"Satirical amateur sleuth mystery"

In Virginia, decorative blacksmith Meg Langslow and her lover Professor Michael Waterston move into the house they bought from the estate of the late Edwina Sprocket, the founder of SPOOR (Stop Poisoning Our Owls and Raptors). However, before they can reside comfortably the house needs a cleaning as the former SPOOR president was a rat pack. Meg and Michael decide to host a yard sale. Neighbors and family are encouraged to make the sale into a mega-gala by selling junk and providing special discounts for those in costume. The only rule is that the barn is off-limits.

Chaos reigns as is typical when Meg's family shows up for an event. However, bedlam takes a deadly turn when slimy antique dealer Gordon McCoy enters the forbidden zone barn; someone obvious followed as the culprit uses a bookend to kill the intrusive intruder. Police Chief Henry Burke has plenty of suspects as a lot of people apparently entered the barn, but hones in on a professor at Michael's school. Meg thinks the cop is way off base so she begins her own loony investigation.

This satirical amateur sleuth stars a wonderful heroine and a flock of zany relatives, friends, acquaintances, and other loons and birdbrains. The story line focuses on the nuttiness more so than the who-done-it. Fans of amusing mysteries that plays for laughs as opposed to serious drama will want to fly with Donna Andrews' fun tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 27, 2005

Summary

Ever since Murder with Peacocks won the Malice Domestic Contest (not to mention the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first novel), Donna Andrews has kept readers laughing. As Publishers Weekly says of Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, "There's a smile on every page and at least one chuckle per chapter." But the secret of Andrews's humor isn't sharp gags and one- liners. From Meg Langslow and her boyfriend, Michael, to the minor characters who cross the stage and disappear, Andrews writes about real people, and invites the reader to join in the fun. In Owls Well That Ends Well, Meg and Michael have bought a very elderly house from the estate of the uncrowned Queen of the Packrats. She bought everything and kept it all. When the house became overcrowded, she moved the overflow into the barn. When the barn was crammed, she began filling the property's sheds. When she died, her "holdings" left the various grandnieces and grandnephews with decades of junk. They avoid the job of cleaning it up by selling the place "as is" to Meg and Michael, sticking them with the lot. Their solution: a yard sale. As always, Meg's large family flocks in to offer their dubious help. Many even come with junk of their own to add to the sale. Meg's mother, sure that Meg has taken care of all the "treasures," turns to drawing up elaborate redecorating plans. Meg's dad, newly elected president of SPOOR (Stop Poisoning Our Owls and Raptors) shoulders the cause of the endangered baby owls and their mother that live in the barn. His further contribution is the announcement that anyone who arrives in costume earns a ten percent discount. Meg is coping (barely) with all this until the body of a local antique dealer is discovered in an old trunk. She and her dad have a further shock: the trunk is in the barn, in reckless disregard of Dad's beloved newborn owls. The police temporarily close the sale down to investigate. When the professor who can swing the vote in favor of Michael's tenure becomes a suspect, Meg decides that the only way to prove his innocence, and avoid being stuck with several tons of unsold junk, is to find the killer herself, and quickly. Andrews's amusing signature spin on mystery and a new assortment of feathery friends make this a priceless addition to the series.