Meg Langslow Books in Order
Part ofDonna Andrews Books in OrderSee the Meg Langslow books in order by Donna Andrews, with quick summaries, holiday highlights, series background, and help choosing where to start.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
40 books
Murder With Peacocks
by Donna Andrews
1999
Meg Langslow is juggling three chaotic weddings in her Virginia hometown when an obnoxious guest turns up dead. With help from Michael, she has to swap bridal duties for murder hunting.
Murder With Puffins
by Donna Andrews
2000
Meg and Michael's romantic island getaway collapses under a hurricane, a house full of relatives, and a murder. When Meg's father becomes the chief suspect, the vacation turns into an investigation.
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
by Donna Andrews
2001
At Yorktown's Revolutionary War celebration, Meg is already busy with craft-fair drama and family trouble. Then a con man is found dead in her booth, killed with one of her wrought-iron creations.
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
by Donna Andrews
2002
While helping at her brother's chaotic office, Meg gets stuck among game developers, therapists, and practical jokes. Then the office clown winds up murdered, and the workday turns dangerous.
We'll Always Have Parrots
by Donna Andrews
2003
Meg and Michael head to a fan convention for a cheesy old TV adventure series, hoping for a quiet weekend. Instead they get backstage egos, contract trouble, and a murder to untangle.
Owls Well That Ends Well
by Donna Andrews
2005
Meg and Michael's giant yard sale is supposed to clear out their rambling old house. A body in a trunk, greedy heirs, and treasure hunters quickly turn bargain hunting into a full-blown case.
No Nest for the Wicket
by Donna Andrews
2006
An extreme croquet match in Meg's backyard brings out old grudges over local history and development. When someone dies, Meg has to sort through fierce competitors and small-town politics.
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
by Donna Andrews
2007
Meg's house is overrun with zoo animals, including penguins, after the local zoo runs into trouble. Then a missing zookeeper and a body in the basement give her a much bigger problem.
Cockatiels at Seven
by Donna Andrews
2008
When a friend leaves her toddler with Meg and never comes back, Meg knows something is badly wrong. Following the missing woman's trail with a little boy in tow leads straight into serious trouble.
Six Geese A-Slaying
by Donna Andrews
2008
Meg is organizing Caerphilly's Christmas parade when the town's Santa is found murdered. Saving the holiday means sorting through pageant chaos, family drama, and a very public crime.
Swan for the Money
by Donna Andrews
2009
Meg's parents are entering a fiercely competitive rose show, and the genteel setting does not stay gentle for long. Threats, rival growers, and a dead body force Meg to dig beneath the blooms.
Stork Raving Mad
by Donna Andrews
2010
Meg is very pregnant with twins when a visiting Spanish playwright and a threatened college production upend the house. After a dean is murdered, she has to solve the case before labor starts.
The Real Macaw
by Donna Andrews
2011
During a middle-of-the-night feeding, Meg finds her house full of rescued animals and one very loud macaw. A murdered volunteer and a fight over the shelter's future make the chaos even worse.
Some Like it Hawk
by Donna Andrews
2012
Caerphilly's summer festival hides a secret tunnel and a town clerk barricaded in the courthouse basement. When a lender's executive is killed, Meg has to prove someone is framing the wrong man.
Duck the Halls
by Donna Andrews
2013
Christmas in Caerphilly goes off the rails with skunks in a choir loft, ducks in a church, and a snake in the evergreens. Then a church fire and a dead vestryman make Meg's holiday decidedly grim.
The Hen of the Baskervilles
by Donna Andrews
2013
Meg is helping run Caerphilly's make-or-break replacement for the state fair when prize chickens vanish and vandalism spreads. Then her friend Molly is accused of murder, and Meg steps in.
The Good, the Bad, and the Emus
by Donna Andrews
2014
A search tied to Meg's family history leads her to a small town full of old grudges, feral emus, and fresh suspicion. When another body turns up, past secrets stop feeling safely buried.
The Nightingale Before Christmas
by Donna Andrews
2014
Mother ropes Meg into managing a lavish Christmas decorator show house filled with touchy egos and rising sabotage. When one designer ends up dead, Mother lands far too close to the center.
Lord of the Wings
by Donna Andrews
2015
Caerphilly has gone all in on Halloween, with haunted attractions, costumes, and a zoo exhibit of creatures of the night. A body and a suspicious fire leave Meg racing to save the festival.
Die Like an Eagle
by Donna Andrews
2016
As team mom for her twins' baseball league, Meg already has enough to handle. Then a man is found dead at the ball field, and the obvious suspect may not have been the intended target.
Gone Gull
by Donna Andrews
2017
Meg is helping her grandmother run the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center when vandalism starts threatening the place. A rare gull, development pressure, and a murder in a classroom turn the summer tense.
How the Finch Stole Christmas!
by Donna Andrews
2017
Michael's small Christmas Carol performance grows into a full production, complete with child actors, a temperamental star, and too many caged finches. Old grudges soon give Meg another holiday mystery.
Lark! the Herald Angels Sing
by Donna Andrews
2018
Another crowded Christmas season in Caerphilly brings Meg a fresh tangle of holiday duties and murder. As secrets surface around family and community plans, she has to keep the season from collapsing.
Toucan Keep a Secret
by Donna Andrews
2018
While locking up church, Meg finds a murdered parishioner in the columbarium and a toucan that may be part of the story. Grave robbery, local history, and a missing ruby all muddy the trail.
Owl Be Home for Christmas
by Donna Andrews
2019
Meg's grandfather's owl conference is snowed in at the Caerphilly Inn just days before Christmas. When an ornithologist is murdered, the guests are stranded together with nowhere to hide.
Terns of Endearment
by Donna Andrews
2019
Meg joins her grandfather on a bird-themed cruise, only to find the ship stalled for repairs in the Bermuda Triangle. A missing assistant, a woman overboard, and a wounded tern make for a grim voyage.
The Falcon Always Wings Twice
by Donna Andrews
2020
A Renaissance Faire at Cordelia's craft center gives Meg plenty to do before one of the actors turns up dead. With rare falcons nesting nearby, even Grandfather ends up looking suspicious.
The Gift of the Magpie
by Donna Andrews
2020
Meg is leading a holiday volunteer project when a decluttering job ends with a hoarder murdered. Rumors of hidden treasure, suspicious neighbors, and a magpie's shiny offerings all point toward the truth.
Murder Most Fowl
by Donna Andrews
2021
Michael's production of Macbeth and a nearby medieval camp already have Meg stretched thin. When a filmmaker who offended almost everyone winds up murdered, the suspect list is huge.
The Twelve Jays of Christmas
by Donna Andrews
2021
Meg and Michael's Christmas house is already packed with relatives, a cranky wildlife artist, and surprise wedding plans. Then the artist is murdered in a blizzard and his painted birds get loose.
Dashing Through the Snowbirds
by Donna Andrews
2022
Caerphilly's Christmas gets crowded when a group of Canadian tech workers and holiday guests descend at once. Meg barely has room to breathe before the seasonal bustle turns deadly.
Round Up the Usual Peacocks
by Donna Andrews
2022
Meg is juggling wedding guests when her tech-savvy nephew drags her into a true-crime podcast's cold cases. A near-fatal accident suggests someone wants the amateur sleuths to stop digging.
Birder, She Wrote
by Donna Andrews
2023
A quiet morning with hummingbirds disappears when Meg is pulled into bees, neighborhood complaints, and a reporter shadowing Cordelia. The search for a lost cemetery ends with a fresh corpse.
Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!
by Donna Andrews
2023
Ragnar's half-built gothic castle becomes the set for a reality show just in time for Christmas. When the spectacle turns deadly, Meg has to sort through cameras, egos, and watchful crows.
Between a Flock and a Hard Place
by Donna Andrews
2024
A television project brings noise, nerves, and unwanted attention to Caerphilly. When murder arrives on top of the usual community drama, Meg has to separate performance from real danger.
Rockin' Around the Chickadee
by Donna Andrews
2024
With Delaney laid up during the holidays and a high-strung crime conference in town, Meg is already stretched thin. Then one more December crisis pulls her into another murder.
Five Golden Wings
by Donna Andrews
2025
Two of Meg's cousins choose Caerphilly for rival Christmas weddings on the same day, and peace is already fragile. Then the photographer is murdered, leaving Meg surrounded by suspects and family grudges.
For Duck's Sake
by Donna Andrews
2025
Meg escapes to Rob and Delaney's new house to supervise a duck pond dig, only to watch a bulldozer uncover a skeleton. Then Iris Rafferty disappears, and the old bones stop feeling like old history.
Jay to the World
by Donna Andrews
2026
Christmas starts with the Hollingsworth clan pouring into Caerphilly and Mother's projects multiplying fast. Holiday mischief soon gives way to another murder that Meg has to solve before the season unravels.
Probable Caws
by Donna Andrews
2026
Meg finally gets time at the forge when a call from Dad sends her to Ragnar's and straight into fresh trouble. Horses, family chaos, and murder quickly shove blacksmithing aside.
Series background & context
Meg Langslow is not a professional detective. She is a blacksmith, a fixer, and the person everyone calls when some local event has already gone off the rails. In Murder With Peacocks, she is only trying to survive a summer packed with weddings. Before long, she is also solving a killing. That basic rhythm never really changes. Meg starts each book trying to handle one perfectly reasonable problem, and then murder barges in and ruins the schedule.
Meg is rarely alone.
A huge part of the series is her family, and Donna Andrews gets a lot of mileage out of them. Meg's mother can turn any occasion into a major production. Her father is a doctor. Her grandfather is a zoologist with a talent for bringing in animals, complications, and theories at the exact wrong moment. Michael Waterston, the charming academic who appears early on, becomes Meg's husband and steady partner. Around them are siblings, cousins, nephews, neighbors, clergy, town officials, and Chief Burke, who has to police all this with a straight face.
The books begin in small-town Virginia and keep circling back to the pleasures and headaches of community life. Caerphilly is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone's business, except the part that matters most. Weddings, church projects, college productions, craft fairs, rose shows, Renaissance fairs, holiday parades, and local festivals all become natural settings for the next crime. The bird titles are a running joke, but the books are really about people who can't stay out of each other's lives.
Chaos is part of the charm.
These are cozy mysteries, but not sleepy ones. Meg is usually balancing a packed to-do list, family duties, and some fresh civic emergency even before the first body appears. The comedy comes from timing, personalities, and the steady pileup of absurd details. At the same time, the mysteries are real mysteries. Andrews likes red herrings, hidden motives, long-held grudges, and the way small resentments can suddenly turn serious.
One nice thing about the series is that it changes with Meg's life. If you start at the beginning, you get the slow build from single blacksmith to wife and mother, and you watch the town and the recurring cast deepen along with her. Holiday entries like Six Geese A-Slaying or The Twelve Jays of Christmas are especially popular, but the non-holiday books matter just as much because they keep the relationships moving.
So what should you expect? A smart amateur sleuth, a loving but exhausting extended family, lots of animals and birds, plenty of local color, and mysteries that stay light on the page without feeling weightless. Meg may grumble about being dragged into another case, but she is very good company when things go wrong. In this series, things always do.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.











































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