Just an absolutely heart warming book. I needed that right now ( )

The 28th book and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie is yet another wonderfully merry and funny book from New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews.

Meg’s running Caerphilly’s Helping Hands for the Holidays project, in which neighbors help each other with things they can’t do and can’t afford to have done. Her hopes for a relatively peaceful (if busy) Christmas vanish when someone murders Harvey the Hoarder, whose house the Helping Hands were decluttering. Was there any truth to the rumor that he had something valuable hidden beneath all his junk? Was one of his friends, neighbors, or relatives greedy enough to murder him for the rumored treasure? And what about the magpie that has been bringing her family bits of tinsel and costume jewelry―does the bird’s latest gift hold a clue to solving the crime?

Full of intrigue, this Christmas mystery will take readers home to Caerphilly, where the suspense falls as thick as the snow. #28 ( )

I loved this book. I missed out on it during the Christmas season, but it’s cold and rainy here down under, so it was the perfect atmosphere in spite of it being the last day of July.

There’s always something wonderful going on in Caerphilly, even if a lot of people get bumped off. This time it’s a Helping Hands program, started by the towns’ churches’ interfaith committee, to help out people with small (or large) projects, run by volunteers lending their individual expertise. The biggest project of them all is a notorious hoarder who is in danger of having his home condemned and his family having him declared unfit to care for himself. Meg and the mayor get the Helping Hands involved and are helping him deal with all his stuff and make repairs to his home when Meg finds him bashed in the head in his garage.

The mystery plot wasn’t one of her best, though Andrews did a great job keeping the reader in a state of reasonable doubt, but the rest of the story was just lovely. Not a word normally associated with mysteries, but it was. Though there was less emphasis on the Christmas spirit in this one, I loved the ending and I loved the surprises. The only thing that I noticed (beyond a couple of minor continuity errors) was that of all her books, this one was probably the one where the titular birds (magpies) had the smallest role. The birds have never been pivotal to the plots, so it’s barely worth mentioning. Have I mentioned how much I loved the ending?

I eagerly await the next two books. ( )

Extra star for a clever juxtaposition. Perhaps there is symbolism that I've been missing lately... ( )