20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Aggie's a Riot-----but Beaton needs a new editor., January 24, 2004
There is simply no question I adore Agatha Raisin in all her grumpy, middle-aged, love-starved, prickly, hard-nosed and soft-hearted misadventures!
In this latest effort, the latest in the series of handsome men who briefly live next door to Aggie's cottage in the Cotswold village of Carsely and help her solve mysteries is a silver-haired married computer guy. Unfortunately, he's a mere shadow of a character, just a temporary device to get Aggie involved in a new case and to provide a temporary distraction as she pines for her ex-husband and former neighbor James Lacey, a chilly jerk she's still fixated on in a mild way.
Aggie and her new neighbor agree to try to help Mrs. Witherspoon, a ninety-something holy terror, uncover the source of the "haunting" of her home by sitting up in the house all night to catch the ghost. The whole effort goes hilariously awry when Agatha runs shrieking from the house at the sight of Mrs. Witherspoon in her nightgown and a facial mask (the only laugh-out-loud moment in the book---and I'm used to many chuckles from Agatha).
Mrs. Witherspoon is subsequently murdered, and Agatha and her handsome neighbor-du-jour begin the search for her murderer and the reason for the haunting. Lost treasure, secret rooms, and more late night burgling are included in the enjoyable hunt.
Now, equally important to me is Aggie's personal life. This book finds her still pained by reminders of James Lacey. Her former friend, co-investigator and erstwhile lover Sir Charles Fraith shows up again in this story --- and thus begins my complaint about whoever is editing the prolific Ms. Beaton's manuscripts.
When we last met Charles, he was in the process of divorcing a French wife who duped him into marriage with a false claim of pregnancy with twins, and he was uncharacteristically pudgy with thinning hair. In this book, he seems to be unhappily separated from a French wife and the father of children, and claims his weight gain and hair loss were due to successful treatment for lung cancer.
Now, really..........can't someone at this publishing house provide better editorial support than that? Ms. Beaton is a talented and prolific writer, and I adore her work. Prior books have been cursed with editorial errors----dialogue attributed to the wrong character, etc.
But this is really a problem. Agatha's ex-husband James Lacey suffered from a cancerous brain tumor in earlier books in the series. Are we now to assume both Charles and James had cancer? Did Charles re-acquire his wife or re-marry? This at best needs clarification, and at worst is a howling mistake in continuity. Either way, that's what I thought editors were for.
Please, Ms. Beaton----keep writing these delightful stories, and insist on better editors and proof-readers. And----a modicum of resolution of the lovable but unloved Agatha's past relationships would help!!
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Irascible Agatha Raisin Returns In Her 14th Adventure, February 21, 2004
Agatha Raisin returns in her 14th adventure. All the characters we've come to love also return. There's the esteemed Mrs. Bloxby, the flamboyant Ron Silver, endearing Bill Wong minus his wacky parents, and even a surprise visit from Sir Charles Fraith. Agatha, however, does seem to be getting a little too trite. I love her crotchety nature, and although there were glimpses of it here, Agatha is becoming a little too obsessed with whatever man moves in next door. Worst of all, the strong Mrs. Raisin actually broke down and cried and, horror of horrors, fainted at the sight of a dead body. That's not the real Agatha! Don't go soft on us, girl!
This book also didn't live up to previous ones because Agatha's male love interest was just too wimpy for words. The fact that he had a wife, albeit a stereotypical dark-haired and jealous beauty, also never really made the reader think Agatha could wind up with him. So now, yet another man may move into the cottage next door and Agatha will have one more chance to wear her sexy black nightie. Ho, hum. Maybe Ms. Beaton needs to go back to what made Agatha so endearing to begin with---her desperate plotting, her vulnerablity, her total disdain for anything that stood in her path and her hilariously outrageous behavior.
I was also a little disappointed that the big plans Agatha made at the end of the previous book---the desire to start an active group for senior citizens of the village---got nary a mention. Hopefully, her big plan at the end of this book will carry forward to the next one.
With all the shortcomings of this offering, I still love Agatha, a woman who wouldn't dream of cooking for herself and will subsist on frozen dinners while preparing fresh fish for her cats.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intriguing mystery, October 1, 2003
After working a free lance public relations job in London for over a month, Agatha Raisin is glad to return to her quaint college in Carsley in England. Still hurting from her divorce, she doesn't even try to get acquainted with her new handsome neighbor Paul Chatterton. One day while she is relaxing in her garden with her two cats, Paul approaches her about investigating a house the owner claims is haunted.
Feeling ennui, Agatha agrees to examine the woman's claims but when mist starts appearing in the living room in the middle of the night, Agatha gets scared and runs off. A few days later, the woman is found dead and when Paul and Agatha attend the inquest, they learn she was murdered. Paul eggs Agatha into snooping around with him and they quickly find out that the woman had a lot of enemies including her own children. Yet when a suspect is arrested, Agatha thinks the police have the wrong person and starts digging deeper and in the process almost gets killed by a very determined murderer.
Fans of the Agatha Raisin mysteries will understand why they are so addictive but first time readers of this series should note that once they are finished with this novel, the reader will want to immediately obtain the complete backlist. The heroine may be contrary, ornery and raunchy but she takes no guff from anyone. She tries to project an image of a hard woman but inside she is vulnerable and lonely which is why readers care so much about her.
Harriet Klausner
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