her for a genteel Southern ladies’ magazine.
This is an amazing murder mystery. It's full of slapstick comedy and heart stopping danger. First a dead body is found then the wrong person is arrested.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

This was the first of the Meg Langslow mysteries that I have read. I'm a little slow to the game. It was really good. I loved the small town atmosphere of it and really enjoyed the various characters.

The main character Meg lives with her husband and children, and her mother, father, grandmother and grandfather are all close by. There is also a character named Rose Noire, but I never figured out whether she was family or not.

Meg and some others go for a walk in the woods to look for an ancient graveyard, and instead find a recent dead body. He is one of the area's NIMBY's (Not in my backyard) and had caused trouble for many people in town. Meg sets out to help the local police chief solve the case.

The information about bees and hummingbirds was interesting. When I first started the book I wasn't sure I would enjoy that part, but soon I was so invested in the story that I was along for the ride.

It was a great cozy and I would recommend it for those who love cozy mysteries, but also those interested in gardening, birds and beekeeping.

Currently available, published 08/01/23

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for accepting my request to read and review Birder, She Wrote: A Meg Langslow Mystery.

Three solid stars; however, there is an audience with solid five stars. Here I go, this is tricky but not complicated. This is the 33rd book in the series and my first. While this obviously can be read as a standalone, I felt as if I was missing the punchlines and couldn't fully appreciate relationships that have been building for years. As I read and the regular characters chatted I felt as if I was invading their personal space. This was a unique and awkward experience I'm attributing to the length of the series. In addition, the subject matter was okay, but didn't excite me. Bees, and birds are prevalent throughout the mystery. Some gardening needs are addressed as well. I have a friend who will love this as much as I love a book store mystery.

Of note, I liked Meg. She is smart and not helpless. Kudos to Andrews for writing a clean mystery. There wasn't a hint of profanity.

I look forward to seeking other works by the author. In addition, I would highly recommend this as a transitional book from teen to adult.

Meg has some time to herself so she is relaxing in a hammock and enjoying a drink. Her relaxation time is soon interrupted by her father who has come to install some bees in the hive in her back yard. Soon the mayor calls her wanting her to play referee among a group of newcomers to the area who seem to complain about everything. Jer friend Cordelia has also asked her in looking for an old cemetery that hasn't been properly marked so no one is quite sure of its location. During their search they find a mans body and it looks as if he was murdered. Meg who is always willing to help the police starts her own investigation in hopes of finding a killer sooner rather than later. Will she be able to name a murderer before someone else ends up dead?

Meg Langslow and her crazy family and friends are back for their thirty-third humorous cozy mystery with Birder, She Wrote. This time Meg’s friends take center stage when a gentrified area of town becomes riled up about a farmer’s beehives and take matters into their own hands by poisoning all the bees. Eventually, murder, blackmail and a whole lot of beekeeping facts follow.

I always enjoy this series and I have read them all. This one disappoints a bit with less humor than most. I missed the hectic family events that usually populate this series. However, the suspect’s identity is concealed rather cleverly with some well-placed red herrings making solving the crime more of a challenge than is usual in a cozy mystery.

Overall, Birder, She Wrote is a clever cozy mystery for both long-time fans and those new to the series. 4 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

This author does a nice job of incorporating a bird theme in her book titles. But the title for this one is not up to the series standards. Yes, I get it that the title refers to “Murder, she wrote”. But I wish Ms. Andrews could have been brave and expanded that to include a bee reference. Shocking, I know.
Donna Andrews is a good, solid author and one can look forward to being subtly educated about the theme while being entertained and engaged with the story and characters. I also like her humor. Thanks to #NetGalley and #BirderSheWrote for advanced digital copy.

BIRDER, SHE WROTE marks the thirty-third installment in the captivating Meg Langslow mystery series, penned by the talented Donna Andrews. As a newcomer to Andrews' works, I must say this cozy mystery hit all the right notes. While it took a little time to fully immerse myself in the story, the intriguing plot gradually drew me in, making it an engaging read.

The book boasts a diverse array of characters, some of whom seem to be recurring figures from previous entries in the series. Despite this, I found the novel to be easily accessible as a standalone, as the author skillfully provides ample background information, allowing readers to grasp the characters' roles in the community.

This book is too cute, I am starting to love cozy mystery books more and more, this book is not a standalone, so I was lost in many ways, of course its part of a series. The main character has already had their character built up in other books that it was hard for me to catch up to what was going on. But some parts were so funny though, and I know I will enjoy her books, I will recommend starting from book 1, I love the plot in this book though.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I received an ARC of this book. Good story with interesting characters. Very enjoyable. The latest in a fun cozy series.

Donna Andrews's Meg Langslow Mystery Series is one of my favorites with its cast of quirky characters amongst Meg's large extended family and the local townspeople in the fictitious Carephilly, VA. Each of her mysteries tie in with different species of birds. In the case of Birder, She Wrote, it is the backyard hummingbirds, like the ones I always envy my Virginia relatives for enjoying. Meg has a dilemma that one of her's is a "bully bird" unwilling to share the sugar water feeder with the other hummers.

Andrews infuses her cozies with humor and heart (she typically has two releases each year, one around beach read season and the other for the holidays). Unfortunately though this might be the perfect book for you to enjoy sipping an Arnold Palmer while relaxing in a hammock, Meg's plans are dashed when her family and friends need her help. While she assists her grandmother Cordelia and a local deacon in finding a lost Pre Civil War Era African-American Cemetery, they discover a more recent body dumped there. The book also weaves in the very contemporary issue of NIMBY (not in my backyard) issues when people move from more urban to rural areas and must learn to balance their expectations of country life with the realities (living near farms can be literally stinky).

Birder, She Wrote is the 33rd in the series with the 34th, Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! scheduled to be out on Oct 10.

I loved the Meg Lannslow series from the first book I read, and I love it more with each new one or each reread. Birder, She Wrote, the 33rd book in the Meg Langslow series, brings all the warmth and hilarity that we have come to expect of the series as well the twists that we can't predict. A delightful and fun addition to the series, Birder, She Wrote is another winner for author, Donna Andrews.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review an ARC of Birder, She Wrote.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks #BirderSheWrote #DonnaAndrews #MegLangslow

Meg Langslow only has a few minutes of hammock time before meeting up with her grandmother Cordelia and setting out to find an old African-American graveyard lost to time. They have an old annotated map and some cadaver dogs-in-training to assist them. But before that can happen, Meg is buzzed into service.

First, the mayor calls and asks for help with the NIMBYs, who are complaining again. In the area of Caerphily called Westlake, the McMansions and new residents have been keeping Meg hopping with their complaints. They call the Westlakers NIMBYs, for “Not in My Backyard,” which is what they are often complaining about. They don’t like the smells from the nearby farms. They don’t like it when people leave their trash cans all day. And they really don’t like that Edgar has several hives of bees right across a small stream from their backyards. The NIMBYs have been complaining to the mayor again, so he has delegated to Meg the task of talking to them and calming them down. Again.

Then Meg watches as her dad fills up their backyard beehive. He’s disappointed because he’d wanted Edgar to be there with him, to make sure everything went okay, as Edgar was a more experienced beekeeper. But no one had been able to get ahold of him for a couple of days. Edgar was also a wildlife photographer, so it wasn’t unusual for him to go of the grid for days at a time, but when Meg realizes that Edgar was missing and hadn’t asked anyone to check in on his bees, she grows concerned. She would add a quick trip to his place to her list of things to do. But first, her grandmother Cordelia shows up to look for the cemetery.

However, Cordelia doesn’t show up alone. Cordelia had always planned on taking Deacon Washington, who had been trying to chase down the location of the cemetery for years. And when their friend Horace joined in with a couple of the Pomeranian puppies he’d been training as scent dogs came along, they were thrilled. But Cordelia has another guest, Britni, who is interviewing Cordelia for Sweet Tea and Sassafras magazine. Meg knows that Cordelia would be an amazing woman to feature in a magazine. But Britani doesn’t seem to care about Cordelia’s achievements, and she is very unhappy about getting dragged through the woods to look for an old cemetery.

But when the group also finds a man’s dead body, shot in the head, Meg is worried it may be the missing Edgar. Instead it turns out to be one of the cantankerous NIMBYs. As the police start to investigate the murder, Meg does a little investigating herself. First, she looks into Sweet Tea and Sassafras to find out more about this article Britni is working on, and Meg is not impressed. The magazine seems to focus on decorating tips and fashion that were more appropriate to the Antebellum era than modern day, so Meg can’t quite figure out how Cordelia will fit in.

And then there’s the mystery of the missing Edgar. When Meg goes by his house to check on him, there is no answer at the doors. And when she looks at the beehives in his backyard, there is no activity there either. She looks closer and sees—well, smells—that something is very wrong. The chemical smell of wasp killer is strong, so Meg thinks that someone has killed all of Edgar’s bees. Could that be why he’s missing?

As Meg juggles trying to find a missing beekeeper, a grandmother with a grumpy interviewer, being a witness to finding a dead body, trying to keep up with her two twin boys and her father and a bunch of Pomeranian puppies as well as their own evil dog Spike, moderating complaints from NIMBYs, and dealing with a bully hummingbird who won’t share their feeders, she clearly has a lot on her plate. But with her positive attitude, host of family members with assorted skills, and her trademark notebook-that-tells-her-when-to-breathe, she just might accomplish everything on her list. And she might find a killer to boot.

Birder, She Wrote is book 33 in the Meg Langslow mystery series from master storyteller Donna Andrews. The fact that this series has gone on this long should be, in itself, a testament to how lovable this series is. While Meg is the face of the series, it is really about her entire family and lots of local friends who make this series a must-read. There is always something going on in Caerphilly, and Meg and her family are always clued in to what that is.

I have been a longtime fan of Donna Andrews and of Meg and her clan. They have a way of building a community around themselves and pulling in those who deserve it, offering a place to stay or a warm meal or a fresh start, depending on what you need. While there are clearly a lot of murders that happen around Meg, the murder mystery is less important to me in these books than everything else going on. It’s not your typical cozy mystery, but there is always crime and an investigation to follow along with. But there is also compassion, generosity, birds, animals, technology, food, fellowship, and lots of humor. Birder, She Wrote can be read as a stand-alone, a onetime trip to Caerphilly to hand out with Meg and find a killer. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to spend more time there. Reading just one of this is rarely enough.

Egalleys for Birder, She Wrote were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Donna Andrews makes me laugh. I have read most if not all of her Meg Langslow "bird" books, and not only have they made me laugh, but there hasn't been a dud among them. Most writers of series of this length have at least one bad book (ie, Janet Evanovich's #9), but not Donna Andrews. Every book of the thirty or so I have read has been a pleasure, and that includes "Birder, She Wrote."

I am not going to give spoilers, I don't like them and that is what the blurb is for. I will say that this is a fine mystery and I didn't figure it out before Meg.

I love these books, can you tell? and I am in awe of the author's ability to find more and more bird puns. I am presently reading the ARC of the next book, a story set at Christmas called,"Let it Crow! Let it Crow! Let it Crow!" It is another book which will be getting an excellent review from me.

If you are new to Donna Andrews "Birder" can easily be read as a standalone. If you want to laugh and have a nice mystery, I urge you to read this. And then you will have the great pleasure of going back and enjoying the earlier stories. Donna Andrews is great!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Another fantastic entry in the Meg Langslow series. The mystery is interesting and still has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Of course the characters are, as always fun. Ms. Andrews strikes the perfect balance between quirky and likeable so no one comes off as annoying our unrealistic. To be honest, I'd enjoy these books without the murders because the Langslows and their kin are just so much fun.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As I expect from this series there is a lot of chaos going on. The Pomeranians are up to mischief and are now doing scent work. Some are better at search and rescue and others are showing promise in cadaver work. Both are useful in this book. There is also a new group called the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) who are creating headaches and possibly up to no good. I think anyone who lives in a smallish area that people are suddenly moving to can relate to Meg and the Police Chief's (and pretty much everyone else's) eye rolling about the NIMBY's complaints.

The body shows up fairly early in the book but it felt like it took the investigation to really get going. While I always enjoy seeing what Meg and the rest of her family and friends are up to it felt like it had a bit of a slow start. This is a series where I enjoy seeing the characters - especially Meg's parents - as much as reading about the actual murder.

If you are new to this series I don't think you'll love it but if you are a regular reader - even if you haven't read them all because I certainly haven't- you will enjoy the latest Langslow hijinks.

As always, Ms. Andrews does not disappoint! Meg Langslow is a sleuth who always finds herself embroiled in an exciting mystery!

Meg is hoping for a relaxing time sitting in her hammock, watching the hummingbirds. However, very quickly, this quiet time disappears. Her grandmother, Cordelia, is being interviewed by a reporter for a magazine, but Meg senses something else is going on with this situation. On the same day, she needs to help her dad and brother with a beehive, trek into the words to help Deacon Washington with finding an old African American cemetery, and she finds a dead body!

The story moves at a fast pace, complete with additional family and friends stepping in to assist, a multitude of Pomeranians and other dogs, as well as more bees. Ms. Andrews always does an excellent job at researching the birds and other animals in the story. While you can read this as a stand-alone novel, I recommend checking out the other books in the series, as Meg and her family always promise an enjoyable time.

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press, Minotaur, and Netgalley. I also bought the book for my own library as well.

Read it by yourself because you’ll laugh out loud…

Some mysteries draw you in with the depth of their plot, and others with the intensity of their action. Books in Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series, on the other hand, have good plots and plenty of action, but mostly pull you along because you can’t wait to see what outrageous – and hilarious - thing is going to happen next. And Birder, She Wrote is no exception. Whether it’s learning that “hummingbird bullies” are really a thing, or being amazed – and a bit apprehensive – at Meg’s father’s insouciant attitude towards the bees he’s keeping, or trying to imagine the kind of articles that would appear in a magazine called “Sweet Tea and Sassafras”, there’s plenty of humor to go around.

There’s also a bit of seriousness, though, as Meg helps out in a search for a long-lost Black cemetery – not an easy place to find when the gravestones probably wouldn’t have been anything formal, and would have instead been just now-decayed wood or at best a pile of fieldstones. And when the group does find the cemetery, unfortunately, there’s a much more recent body to be found too – the body of one of the least liked of the McMansion newcomers to Caerphilly. So there are lots of suspects, and along with the humor, Andrews is also a master at dragging red herrings under readers’ noses! In the end, though, of course, Meg and her crew manage to figure things out, and there’s a nice little twist for good measure.

As I’ve mentioned before, this is one of the series that I have to read by myself, since I never know when I’m going to end up laughing out loud, and that was definitely true of Birder She Wrote. But although it’s the 33rd in the series, the author does a nice job of filling in the essential backstory, so I think this could easily be read as a stand-alone – and you’d still get probably 95% or more of the jokes. So if you want a fun and funny cozy mystery, Birder, She Wrote is for you. And finally, my thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

Birder She Wrote by Donna Andrews is a cozy mystery set in a small town in Virginia and featured Meg Laslow. Meg is a wife and mother and works part-time for the city of Caerphilly, mostly, it seemed like, trying to calm people who were upset abut one thing or another. She tended to her hummingbird feeders and was generally available to people who needed her. One day she agreed to help try to find an old cemetery out in the sticks. It was a black cemetery so the chance of finding any markers was almost nil. She drug along her grandmother and that silly woman who was to write a profile on her grandmother for Sweet Tea and Sassafras, Britni, who was the picture of boredom most of the time, especially was she was interviewing her subject. They found the cemetery but also another body. This was a newer one, one of the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard), a group of folks who had built McMansions right in the middle of farm land and then complained. Well, wasn’t that interesting. It turns out this was also the place many drug deals, mostly from the neighboring county, took place, also.

It was a complicated story, mostly with the trivia of daily life amongst the characters, natives, and NIMBYs, both. Edgar, one of the farmers, was missing, too. His bee hives had all been poisoned. They had been the bane of the NIMBYs existence. Was it related? They tackled several problems at once: the murder, the bee hives, finding Edgar, and sending Britni home. She was turning out to be nothing more than a huge bore and her magazine was tripe. Meg was peripherally involved with all of it, often doing no more than observing and listening. Some of the characters where intriguing, many were not. The mystery was decent, but there might have been too may characters. This is the first of the series I have read so I probably would have gotten to know more of them if I had read earlier books. It was an entertaining enough read, but nothing spectacular. But, what a great title!

Bernadette Dunn was the performer for the audiobook and she turned me off from the beginning. She sounded too old to be Meg, for one. Also, she created odd voices for some of the characters, which always turns me off. The book was better in written form than in audio.

I was invited to listen to a free audio of Birder She Wrote by MacMillan Audio and a free e-ARC by St Martin’s Press, both through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #StMartinsPress #DonnaAndrews #BernadetteDunn #BirderSheWrote