These really are cocktail peanut books, in the best sense of the word. They're compulsively readable. They have a pleasant taste and satisfying texture. They will make you fat if you consume too many of them because you'll never rear up off your sitzfleisch long enough to do more than walk the dog. And you'll chuckle while you're doing it.

Meg's insane family has nothing on the insanity of her friends, such as the mother who drops her toddler on Meg and her newly minted husband Michael because she's fleeing the criminals and lawmen who are after her not-quite-ex-husband; the neighboring sheep farmer whose obsessive belief that everyone is out to steal his sheep leads him to hide in his own shrubbery to keep watch on them, forgetting that he's completely visible from the main road; and her new bestest buddy, the absentee mom's co-worker at Caerphilly College's financial aid department, whose eagerness to latch onto Meg shows she's a rare good judge of where the action is.

Of course, all the usual suspects are making Meg crazy as well: Her daft father and newly discovered grandfather are hiding six-foot snakes in her new hot tub (there goes the sexy evening of soaking cares away with the aforementioned new husband), her brother the millionaire has abandoned his furnished apartment for her third-floor bedrooms (but failed to mention it to her), her mother and her loopy New Age cousin are shopping shopping shopping for new decor for her house, and so just *can't* babysit the toddler; and he's proven to be such a handful that Meg's seriously questioning her never-very-strong desire to be a mother. Someday. Maybe never. Especially now.

It's not urgently necessary to read these books in order. I'd suggest starting out with Murder with Peacocks to get some of the background, and certainly would not have a newbie skip past Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos before tackling the rest of the series. But...and here's the big point...there is too much fun to be had for me to go all OCD and strenuously urge you to follow the chronology. You're big people now, you can figure it out, and Andrews gives very good fill-ins for all crucial relationships.

Read. Enjoy. ( )

Due to a mix-up at the library I ended up reading it out of sequence, which bothers me. 3.5 stars. It had some decently funny scenes. ( )

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews is a 2008 Minotaur publication.

Now that Meg and Michael are married, Meg's thoughts have begun to flow toward the next step- children. Meg gets a good dose of reality when Karen, an old friend, drops by out of the blue asking Meg to babysit her son, Timmy, for a while. As time passes, and Karen still hasn’t come to claim Timmy, Meg must find out what’s become of her friend, while also caring for Timmy full time.

Naturally, the situation takes on a sinister tone when I dead body is found, and the possibility that little Timmy could be in danger becomes more apparent.

This is one of my ‘read though’ series. I love touching base with these zany characters, but I thought Meg was especially funny in this episode. The mystery, as always, was very well executed, the pacing is brisk, and the dialogue is top-notch.

Another hysterically wild and entertaining installment in this beloved series!! ( )

This is at least the fourth time I have read this book and it stands up well. I owned three cockatiels when I bought this book. It was the first one I bought in this series and I liked it so much that I went out and bought all the ones that came before it and kept buying those that came after it.

Reread again May 2020 during a pandemic, a week after I euthanized my dog and under quarantine for Covid-19, vivid, detailed dreams. Not horror dreams, nothing that had me waking up in a sweat, but dreams filled with people and animals..family and not family but familiar. I felt like the books heavily influenced the dreams. What was even nicer was I remembered huge chunks of them when I woke (for a little while at least...boy do dreams fade away fast).

Reread again October 2023...still good.

It’s time for more outrageous and feathered fun in the award-winning, laugh-out-loud Meg Langslow series.

When her old friend Karen drops by with two-year-old son Timmy, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit “just for a little while.” But when nightfall comes, the toddler is still in residence and Karen isn’t answering any phone calls. Meg decides she must find out what’s happening, so the next morning, with Timmy in tow, she retraces her friend’s footsteps---and begins to suspect that Karen’s disappearance is tied to at least one serious crime. Has Karen been killed or kidnapped? Is she on the run from the bad guys? Or is she one of the bad guys? The police don’t seem to care, so Meg once again plays sleuth---this time with a toddler as her sidekick.

As usual, Meg’s extended family adds to the complications in her life. What covert animal welfare project are Dad and the curmudgeonly zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake working on---and will Meg have to make another late-night trip to bail them out of jail? Why does Meg’s brother keep disappearing---is he merely trying to avoid babysitting, or is he involved in something more mysterious? Will taking care of Timmy dampen newly married Meg and Michael’s enthusiasm for starting a family of their own? And are any of Meg’s relatives reliable enough to be trusted with a two-year-old---especially a two-year-old whose whereabouts might be of interest to some very dangerous people? ( )

Funny, a decent plot with plenty of twists and red herrings, but the the cockatiels don't make it to the party. Didn't like it as much as most others in the series but I think that's just me. ( )