One bride wants live peacocks strutting on the lawn. Another wants all 600 guests in Renaissance costume. The third is Meg Langslow‘s own mother, who is marrying the dull widower from down the street. Murder with Peacocks came out in January 1999 from St. Martin’s Press. It was Donna Andrews‘ first novel, and it opened the Meg Langslow Mysteries, a series that has now reached 40 books.
What Is Murder with Peacocks About?
So far Meg Langslow’s summer is not going swimmingly. The ornamental blacksmith has come home to Yorktown, her small Virginia hometown, to be maid of honor at the nuptials of three loved ones. Each of them has dumped the planning in her capable hands. Her brother Rob is marrying Samantha, the peacock bride. Her best friend and business partner, Eileen, wants the Renaissance wedding. And her mother is the third.
Her to-do list extends from flower arrangements and bridal registries to keeping her dotty relatives out of trouble. Then the whirl of summer parties is spoiled by an offensive newcomer from Florida, who hints at skeletons in the guests’ closets. It seems this lady has offended one too many people: she is found dead in suspicious circumstances. The sheriff calls it an accident. Meg’s father, a retired doctor who grows poisonous plants as a hobby, is sure it was murder and pulls Meg into proving it. Other deaths follow that also look like accidents.
Meet Meg, Michael and the Langslow Family
Meg is level-headed and practical, the one person in the family who gets things done. Her mother, Margaret, is a Southern lady who never raises her voice and always gets her way. Her father throws himself into every hobby, including amateur detection. There is even an uncle who likes to wear a gorilla suit.
Help comes from Michael Waterston, a drama professor who is minding his ailing mother’s dress shop. The blurb calls him the town’s drop-dead gorgeous hunk, disappointingly rumored to be gay. Meg believes the gossip, so the two become friends. Readers will see what she misses, and that slow joke is one of the best things in the book.
Our Review: The Funniest Wedding Season in Cozy Fiction
This is a comedy first and a mystery second, and it knows it. Kirkus called Meg’s deadpan voice half Jane Austen and half battery acid, and it suggested the book as a wedding gift. The family scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. Meg is a refreshing heroine: a woman who forges iron for a living and keeps her head while everyone else loses theirs. The book has no chapters; the story moves day by day through the summer.
The puzzle is the weak part, and that is what readers criticize most. Publishers Weekly said the plotting takes a back seat to hilarity, and sharp readers may suspect the killer early. If you want a tight whodunit, look elsewhere. If you want to laugh, start here. There is more than one death, but no graphic violence.
Awards and What Reviewers Think
The manuscript won the St. Martin’s Press and Malice Domestic contest for the best first traditional mystery before it was even published. The finished novel then won the Agatha, the Anthony and the Barry awards for best first novel. It also took the Romantic Times award for best first novel and the Lefty for the funniest mystery of the year. It was nominated for the Macavity and the Dilys.
What Books Are Similar to Murder with Peacocks?
The Charlotte Observer recommended the series to readers who want fun mysteries in the style of Janet Evanovich. If you like a big, noisy family and a capable heroine, try her One for the Money. The obvious next step, though, is the sequel, Murder with Puffins. More laughs are on our funny cozy mysteries page.
What Is the Meg Langslow Mysteries Series?
A humorous cozy series about a blacksmith with an enormous, eccentric family. After the early books, the stories move to the fictional town of Caerphilly, Virginia. Michael becomes her husband, and the family keeps growing. When the debut won its contest, the author bought a field guide to eastern birds, and every title since has a bird in it. You can read them in any order, but starting at the beginning helps you keep the family straight. Here are the books in the Meg Langslow series, with the latest due on October 13, 2026:
- Murder with Peacocks (1999)
- Murder with Puffins (2000)
- Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (2001)
- Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (2003)
- We’ll Always Have Parrots (2004)
- Owls Well That Ends Well (2005)
- No Nest for the Wicket (2006)
- The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (2007)
- Cockatiels at Seven (2008)
- Six Geese A-Slaying (2008)
- Swan for the Money (2009)
- Stork Raving Mad (2010)
- The Real Macaw (2011)
- Some Like It Hawk (2012)
- The Hen of the Baskervilles (2013)
- Duck the Halls (2013)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Emus (2014)
- The Nightingale Before Christmas (2014)
- Lord of the Wings (2015)
- Die Like an Eagle (2016)
- Gone Gull (2017)
- How the Finch Stole Christmas! (2017)
- Toucan Keep a Secret (2018)
- Lark! The Herald Angels Sing (2018)
- Terns of Endearment (2019)
- Owl Be Home for Christmas (2019)
- The Falcon Always Wings Twice (2020)
- The Gift of the Magpie (2020)
- Murder Most Fowl (2021)
- The Twelve Jays of Christmas (2021)
- Round Up the Usual Peacocks (2022)
- Dashing Through the Snowbirds (2022)
- Birder, She Wrote (2023)
- Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! (2023)
- Between a Flock and a Hard Place (2024)
- Rockin’ Around the Chickadee (2024)
- For Duck’s Sake (2025)
- Five Golden Wings (2025)
- Probable Caws (2026)
- Jay to the World (October 2026)
Who Wrote Murder with Peacocks?
Donna Andrews was born and raised in Yorktown, Virginia, like her heroine, and now lives in Reston. She studied English and drama at the University of Virginia. Then she spent about two decades writing for the communications staff of a large financial organization near Washington. She also wrote the Turing Hopper mysteries, whose first book won an Agatha for best novel. In 2026 the Mystery Writers of America named her a Grand Master.
What Editions Are Available?
The first edition was a 1999 hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books at St. Martin’s Press. Paperbacks followed in 2000 and 2006, along with a large-print edition and an ebook. A two-in-one volume, A Murder Hatched, pairs the first two books. Bernadette Dunne reads the unabridged audiobook, released by Dreamscape Media in 2019, and she narrates the rest of the series too.
Quick Facts
| Title | Murder with Peacocks |
|---|---|
| Author | Donna Andrews |
| Series | Meg Langslow, book 1 |
| First published | January 1999, St. Martin’s Press (Thomas Dunne Books) |
| Setting | A small Virginia town, over one summer |
| Sleuth | Meg, an ornamental blacksmith |
| Audiobook | Narrated by Bernadette Dunne, 11 h 48 min (Dreamscape Media, 2019) |
| Awards | Three awards for best first novel |
| Next book | Murder with Puffins |
Frequently Asked Questions
Has the book been filmed?
No. We found no TV or film adaptation of the series.
Is it a cozy mystery?
Yes, a funny one: a small town, an amateur sleuth and no gore.