Avid readers often wonder, how DO those writers think up so many new plots? Yes, it is a wonder. But, alas, sometimes they do not.
If you are a fan of television crime shows, consider this. The scene opens. There is a loud engine roaring. In someone’s back yard there is a backhoe digging a big foundation hole or swimming pool. A cry goes up. What happened? Well, you know what happened. They have just uncovered a body or part of one or perhaps just a bone. What happens next? What questions are asked and must be answered?
How long has it been there? Five years, 500 years? Is it a man or a woman? One tells by the pelvic bones. How tall was he or she? We know by the length of the femur. Age? That will be determined by “the state of the sagittal, coronal, and lambdoid sutures.” Check the skull. Specific identification will be done by dental records.
In Donna Andrews’ thirty-seventh Meg Langslow mystery, the discovery of the body occurs on the fifth page. Once the body is discovered, who to call? Well, Meg’s father is a physician; her grandfather is a vet with access to DNA equipment. From the local college where Meg’s husband teaches, they summon Professor Madelaine McAuslan-Crine, a forensic archaeologist, for expert opinion. She and her assistants go to work with spoons and tiny brushes.
Was there foul play? This not the Meg Langslow “accidental death” series so yes, there was foul play. To learn whether it might be someone local, check the missing persons reports and old newspapers. Donna Andrews, one must say, moves this along smoothly. Meg Langslow, her heroine, is at the scene as much as she can be, but Meg is very busy. This very weekend the town is having a festival and parade, the Mutt March, to find homes for 374 dogs from local shelters.
The dogs, all at Meg’s house, are being groomed, washed and rewashed, nails trimmed, and for the parade will be in costume. The terriers for example will all be dressed as Star Wars Ewoks, others as Wookies. Several dozen will be in dinosaur costumes, or pink, lavender and baby blue tutus. And there is a threat of dog-napping—unlikely since they all have collars with bar codes and a GPS tracker attached.
Then an old lady goes missing. Meg and her gang search for the old lady, learn whose body was found, and along the way uncover some old crimes there in Caerphilly County. And we learn why the hole was being dug. The young couple in the house are having a child and need for the child to have duck eggs because: “ounce for ounce they contain more B12, iron, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids than chicken eggs.”
However, did we make it through childhood without duck eggs? A miracle.
