"Stork Raving Mad" by Donna Andrews: Book Review
"Stork Raving Mad" by Donna Andrews
Minotaur, 309 pp., $24.99
Reviewed by David Marshall James
Professor's wife and blacksmith-on-hold Meg Langslow of fictitious Caerphilly, Virginia, is great with child.
Well, make that two children.
As if her any-day-now delivery isn't drama enough, Meg and husband Michael, who teaches drama hisownself at Caerphilly College, have houseguests sleeping-bagging it from cellar to dome of their in-slow-progress-of-renovation Victorian farmhouse.
The heating system for the college's dormitories has kerflooeyed, and it's freezing out in the Virginia December; hence, the regugee-student encampment.
Furthermore, Meg's brother Rob has a flock of interns for his computer-games company ensconced in said cellar.
At least Cousin Rose Noire is bustling about, trying to keep things tidy and comfortable and New Age "friendly" for Meg, including the presentation of a likeness of Tawaret, Egyptian goddess of pregnancy and childbirth.
The drama continues with the arrival of semi-famed Spanish playwright Senor Ignacio Mendoza, invitee of a doctoral candidate who has organized a production of one of the bawdy political satirist's works-- something involving zucchinis and lemon trees, among other objects of interest.
There's no room at the local inn-- it, too, is full of students. So Meg's grandfather is displaced as well. Of course, given the impending blessed event, her parents are also near at hand.
The action goes full tilt with the arrival of two college profs. One functions primarily as an administrator-- responsible for the heating debacle, no less-- while the other has been holding back the drama profs and students (who are lumped in with the English department) and is a major roadblock on Michael's path to tenure.
Oh, from the moment those two sweep in (or swoop down, as it were), you figure one (or both) of 'em is gonna bite it, big-time. Rose Noire detects a detestable aura, and Tawaret is not pleased either.
This twelfth Meg Langslow mystery plays out like a theatrical piece-- specifically, a 1930s screwball comedy-- with the action contained in a twelve-hour period, all within the confines of Meg's and Michael's house and barn (well, where else would the kids be putting on a show?).
Author Donna Andrews places her props with care, with decided homages to comedic playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart ("You Can't Take It With You" and "The Man Who Came to Dinner" come to mind). The finale's a pip-- a Meg-ian tour de force-- although we're still up in the air about the forthcoming twins.
Given the avian titles of Andrews' series, odds are even on "Robin" and "Jay" for the twins' names, although, should she succumb to a bout of Rose Noire-itis, Meg might settle on "Towie" and "Titmouse."
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