The Falcon Always Wings Twice: A Meg Langslow Mystery

Bestseller Andrews’s charming 27th mystery featuring level-headed Meg Langslow (after 2019’s Owl Be Home for Christmas) finds Meg’s grandmother, Cordelia Mason, hosting the Riverton, Va., Renaissance Faire at her Biscuit Mountain Craft Center, where Meg is conducting blacksmithing demonstrations, along with her teacher and mentor, Faulk Cates, and her twin sons. Meanwhile, Meg’s husband, Michael Waterston, is participating in “the Game,” a “semi-improvisational entertainment” put on by professional actors that’s popular with Faire visitors. Unfortunately, actor Terence Cox turns out to be a not-so-merry-prankster who delights in humiliating his fellow Game participants, so it’s not as shocking as it should be when he turns up dead in the woods, stabbed in the back with a cheap faux-Renaissance dagger. As usual, Meg is front and center helping Riverton police chief Mo Heedles track down the culprit. Andrews supplies her usual droll plot and familiar cast of eccentrics, and the picturesque Renaissance Faire setting adds to the fun. This quirky, long-running cozy series shows no signs of losing steam. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary. (Aug.)