Meg Lanslow#35
Donna Andrews’ 35th book in her Meg Lanslow mystery series, Between a Flock and a Hard Place, focuses on a local home that is getting renovated by a brand new home renovation show, as well as a large group of wild feral turkeys. Someone took a whole flock of the large birds and released them into a neighborhood. For those that don’t know a lot about turkeys beyond their making a wonderful meal, turkeys are also territorial, aggressive, and huge in size. They also can, and will, chase you for as long as they want before they are satisfied that you have learned your lesson. Meg’s father is more than ready to lend a hand, and is excited at the prospect of getting his hands on so many turkeys to work with at the zoo, although he seems to be the only one enthusiastic about them. No one wants to prepare for combat just to check the mail, and they certainly aren’t thrilled with what the turkeys are doing to their yards – or anything they find irritating, such as stealing a windshield wiper blade from a car.
The house being renovated amongst this mess is the Smetkamps’, having won the makeover from the TV series Marvelous Mansions. Their building practices, however, are anything but marvelous. Keeping them to code alone seems to be a full-time job for Meg, the inspectors, and the town in general. Mrs. Smetkamp is not a local favorite, and her reputation is one of being demanding, rude, aggressive, and generally unpleasant. While she won’t win any popularity contests, her husband is generally well liked in the community and is very easy to get along with. Mrs. Smetkamp is annoyed by the turkeys, but she is more upset that their presence halts all work on her house rather than the danger they pose to everyone and their property. Meg and her father join efforts to remove the turkeys, coming up with a plan that takes cooperation from the community, a community that is more than ready to ban together to banish the birds. But it can’t happen until early in the morning, when all the turkeys are roosted and asleep. No one is pleased with the early hour, but for turkey free streets, they show up ready to get to work. Just before they can get started, Meg finds Mrs. Smetkamp murdered in her back yard. Having, unfortunately, gotten used to the process involved in finding victims, Meg quickly calls the police and has her father preserve as much evidence as possible, despite the turkey operations taking place around them. With such an unpopular individual, Meg finds herself with more suspects and questions than she’d like. It won’t be a short investigation. With the turkey caper to investigate on top of it all, Meg has her hands more than full, which does not mean she or her family will give up. Everyone in the Langslow family has a unique set of skills they are happy to offer up to help.
With the Lanslow clan on the case, it shouldn’t take too long to find justice for Mrs. Smetkamp, and also the thoroughly confused relocated turkeys. I’ve read quite a few of Donna Andrew’s books, and have never been disappointed. I also learn something new in them, such as the fact that turkeys roost in trees overnight. I had no idea the giant butterballs could get up in a tree, but their massive wings make it possible. Both new and longtime readers will enjoy this latest installment. Dona Andrews describes the setting and characters thoroughly enough that new readers will not feel lost and confused, neither will long term readers find it tedious or redundant. Everything is always in flux around Meg and her family, so no book in the series is exactly the same, and Meg’s own thoughts are constantly evolving and shifting as well. While we get to enjoy her grandfather’s eccentric and delightful antics, Between a Flock and a Hard Place focuses more on Meg and the community itself. Readers get a good look at Meg going above and beyond in her official capacity of Executive Assistant for Special Projects, or, as she calls it: The Mayor’s special assistant in charge of nuts and nuisances. She has to solve the nuttiness of the turkey invasion, as well as the horrible murder of one of the bigger nuisance residents of the town.
– Carla Schantz