Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews

Some of my gentle readers have been lamenting my lack of recipe reviews. Believe me, I have been discouraged by my lack of new recipes as well. But! Do not despair! Next week I will get back on the foodie bandwagon (or should that be the chuck wagon?) and pick up with some new tasty morsels.


In the meantime, I offer you a mystery review:

This is a Meg Langslow mystery, set in Maine. Murder with Puffins picks up after Murder with Peacocks where Meg and her new beau Michael (who, according to her description, looks like his namesake angel with ravishing blue eyes and dark hair and could be a model for a romance novel...you get the idea...) decide they need a quiet get away from her nutsy family and plan a weekend getaway to Monhegan Island and the family cottage. Except when they arrive they find the entire family there. Oh, and there is a hurricane blowing in.


The island is awash in birders, hoping to catch a glimpse of this rare bird or that particular bird (with a hurricane coming in). The native islanders are tolerant of these seasonal intruders, except for Victor Resnick, a local artist who hates everyone and has built a huge house of glass in prime puffin habitat. He shoots at birds because they poop on his glass house and he shoots at birders because they trespass on the path that follows the shoreline. The birders are in huff, Meg and Michael are dismayed, and her family is all bonkers. In an attempt to escape the family for a while, Meg and Michael head out for a hike around the island (with a hurricane blowing in) only to discover Victor floating face down in a tidal pool (with the tide coming in).

Who did it? Suspicion is cast on Meg’s Dad, who was missing when the hurricane hit because he stayed out overnight on the far side of the island to watch it come in. In addition, Victor and Meg’s Mom had a two year "fling" when she was 14 (over 20 years ago now) and everyone figures Meg’s Dad is highly jealous of Victor. Meanwhile, Meg is dragging Michael all over the island (in a hurricane) as she plays amateur detective.

Complete and total brain candy. The situation was so totally implausible as to be completely ridiculous. The islanders are boarding up the houses, yet everyone is out running around in a hurricane looking for birds and or murderers. I have been in a hurricane (Hugo - Sept, 1989, New Jersey) and while it was more of a tropical depression by the time it hit, I certainly didn’t want to be out in it anymore than I was ordered to. Sheets of rain, wind, generally unpleasant.

I wonder what would happen if Meg Langslow met Theodosia Browning...? How many bodies would turn up then? Would Michael get along with Perry and Drayton? Would Meg find Haley a threat as Haley seduces Michael with crabcake puffs, peach scones with clotted cream and homemade truffles? Hmmm.... stay tuned for the next episode of New Englander meets Southern Belle!