Christmas approaches and Meg Langslow, in the twenty-eighth book in this quirky mystery series, is busy. Busy might be an understatement. Having accepted the role of special assistant to the town hall, Meg is also running an inter-church group called Helping Hands for the Holidays. The combination puts her in the middle of a dispute between a hoarder and the town health officials, the hoarder’s supercilious relatives and the neighbourly activists. THE GIFT OF THE MAGPIE by Donna Andrews will keep you reading and chuckling at any time of year.

Caerphilly, Virginia is the location again, and the wide cast includes Meg’s relatives and the Shiffleys who own many local businesses. I don’t know how all the small builder firms stay in business with an organisation providing free work, tools and fittings. Harvey Dunlop is a gentle man with a hoarding problem, and everyone thinks it would be safer for him and cleaner for the locality if the house was decluttered and repaired. His cousins and neighbours especially. Nobody quite knows what might be under the mounds of junk and piles of family papers going back to the Depression – which soon becomes a possible motive for murder.

Meg’s father and mother, Grandfather and friend Rose Noire feature largely, as do Meg’s energetic twin boys Jamie and Josh. A flock of released magpies provides the title but not a lot else. Meg’s husband Michael Waterston is mostly otherwise occupied, being a drama professor. I dislike the way that Michael puts on a one-man show every year at Christmas. A drama professor should be focused on getting his students' stage experience, not himself. Leave it to Meg’s dog Spike and a relative’s wolfhound to add extra bounce to the adventure. I’ve read most of these books, and while I prefer the earlier reads, it’s hard to keep a series fresh and characters growing, especially in murder mysteries. Safe to say if you enjoyed an earlier book in the ‘Meg Langslow’ series you’ll be pleased with this one.

While these are the main issues, the Helping Hands projects supply side issues, and then we have to see what the town’s decorations look like, so the tale is packed but not everything provides clues or motives relating to the crime. One point we do learn is that we don’t need to hoard years of paper, and these items can be scanned and saved on computer. Donna Andrews likely finds herself with too much paperwork, being a writer, and yes it can be hard to part with items. When the clutter starts to control our behaviour is when we need to act. Let’s make a resolution to keep reducing our clutter each week, or as THE GIFT OF THE MAGPIE shows, someone else will need to do that later, and they may not be kind to our possessions.