'Tis the season to be jolly - and for Meg Langslow to round up stray animals of all sorts as well as a killer. Duck the Halls!

The brilliantly funny Donna Andrews delivers boughs of holly and barrels of laughs with Meg's latest adventure in her award-winning, New York Times bestselling series. A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when volunteer fireman Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, where Mother insists the show must go on, despite the budget-related protests of Mr. Vess, an elderly vestryman. Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen - only to turn up later during the concert, slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens. The next morning is Sunday, and the congregation of St. Byblig's, the local Catholic church, arrive to find it completely filled with several hundred ducks.

It's clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them. But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Vess is discovered dead. Who would have murdered such a harmless - if slightly cranky - old man? Who has the time during the busy holiday season to herd all of these animals into the town's churches? And will Meg ever be able to finish all of her shopping, wrapping, cooking, caroling, and decorating in time for Christmas Eve? A Yuletide treasure for the ages, Duck the Halls is guaranteed to put the "ho ho hos" into readers' holidays.

Christmas with the Langslows is never smooth sailing and this year is no different. Someone is playing pranks on the various churches in Caerphily starting with skunks in the choir loft of one church. The pranks are harmless, if annoying, until someone is discovered dead.  Meg is now searching for a murderer all while juggling the schedule for the season’s events.

The Langslow family always seems to be surrounded by chaos of one kind or another and Christmas is no exception. Meg’s family is in the midst of it all as usual as are various animals. I suspected the murderer’s identity but not until about the same time Meg did. Overall the mystery is never the real joy in this series, it is Meg and her eccentric family and their friends. Yet another great entry in this series. Highly recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

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