The Peter Shandy Series by Charlotte Macleod

Between 1978 and 1996 Charlotte MacLeod published ten Peter Shandy novels, all of them wild, wacky and witty. Her characters range from the straight laced to the totally demented. Her plots are frequently laugh out loud funny. If you like unconventional mysteries that are well written I suggest that you try this series.

In the first book “Rest you Merry” we meet Peter Shandy, a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College and co-propagator of the Balaclava Buster rutabaga. It is Christmas time which means that it is time for the college’s main fund raising event, The Grand Illumination. For years Peter’s neighbor Jemima Ames has badgered him to decorate his house on the crescent. This year he decides he has had enough. After all but burying his house under gaudy decorations he escapes Balaclava for a sea trip only to be shipwrecked. Slinking back home to face his irate neighbors he finds Jemima’s body behind his couch. Is it an accident or murder? Thorkjeld Svenson, college president, champion of the straight furrow and berserker Viking, assigns Peter to find out, without ruining the illumination.

The second book is “The Luck Runs Out”. Strange things are happening in Balaclava County. First some prankster turns all the horse shoes nailed up in the college barns upside down, letting the luck run out, figuratively speaking. Second, the silversmith’s vault is emptied in a daring robbery while the newly married Peter and Helen Shandy just happen to be there picking out their silverware. Third, Belinda of Balaclava, the college’s prize sow is pignapped and the local farrier is found dead in the sty’s mash feeder. Peter is once again assigned to sort out the mysteries.

Third is “Wrack and Rune”. Professor Timothy Ames is visiting the Horsefalls farm in Lumpkin Corners when their hired man dies in a very nasty way. After calling the police and doctor, his next call is to Peter Shandy. Now Peter must find out why someone has been harassing the Horsefalls. Is the death another prank that has gone wrong or cold blooded murder? How does the old Viking rune-stone on the property fit into the mystery? To find the answers, Peter must deal with pranksters, large crowds of sightseers, and the college president’s 102 year old uncle Sven’s pursuit of an older woman.

Number four on the list is “Something the Cat Dragged In”. Retired professor Ungley rents Mrs. Lomax’s downstairs apartment. When her cat Edmund shows up with his hairpiece in his mouth, her only thought is to return it before the professor misses it. When she finds him not home and his bed not slept in she goes looking for him and finds him impaled on a harrow peg behind the Balaclava Society’s clubhouse. Police Chief Ottermole calls the death an accident but Mrs. Lomax doesn’t believe it and when Edmund finds another clue it leads straight back to the college. Overnight Balaclava County is the scene of a power struggle between town and gown that could destroy Balaclava Agricultural College. Naturally President Svenson assigns Peter Shandy, the Hercule Poirot of the turnip fields, the job of uncovering the murderer.

“The Curse of the Giant Hogweed” is the fifth book in the series. In this book Professors Shandy, Ames, and Stott have traveled to England to assist with the problems being caused by the growth of giant hogweed. When they set out to do field work they cross the border into Wales and find a world they didn’t expect. Trapped in the hogweed and confronted by a giant looking for the King’s pet griffin, it doesn’t take them long to realize that life has become even more bizarre then usual.

Number six is “The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond”. It’s Ground Hog day and all of Balaclava has turned out to see if the College ground hog will see his shadow. They get more of a show then they expect when a corpse pops up through the ice on the pond. When two more deaths follow, it’s up to Peter to find some answers.

In the seventh book, Vane Pursuit, Peter’s wife Helen is photographing antique weather vanes for the historical society. It seems like no sooner does she her pictures then the weather vanes come up missing. When someone fire bombs the Lumpkin soap factory shortly after their weather vane is photographed and someone dies in the fire Peter starts to investigate. Before he finds the answers he will tangle with a motley group of survivalists, assist a heiress who’s hiding out, and fear for the life of his beloved Helen.

Eighth in the series is An Owl Too Many. When Emory Emmerick, a site engineer for the college’s new TV station gets stabbed to death during the annual owl count Peter Shandy is once again on the case. A dead man who isn’t who he said he was, a secretary who keeps getting herself tied to trees, and a wild ride down a raging river in a tug boat make this a rollicking adventure as well as a good mystery.

Number nine is Something in the Water. Peter has gone to check out reports of beautiful, lush, lupines growing where they shouldn’t be able to grow at all. Staying in an old inn, he is waiting for his desert when the town’s most disliked citizen keels over face first into his diner. Foul play is suspected but Peter is much more interested in the lupines. Interested or not Peter soon finds himself trying to solve three mysteries. Who killed Jaspar Flodge, how are such lush plants growing in such poor soil, and who is the unknown artist who refuses to admit to painting such beautiful canvasses.

Number ten, the last but not least in the series is Exit the Milkman. Professor Feldster, Balaclava’s dairy expert and the Shandy’s neighbor has disappeared. Last seen on his way to one of his many lodge meetings he is seen getting into a big car with tinted windows and then nothing. He never shows up at the lodge, doesn’t come home and doesn’t show up for his morning class. Before he is found his obnoxious wife dies in a bizarre manor. Once again Peter must leave his turnip fields and classroom to play Sherlock Holmes.

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

“Six Geese A-Slaying” is Donna Andrews’ tenth book in the Meg Langslow series. This time Meg has been talked into being Caerphilly County’s ‘Mistress of the Revels’ or in other words the person responsible for organizing the Christmas, excuse me, Holiday Parade. Ordinarily Meg would never have accepted the job but since the person who asked her to do it is the chairman of the committee that will decide whether or not her professor husband gets tenure, saying yes seemed like a good idea. As she stands in her front yard, clip board in hand, directing the arriving floats, bands, animals and handlers and other assorted participants to their staging areas her two biggest worries are the approaching snow storm and getting the Twelve Days of Christmas tableaus lined up in the right order. That is until her nephew, Eric, hands her an even bigger problem. It seems that someone has killed Santa.

As with all the books in this series, “Six Geese A-Slaying” will keep you snickering, giggling and laughing out loud from beginning to end. You may or may not figure out early on who the killer is, but that doesn’t matter. The fun of these books has always been watching Meg deal with the chaos around her while trying to catch the killer. On a scale of 1 to 10 this book is definitely a 8.

The series so far contains the following books. They are listed in the order written:

Murder with Peacocks
Murder with Puffins
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Owls Well That Ends Well
No Nest for the Wicket
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Cockatiels at Seven
Six Geese A-Slaying

The Vicky Bliss Series by Elizabeth Peters

The Vicky Bliss Series by Elizabeth Peters

Borrower of the Night
Street of the Five Moons
Silhouette in Scarlet
Trojan Gold
Night Train to Memphis
The Laughter of Dead Kings


Vicky Bliss is a modern day heroine in every way. She is smart, a PHD in Art History, self sufficient, brave and usually practical. She also finds her looks a handicap. Blond hair, blue eyes, just under six foot tall, thin is some places and broad in others. As she puts it, no one ever looks at her and believes that she could possibly have a brain.

We first meet Vicky in “Borrower of the Night”. She is teaching History in a small Midwestern college and dating Tony who doesn’t believe that she really doesn’t want to get married. He decides that he has to prove his intellectual superiority in order to win her and proposes a contest to find a missing piece of medieval art. So off they go to an old German castle, he to impress her with his superior brain and she to bring him down a peg. But they aren’t the only ones looking for treasure and the game quickly turns dangerous .
In the next book “Street of Five Moons” our heroine is now working for the German National Museum in Munich. When a the body of a vagrant is found in an alley with an almost perfect copy of one of the museum’s valuable pieces of antique jewelry in his pocket Vicky is off in search of the maker. Her boss, Anton Schmidt, believes that it is a mystery that only Vicky can solve so once again she is off and running. Her quest takes her to Rome where once again she finds herself in danger. The question is, will she lose her life, her heart or both.

“Silhouette in Scarlet” opens with Vicky receiving a rose, a one-way to Stockholm and a cryptic message. It can only be from the very charming and very crooked John Smythe. From Stockholm to a remote island Vicky finds danger, excitement, and trouble with a capital T.

“Trojan Gold” also starts with a mysterious message. This one is a picture of a woman dressed in the gold of Troy, which disappeared at the end of WWII. The picture is contemporary and arrives in a blood stained envelope. This time Vicky isn’t the only one to get a message. Several of her colleague have also received a similar message. As they all join Vicky, John Smythe and Schmidt in the hunt it soon becomes apparent that someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to win the gold.

“Night Train To Memphis” takes Vicky out of her of art history and into the world of Egyptology. This time she has been asked by the police to work as their operative on a luxury Nile cruise because they have ‘certain’ information that a major heist of Egyptian antiquities is being planed. Vicky suspects that the person they want her to find is her occasional lover and thief extraordinaire, John Smythe. What she doesn’t expect is to find him traveling with a beautiful young girl. As she tries to concentrate on “crime” she finds herself distracted by the other passengers but mostly by her own feelings for John. When one of the crew members is murdered her dream cruise really turns into a nightmare that threatens all that she loves.

“The Laughter of Dead Kings” is the latest of Vicky Bliss’ adventures. When a priceless treasure is stolen in Egypt the authorities believe that they know who did it, John Smythe. John on the other hand swears that he has retired from his life of crime. The only way to prove his innocence is to find the real culprit. With Schmidt in tow Vicky and John head to Egypt. With each clue they find John looks more and more guilty and when murder is added to the list of crimes they know that time is running out.

Elizabeth Peters also writes the Amelia Peabody series, the Jacqueline Kirby series and several stand alone mysteries. All of them are written tongue in cheek and are amusing as well as excellent mysteries.

Elizabeth Peters is a pseudonym for Dr. Barbara Mertz, one of the leading authorities on ancient Egypt and author of “Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt” and “Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt.” She has also written several suspense novels under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels.

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

Meg hasn’t seen her friend Karen in over two years, when she shows up at her door looking for someone to watch her son, Timmy, for a “little while”. Karen now divorced, seems nervous and is definitely in a hurry. Meg being Meg, says yes, after all what’s a couple of hours. When Karen doesn’t return and doesn’t answer her home or cell phone Meg starts to worry. When she realizes that she has left most of Timmy’s clothes, a portable crib, a very large number of diapers and a list of instructions to rival a car ownership manual she begins to wonder just what a “little while” means to Karen.

Meg sets out, with Timmy in tow, to find Karen. With every stop Karen’s situation looks worse. The women who now lives at the address Meg has for Karen is unhappy about “thugs” knocking on her door looking for Karen. The new address that she gives Meg is for an apartment building that notorious for trouble and in Caerphilly’s three block “slum” district. When she arrives there she finds not Karen but the police looking for Karen. Then Karen’s ex-husband turns up dead. Is Karen a killer or another victim?

This is the ninth book in the Meg Langslow series. It is well written but lacks the rollicking fun of the previous novels. Don’t get me wrong there are a few giggles but unlike the previous books in the series I didn’t laugh out loud. Meg trying to solve a murder while trying to keep her various family members out of trouble is funny. Meg trying to solve a murder with an abandoned toddler in tow is not.

The charm and humor of this series has always been watching Meg and Michael deal with the over the top personalities around them. This book has very little of that. Although the author hints at other things that Meg would normally be worried about, we don’t see it.

I enjoyed this book but was also disappointed in it. Even the title “Cockatiels at Seven” doesn’t fit the story as all the previous titles have. If you are already a fan you may also find this book lacking. If you haven’t already been hooked on the series this book is good but not typical.

The series so far contains the following books. They are listed in the order written:

Murder with Peacocks
Murder with Puffins
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots
Owls Well That Ends Well
No Nest for the Wicket
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Cockatiels at Seven

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

Donna Andrews has done it again. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much is the eighth and latest in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series. Like the previous books in the series this one is witty and well written.
The book starts off with Meg's father joyfully asking her to guess what he's found in the basement. She jokingly answers "A body?" and he replies "Oh, rats---you already knew? Well, how soon will the police get here? I need to move the penguins---we don't want them any more upset then they already are."
Meg is off and running from there. With the dubious help of family and friends Meg and Michael are moving into their renovated house, throwing an over the top house warming party and planning to elope in the middle of it all. Now Meg has to add solving the murder to her list of things to do.
Oh, yes then there is the problem of the zoo animals. The local zoo is bankrupt and the missing owner has fostered out all of the animals. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a few days of fostering has turned into weeks. Meg’s dad’s solution to the problem is simple, just bring the unwanted animals to Meg’s house. She’ll take care of everything. Of course he forgets to tell her about this plan until people start dropping them off.
Actually the murder and animals are only a few of Meg’s problems. There’s the claustrophobic medical examiner who is so traumatized by having to go into the basement to pronounce the body that he can’t get into his car to go home. A world famous zoologist who has taken an interest in saving the zoo. And then there’s the nephews of the previous owner who are looking for the body an uncle who went missing twelve years ago.
This is a well written mystery that is also highly amusing. Anyone who has read the rest of the series will be glad to attend another Hollingsworth (Meg’s mother’s side of the family) get-together with a little murder on-the-side. For those who are new to Meg's world, get ready to enjoy the ride.

On the Wrong Track by Steve Hockensmith

Steve Hockensmith has done it again. “On The Wrong Track” is an excellent follow up to his first book “Holmes on the Range”. This is another well written story that will keep you both laughing and wondering who done it.
Gustav and Otto, better known as Old Red and Big Red respectively, are back and this time their riding the rails instead of the grub line. They've been hired by the Southern Pacific Rail Road and put on the express to San Francisco where they will receive their training. The problem is that they have to get over the mountains alive first. Not only is the train a target for a gang of outlaws with a grudge against the Southern Pacific but there is a murder committed on board almost as soon as the train gets started.
With a train full of suspects and a bad case of the ‘collywobbles,’ Old Red starts investigating. Not only do they have to deal with a snooty conductor who thinks that the only thing lower then cowboys are company guards but there is a nervous Wells Fargo man with a quick trigger finger in the express car. There is the Chinaman traveling with a drunken Pinkerton Agent, a suffragette who has an almost unladylike interest in her fellow passengers, and an annoying drummer. Then there is the crime scene, a baggage car full of strange things, including two caskets and a snake.
The farther into the mountains they go the stranger and more complicated things get. As the brothers deal with murder and robbery, things go from bad to worse. Using the methods of Old Red's hero, Sherlock Holmes, the two brothers follow the clues to the end of the line.
The relationship between the two Reds is both touching and funny. The bond between them is strong without being sentimental or sappy. The brotherly needling is of the type that anyone with brothers understands.
If you liked “Holmes on the Range” you’ll love “On the Wrong Track.” If you haven’t read either book I highly recommend them both. If you read mysteries or westerns you will find Mr. Hockensmith’s work most satisfying.

The Alpine Recluse By Mary Daheim

The Alpine Recluse is the 18th book in the Emma Lord series by Mary Daheim. I haven't read any of the other books but am looking forward to doing so.
Emma Lord is the editor of the small town newspaper 'The Alpine Advocate'. The action starts when Emma is awaken on a hot August night by the sounds of sirens. She gets up to find that a neighbor's house is in flames. When the fire is finally out, the owner's body is found in the debris and Sheriff Milo Dodge believes that he was dead before the fire started.
As Emma and her House and Homes editor Vida Runkel pursue the story they find themselves looking into the private lives of some of Alpine's most respectable citizens. Emma also finds herself looking for and wondering about Old Nick, a hermit who has been seen about town with unusual frequency lately.
As rumors and gossip fly from one end of the town to the other, Emma and Vida try to sort out the truth. However the truth is something that they would never contemplate.
This is an excellent mystery with a real twist for an ending. If your looking for an enjoyable read this is it.