Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews

16Jun. Kindle.

I had been keeping up pretty well there for a while. This one was all written up, ready to post, and I wandered away for a while - then we had a thunderstorm and I had to go sit with my hysterical puppy lest he destroy the house. Naturally, one of the boomers was close enough to kill the power for a fraction of a second. Naturally, THIS time I hadn't saved my stuff - after all, I was going to post it immediately ----

It will be a few days before I make that mistake again.

I'm pretty sure that this evening's thunderstorm has passed over, so back to the book.

I've read a couple farther along in this series, but not this one. I quite enjoyed it. Our heroine, Meg Langslow, takes a leave of absence from her anvil and studio (she is a blacksmith) to go home and manage the weddings for three bridezillas - her bff, her brother's fiancee, and her mother. Things look up when she discovers that the local dressmaker is miles away recuperating from surgery and her totally gorgeous university professor son is holding the fort with the assistance of a flock of Vietnamese seamstresses who speak no English. Unfortunately, village rumor has it that he is gay. Oh, well.

The brides keep making outrageous demands and changing all the arrangements. One of the changes calls for peacocks (see book title) to stroll around the grounds being decorative. The brides totally ignoring the probable generous contribution of peacock poop and frequent raucous shrieking (I live near peacocks, I speak from experience). The the obnoxious sister of one of the groom's deceased first wife turns up and is subsequently murdered. Some writers of mysteries do see to it that the murder victims are the most deserving. In this case it was a toss-up in my mind between the sister and one of --- well, never mind, read it yourself.

All kinds of general silliness and what all. And, of course, the final reveal that the gorgeous professor isn't really gay after all. Meg had to be bludgeoned with that one although he had been trying to tell her through the entire story. Good fun.