author_d_r_oestreicher's review against another edition
5.0
For all you cozy mystery readers, you will enjoy by The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews. Set in rural Virginia, Meg Langslow and her eccentric family are once again on the trail of a murderer.
As all the loose ends are tried up in the final chapter, I'm reminded how fiction is so different from real life. There seems to be a demand that writers minimize the number of characters, thus few are introduced, or given many words, unless they are part of the story.
As a young reader, I first noticed this with Dickens, but this practice can be traced back to Sophocles and Oedipus, certainly the gold standard for single characters filling multiple roles. If this type of neat conclusion is your cup of tea, this book has a most satisfying ending.
For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-good-bad-and-emus-by-donna-andrews.html
As all the loose ends are tried up in the final chapter, I'm reminded how fiction is so different from real life. There seems to be a demand that writers minimize the number of characters, thus few are introduced, or given many words, unless they are part of the story.
As a young reader, I first noticed this with Dickens, but this practice can be traced back to Sophocles and Oedipus, certainly the gold standard for single characters filling multiple roles. If this type of neat conclusion is your cup of tea, this book has a most satisfying ending.
For more see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-good-bad-and-emus-by-donna-andrews.html
katkinney's review against another edition
5.0
The Good, the Bad and the Emus #17-Donna Andrews-library2-
In this seventeenth book in the Meg Langslow mysteries, Meg’s twins are four, there is a pack of emus on the loose, wreaking havoc in a local town, and Meg’s grandfather has hired a detective to find her grandmother, Cordelia, who he lost contact with seventy years earlier. I can’t say too much about the plot in this one without getting into spoilers, but the emus were fun, the mystery was well written as always, and any time the border collie has scenes, I’m sold! 5/5 stars.
In this seventeenth book in the Meg Langslow mysteries, Meg’s twins are four, there is a pack of emus on the loose, wreaking havoc in a local town, and Meg’s grandfather has hired a detective to find her grandmother, Cordelia, who he lost contact with seventy years earlier. I can’t say too much about the plot in this one without getting into spoilers, but the emus were fun, the mystery was well written as always, and any time the border collie has scenes, I’m sold! 5/5 stars.
blacksentai's review against another edition
3.0
This is the one where we have to find Meg's grandmother and then there are emus and the killer is exactly who we want it to be.
bookish_yelena11's review against another edition
5.0
I've loved every book that I have ever read by this woman, and this book is no exception. This book goes into my top favorites of this series, and of all time for sure!
morticia32's review against another edition
4.0
Not a hardcore mystery, and really rather absurd, but always fun! The goofy cast of characters always makes me smile and occasionally laugh out loud.
It's what I was needing after a streak of not really being able to get into anything I was picking up.
It's what I was needing after a streak of not really being able to get into anything I was picking up.
verityw's review against another edition
4.0
My first Meg Langslow in a while (I hate catching up to series and having to wait for sensible prices) and I'd almost (but not quite) forgotten how good these are. Having recently read a string of not very good cozy crimes, this has restored my faith in the genre. It's funny, it's well worked out and it's not repetitive. Or at least (most of) the usual gang of characters are here, getting up to their usual stuff but the setting is different and the murder is different. This is surprisingly rare in the genre - as is the fact that Meg's character continues to develop as her life moves on. Other writers could learn from this.
staceylynn42's review against another edition
2.0
Not one of my faves in this series. I don't actively dislike it like "Owls Well", but it's basically just an adequate mystery.
We begin with the mystery of what happened to Meg's long lost grandmother. Her grandfather, Monty Blake, had hired a PI to find her and he discovered she, Cordelia, died in a fire a few months back, but her cousin claims it was murder & ropes Meg & the PI into investigating.
They see an emu while they are in the area. Blake has heard there are a bunch of feral emus there & had a request to help round them up. This leads Blake to getting up an expedition to do so. The first night there someone drinks whiskey meant for him and is poisoned.
Who is trying to poison Blake & what really happened to Cordelia?
I saw the answer to one of them almost right away. The other took a bit longer.
Once Meg learned to say no to those around her she seems to have developed the idea that she is the only one possessing common sense among her friends. This is not an appealing trait.
I guess I don't like this one that much because I didn't find either mystery all that compelling. The family was there,the humor was there, but the mystery didn't do it for me
We begin with the mystery of what happened to Meg's long lost grandmother. Her grandfather, Monty Blake, had hired a PI to find her and he discovered she, Cordelia, died in a fire a few months back, but her cousin claims it was murder & ropes Meg & the PI into investigating.
They see an emu while they are in the area. Blake has heard there are a bunch of feral emus there & had a request to help round them up. This leads Blake to getting up an expedition to do so. The first night there someone drinks whiskey meant for him and is poisoned.
Who is trying to poison Blake & what really happened to Cordelia?
I saw the answer to one of them almost right away. The other took a bit longer.
Once Meg learned to say no to those around her she seems to have developed the idea that she is the only one possessing common sense among her friends. This is not an appealing trait.
I guess I don't like this one that much because I didn't find either mystery all that compelling. The family was there,the humor was there, but the mystery didn't do it for me