**The cast of Donna Andrews' New York Times bestselling Meg Langslow
mystery series is back for an unforgettable holiday story in The Twelve
Jays of Christmas.
**
Meg and Michael's annual holiday celebration is well underway, with a
throng of out-of-town relatives staying at their house. Hosting these
festivities is a little harder than usual--they have to relocate all the
events normally held in their library, currently occupied by Roderick
Castlemayne, the irascible wildlife artist who's creating twelve
paintings of birds to illustrate Meg's grandfather's latest nature book.
Still, the celebrations continue--and the entire family rejoices to
learn that Meg's brother Rob and his longtime fiancée Delaney have
finally decided to tie the knot. Unfortunately, they decide to do this
in the middle of Meg and Michael's annual New Year's bash, dashing their
mothers' hopes of planning the wedding to end all weddings.
Delaney's mother sneaks into town so she and Meg's mother can secretly
plot a way to talk the happy couple into having a big bash. Hiding her
only adds to Meg's holiday stress--it's almost a full-time job fending
all the visitors who want to confront Castlemayne--reporters, bill
collectors, process servers, and several ex-wives in search of unpaid
alimony.
Then someone murders Castlemayne in the middle of a blizzard and sets
loose the birds he was painting. Can Meg help the police crack the case
before the killer strikes again? Can she keep Christmas merry in spite
of the body in the library? Can she negotiate a compromise between Rob
and Delaney and their disappointed mothers? And can she recapture the
twelve escaped jays before they begin nesting in the Christmas tree?
This intrigue-filled Christmas mystery takes readers home to Caerphilly
to join in Meg's family's holiday celebration--including, of course,
another baffling mystery.
