Dickens Station Daily Telegraph
Monday, January 23, 2023 Dickens Station, Vermont
by Emily Dodson, Editor
The Nightingale Before Christmas
A Cozy Mystery Review by Charlotte Flowers
Our guest book reviewer today is Dickens Station’s very own Charlotte Flowers, owner and pastry chef of the Plum Pudding Bakery. Charlotte is an avid mystery reader who, during her convalescence from a recent auto accident, took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on several of the many cozy mysteries in her “to be read” stack. Today, Char will give us her insights into Donna Andrews’s The Nightingale Before Christmas. -Emily Dodson, Editor
Greetings Dickens Stationers, and thank you, Emily, for inviting me to write a guest book review for the Dickens Station Daily Telegraph.
I just finished reading The Nightingale Before Christmas by Donna Andrews. I give this read, the eighteenth book in Andrews’s Meg Langslow Christmas Mystery Series, two thumbs up and five stars.
I love this book, and this series, because of the main character, Meg Langslow. Not your typical small-town girl, Meg is a blacksmith, among other things, showing that women can be both feminine and strong at the same time. Meg’s strength is not just physical but emotional as well. She is a true leader and role model.
I love this book, and this series, because of the main character, Meg Langslow.
In The Nightingale Before Christmas, Meg takes charge of a holiday show house full of eclectic professional decorators with her usual confident, glib, upbeat, yet relatable spirit. She displays formidable competence, strength, and leadership after a murder occurs in the show house, she discovers the body, and the decorators are considered suspects. Meg manages the murder, the house, the decorators, her mother-in-law’s insistence on cooking Christmas dinner, her husband’s community theater performance schedule, and provides a fun holiday for her twins, with a calming sense of “I got this” and wonderful humor. Oh, and did I mention that she is placed in mortal danger multiple times throughout the book? Yeah, that too!
The Nightingale Before Christmas is a fun read, full of Christmas traditions and the holiday spirit, ripe with humor, exhilarating, and at the same time, charming. I highly recommend it, especially if you love and respect a strong female lead.
About the Author: Donna Andrews
According to her website, http://www.donnaandrews.com/, DONNA ANDREWS has won the Agatha, Anthony, and Barry Awards, an RT Book Reviews Award for best first novel, and four Lefty and two Toby Bromberg Awards for funniest mystery. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Novelists, Inc. Andrews lives in Reston, Virginia. She has written over 30 books in the Meg Langslow mystery series.
Author’s Note: Charlotte Flowers and Emily Dodson are fictional characters who appear in the Dickens Station series of short stories.
Donald Jay
Sounds like an entertaining read! Thanks, Charlotte, and warmest wishes for a complete recovery.
Thanks, Ben!
Charlotte –
Your rave review made me add The Nightingale Before Christmas to my TBR list.
Thanks for the recommendation.
That is so nice. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the book.