Donna Andrews. Lark! The Herald Angels Sing. St. Martin’s, 2018.
Just recently I mentioned Donna Andrews’ Christmas mysteries, and this one shows up at my house. (Books have a way of appearing in unusual ways sometimes.)
Lark! The Herald Angels Sing does not have as much about birds at Owl Be Home for Christmas, but what it does say is right on. There also is not much of a mystery, as I will explain.
During a Christmas pageant rehearsal at the Caerphilly, Virginia, Episcopal Church, someone leaves a real baby in the stage’s manger. There is a note attached saying that a local entrepreneur Rob is the father. The note suggests the baby girl is named Lark, hence the title. Rob is the brother of our narrator, Meg Langslow, who was planning to pop the question to his longtime girlfriend Delaney on Christmas. Needless to say, Delaney is upset and no longer wants anything to do with Rob.
In this case, the embedded ornithology lesson has nothing to do with larks, but with American Cowbirds and Eurasian Cuckoos. Like Lark’s mother, these birds lay their eggs in the nest of other birds.
The one real mystery, the true identity of Lark, is solved pretty quickly. However, just because there is no mystery does not mean that not much happens. The tale gets crazy.
We learn that the baby’s real father is a government whistleblower whose life is in danger. Janet,the mother who wrote the note, wanted to deflect attention from her husband, so she chose the name of the one single young man from Caerphilly she had heard of.
We learn that the corrupt government of neighboring Clay County has arrested Mark the father and has framed him for murder. The mother and her girlfriend are terrified. Much of the story, then, is how Meg digs into the story of Michael and develops a plot to set him free and get state and federal help in dealing with corrupt Clay County. (I could not help thinking of Boss Hogg from the old Dukes of Hazzard television show—a bit stereotyped but one could see the possibilities for a story.)
Things get more complicated as two different groups of men from Caerphilly try to help and all end up in the Clay County jail. Some cars, including Meg’s van, get towed away into Clay County even though they were parked in Caerphilly. A corrupt federal agent tries to thwart any plans of getting the feds involved—Mark is an accountant who uncovered lots of graft in the Clay County books. Oh, yeah, as a couple of Clay County thugs come to Caerphilly looking for Janet, they break into the women’s shelter with a pistol and a shotgun.
Eventually, Meg leads a group of female carolers to the rescue. I have not decided whether the conclusion is funny, clever, or unbelievable. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted, whenever we read or watch fiction we engage in the willing suspension of disbelief. For this story, I am not sure I was able to completely suspend my disbelief at its conclusion. Having said that, if you like suspense novels with a touch of humor, Lark! The Herald Angels Sing may be just what you are looking for. Andrews knows how to keep us turning the pages, even if the result might be something you would find on the Hallmark Channel.