Owl be Home for Christmas by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow is coordinating her grandfather's Owl Fest, a scientific conference on owls being held at the Caerphilly Inn. This is the setting for Donna Andrews’ latest Christmas-themed mystery Owl be Home for Christmas.

A historic snowstorm is covering the entire East Coast and trapping all the conference attendees, along with a handful of other guests staying at the Caerphilly Inn, for the duration. The conference continues on as planned until one of the attendees collapses and dies. With the chief of police trapped by the storm, it is up to Meg and her crime-scene-technician-cousin Horace to lead the investigation. The problem is that the victim was almost universally disliked by his fellow ornithologist as well as the hotel staff and pretty much anyone who met him.

The good news is all the suspects are pretty much stuck in one place. The bad news is that figuring out who had the motive, means and opportunity to off the victim is no easy task. But if Meg has anything to say about it she'll have the crime solved and everybody home in time for Christmas.

The snowstorm is a useful tool in limiting the locale to the hotel, much like the shipboard setting in Andrews’ last novel served. There are plenty of Meg's large and useful family around to help out with both running the conference and assisting in the investigation. This book also gives plenty of time to one of my favorite Andrews’ characters, Ekaterina Vorobyaninova. She manages to be both an imposing and charming character. The visiting ornithologists also provide plenty of fodder with their eccentric and infuriating behavior, which shouldn't be that surprising to find at an owl conference.

Andrews does a great job of showing Meg keeping the conference on schedule while also getting to the bottom of a thorny murder. She manages to do it with her typical humor, charm, and tenacity. Reading a Donna Andrews mystery has become a holiday tradition and nobody manages the cozy mystery better. Filled with action, humor and lovable characters, Owl be Home for Christmas is the perfect gift for any mystery lover and a great way to curl up and spend an enjoyable few hours. Highly recommended.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

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