"Between a Flock and a Hard Place" By Donna Andrews: Review/Giveaway

Review by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it.

Why is it people will buy an older home and then want to redo it with all the modern conveniences? Meg Langslow’s neighbors, the Smetkamps, have won a makeover for their home from Marvelous Mansions, a new reality show. They don’t seem to have much experience, with renovation ideas limited to creating an open floor plan and not understanding the concept of load-bearing walls. The homeowners, the Smetkamps, signed the contract and it doesn’t seem there’s much the town can do about it.

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Meg is the mayor’s person in charge of fix-its. She keeps a running calendar, full of notes on what to do next, and who to assign the project. As a prank or revenge, someone transported a huge flock of wild turkeys and dropped them off in the Smetkamp’s neighborhood where they menace anyone who gets too close. It falls to Meg to figure out how to move the turkeys back to the unpopulated area they called home before being “turkey-napped.”

The wild turkeys are much larger than the domestic version and refuse to leave. An early morning removal plan is hatched, and volunteers are trained to grab the turkeys while they’re asleep. It might have worked except for the dead body in the yard—Mrs. Smetkamp didn’t live to see the renovations she wanted.

Now Meg has to find the turkey-nappers, move the birds to her grandfather’s where he can study them and they can live as wild, find a killer, and organize the repair of all the ruined gardens with native plants.

This is book 35 in the popular series. Meg is more organized than six people and has to be with her husband teaching at the college, two sons, a doctor/investigator father, a grandfather with his own zoo, and a mother who can organize a major event within minutes. Luckily, the townspeople and all of Meg’s many relatives are ready to pitch in at a moment’s notice—and wherever they are, there’s bound to be vast quantities of food available.

Look for book 36, Rockin’ Around the Chickadee, coming soon. Be warned, if you backtrack and start the series at book one, friends and family might not hear from you until well into the New Year. From a reader’s point of view, it would be worth it.

To enter to win a copy of Between a Flock and a Hard Place, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "flock,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 26, 2024. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors!

You can click here to purchase this book.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She writes about eco-friendly topics, pets and wildlife for magazines and reviews mysteries and thrillers for KRL. A collection of her short stories, published by Untreed Reads, From Hay to Eternity: Ten Tales of Crime and Deception can be found at all the usual outlets. Each one is a little weird and all have a twist you won't see coming.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.