Okay, maybe there are people in Antarctica with penguins in their basements, but in Virginia?  Only Meg's dad could manage that one. A body down there---well, that's somewhat more likely.

It turns out that explaining the penguins' presence is easy---Meg's dad volunteered to take care of the birds until the future of the bankrupt local zoo could be determined. But identifying the body in the basement proves a harder task---could it be, as Meg fears, that of the vanished zoo owner?

In the small southern town of Caerphilly, rumors fly quickly, and all the other well-meaning citizens who have agreed to take in zoo animals are now worried that they might be stuck with their guests indefinitely. So when Meg's dad generously offers to help out anyone who can no longer care for their four-legged charges, a parade of wild creatures begins to make Meg and Michael's newly renovated house look more like Noah's ark.

Meg and Michael have been planning to elope in order to avoid the elaborate wedding their mothers have begun to organize---a plan that's threatened by both the murder investigation and the carnival of animals. The only way to set things right, Meg decides, is to identify both their uninvited visitor and the killer who put him in their basement.

It is Memorial Day weekend and renovations on their farmhouse have reached a point where Meg and Michael are formally moving in. This means that Meg’s family is descending on them to help, which is normal. What is not normal, well maybe for Meg’s family it is, is that Meg’s dad has a bunch of penguins in the basement and has uncovered a dead body. The penguins are from a closed zoo and to add to the chaos of moving and murder people, start dropping off other zoo animals for Meg’s dad - llamas, camels, and hyenas are just the start. The body turns out to be the missing zoo owner and there are plenty of suspects who wanted him dead. There is the animal rights group leader, the family of a boy accused of poaching one of the zoo animals, a zoo poop entrepreneur and the well-known zoologist who had planned to buy the zoo but seems to have other secrets as well. Meg is determined to get the murder solved since she and Michael plan to elope in the middle of the housewarming/Memorial Day party that is only two days away.

Another fun outing. We met a few new characters and get to see more of many of the regulars. The murderer was not the person I thought it was. I always enjoy the books in this series and I am really enjoying revisiting these early entries. Highly recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

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