Gone Gull

By: Donna Andrews

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Meg Langslow is spending the summer at the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, helping her grandmother Cordelia run the studios. But someone is committing acts of vandalism, which threaten to ruin the newly opened center's reputation. Is it the work of a rival center? Have the developers who want to build a resort atop Biscuit Mountain found a new tactic to pressure Cordelia into selling? Or is the real target Meg's grandfather, who points out that any number of environmentally irresponsible people and organizations could have it in for him?

While Meg is trying to track down the vandal, her grandfather is more interested in locating a rare gull. Their missions collide when a body is found in one of the classrooms. Can Meg identify the vandal and the murderer in time to save the center's name (and also help her grandfather track down and rescue his beloved gull)?

©2017 Donna Andrews (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Fun but missing some of our old friends

In <strong>Gone Gull</strong> by Donna Andrews, Meg Langslow is helping her grandmother, Cordelia, open a craft center on Biscuit Mountain. Because of other groups that have taken advantage of artisans, artists have expressed reluctance to get involved until Meg and her entire family sign up to teach classes in things like blacksmithing, nature photography, flower arranging, and children's theater. Soon artisans of all media sign up to teach, and Cordelia succeeds in hiring an amazing chef to make things even more desirable for students. But when the students and teachers arrive for their first week, a vandal damages work in many of the art rooms. Meg works hard to prevent more problems during the second week, and in the midst of her rounds early one morning, she comes upon the stabbed body of the rude and abrasive painting teacher, Edward Prine.

This starts an investigation into the murder, enlisting Meg's medical examiner father, her crime scene investigator cousin Horace, and her computer technician nephew. In the meantime, Meg's famous zoologist grandfather discovers that a painting by Prine was modeled after some gulls thought to be extinct 100 years earlier. So Dr. Blake spends his time wildly chasing after this gull.

<strong>Gone Gull</strong> is certainly a fun book in its continuation of the Meg Langslow series. However, it lacks some of the special touches of the other books, especially since it doesn't contain some of the previous beloved characters and gives others only small roles. I did not find the conclusion as satisfying as other books in this series, either.

Bernadette Dunne performs the audio edition of this book and makes it highly enjoyable. I have loved all her performances of this series, but she seems to get better as the series progresses. She continues to use effective voices for each character and strong expressions.

<strong>Gone Gull</strong> was a good book, especially compared to other books by writers other than Andrews, but it does not measure up to the high quality of the series in general. I still highly enjoyed the book and give it four stars.

Another excellent installment

Donna Andrews has penned another excellent installment in the Meg Langslow series. With all the zany characters of previous installments, this one is sure to please cozy mystery fans. I highly recommend this book/audiobook.