Degrees of Affection

One might think I have enough new cozy mysteries to set me up for quite awhile. You'd be wrong, as the joy of new (long series) unexplored literary horizons cannot be gainsaid. Therefore, I downloaded the book even before checking to see what the reviews said. Directly after that, Murder by Death posted about the series and so I immediately jumped right in. Hilarity ensued.

Meg Langslow might be insane but she certainly will be after the three weddings she's planning this summer. Her best friend's Eileen to Steven, her brother Rob's to Samantha, and her Mother's to Jake Wendell - she's in charge of them all and every bride is driving her nuts! The book opens with Samantha calling her about getting Peacocks for her wedding; it goes downhill from there. Meg's family is an old one from Yorktown Virginia and it's full of...interesting characters. The story focuses on Meg as she goes through the days till the weddings and everything goes on: including meeting Michael Waterston, a handsome young man running his mother's dress shop that summer; family and friends siccing guys on her; and...oh yes, the murder of her mother's fiance's sister-in-law! It is not actually Meg who leads the investigation, though she certainly lends as much help as she can with her other duties, but her father! I love her dad, he's so kind, slightly crazy, and very intelligent - but I wouldn't want to have a dinner conversation with him! Forensics at the dinner table, blegh! Michael was a great character and I loved the relationship growing between them but one thing drove me nuts,

The mystery was okay but not anything spectacular. The characters and the events were what made this book for me. If I were rating this solely as a mystery, I'd have to take a star away. But I had too much fun reading this and already have the next one on hold!