I think Andrews has finally hit her stride in this one. Flamingos was entertaining, but the whole craft show/Civil war reenactment thing was pretty chaotic - and we all know that no Southern (with a capital "S") town is going to allow some flatland furriner to come in and run the circus. Or perhaps, the general scenario in this one just appeals to me because of my first career - and besides, I have always had a weakness for geeks and nerds.
Remember Meg's brother? The one that hated law school (although he did graduate and pass the bar on his first attempt)? The one that spent much of his time during law school inventing a role playing game (the uninitiated may think of Dungeons and Dragons) called Lawyers From Hell. The game caught on and a computer version has been created and is meeting with phenomenal success. Space-cadet Rob who can barely manage to read his email is now the CEO of a software firm. The staff is peopled with every kind of computer geek you can think of. They (or some subset of them) have also rescued a buzzard, George, from a pack of dogs and installed the now one-winged raptor in the reception area of their new office facility as a sort of mascot.
Something weird but indefinite is going on at Mutant Wizards and Rob has begged Meg to temporarily fill the receptionist position and investigate since she is presently recovering from a blacksmithing injury. The receptionist position is proving difficult to fill permanently because most sweet young things appear to have an unaccountable aversion to sharing space with and being the primary caretaker for a disabled buzzard - among other things. One of the other things is the practical joke nerd who is deeply enamored of the automated mail cart. As the story opens, Meg is ignoring him as he rides the mail cart around the office with a stage knife in his chest and stage blood dripping. Several circuits later, Meg happens to notice that this time he actually IS dead - strangled by (can you guess?) a mouse cord. Reminded me of the time that some of my nerdier students pretended to hang themselves with mouse cords in my classroom.
Absurdity mounts upon absurdity. By the way, the intractably vicious Pomeranian, Spike, is resident in a cage under the receptionist's desk. Did I mention that, a la Google, dogs are welcome to come to work with their owners at Mutant Wizards? Hopefully, the tattooed biker dude turned holistic veterinarian will succeed in reforming him.
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