Meg Langslow invites us to share her latest adventure in the bustling town of Caerphilly, Virginia. Birds are the running theme in this mystery series and BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE swamps one end of town in quarrelsome feral turkeys.

Marvelous Mansions, a TV reality show, is doing a makeover of a historic home belonging to the Smetkamps, to the horror of the house’s former owner, the neighbours, and the planning department. Having had a basement plan refused, Mrs. Imogen Smetkamp is pushing ahead with a total interior renovation. Not only were the construction workers less than careful, but someone slowed down everything by releasing turkeys.

Apparently, Caerphilly had a resident flock of feral turkeys which expanded of late. They have now occupied Bland Street and nobody feels safe getting too close. Moving turkeys around isn’t a crime – probably – but it certainly creates a safety hazard, and all hands are called upon to deal with this. Meg, a blacksmith by trade, is now a contented wife and mom of two young lads and helps out as the Mayor’s special assistant. This means she gets involved in everything. Before too long, a murder comes to light. Either the turkeys provided camouflage, or they drove someone to breaking point. Either way, the renovation show is over. 

A good point about this lively series is that characters recur and many people are relatives. A disadvantage is that by now the harried Meg doesn’t bother describing everyone, so if you are new, or have not visited for a while, you are left to your own devices. We see a lot of Kevin, the cyber advisor to the police, who lives harmlessly in Meg’s basement, but we are not told if he looks any different from the other computer addict, Chris Smith in Bland Street, who gets described as a vampire. We see plenty of Mayor Randall Shiffley and several of his family. Also, Meg’s Grandfather, who works at the zoo, and her father, a doctor and medical examiner, along with bashful Horace Shiffley who has grown into his absorbing job as a forensic technician. By contrast, I barely saw Meg’s family of Michael, Josh and Jamie. The dogs are friendly and helpful as always.

I did see something coming, I was waiting for it from quite early in the case. So I wasn’t surprised by the turn of events. I was amazed by how many miscreants were fitted into Donna Andrews’ 35th book in this series, BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE, and I’ll definitely look forward to my next visit to Caerphilly.