Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 14)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!!

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.

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

AGATHA RAISIN AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE is the fourteenth book in this mystery series. I open each and every Agatha Raisin story with anticipation and the knowledge that I'll be able to get into the story quickly and learn what's been going on in Agatha's life. I haven't been disappointed yet!

This story begins with Agatha still in pain over the defection of James Lacey, her husband. He left her to become a monk and so Agatha fills her time with free lance public relations work in London. Upon returning home to the Cotswold's, she finds that Paul Chatterton, a new and handsome gentleman has moved next door. In fact, he's heard of her and her past investigations. They become friendly and Paul proposes that they offer to help an elderly lady from a neighboring village who claims that her home is haunted. Of course, murders do take place and Agatha is spurred on by Paul to keep investigating.

As Agatha starts dreaming of having a relationship with Paul, her old friend Sir Charles comes to visit and insinuates to Paul, that Agatha is his girlfriend. Paul seems annoyed and maybe a little jealous, he backs off and and starts to investigate on his own.

Sir Charles is very supportive of Agatha and becomes a kinder friend that he had been in the past. Of course, Aggie, as Sir Charles calls her, helps to solve the mystery of the haunted house, and the book ends with Agatha thinking about starting her own detective agency.

I only just started reading the Agatha Raisin series about a year ago and I have read them all to date. I find The Haunted Mansion delightful. I would like to see her either end up with the neighbor or for her to have a married couple move in next time but if you like a good mystery then this book along with all of the others in the series delivers. If you are looking for something a little different than the other books in the series then you may want to try to read something else but if you like Mrs Raisin and you enjoy watching her get into, and most times stay into trouble then you will enjoy this book and take it for what it is worth. Lets hope that another comes out very soon.

Okay. I'm cheating. I've given it 5 stars because I adore Agatha Raisin and I KNOW I will enjoy it thoroughly. BUT this is the ONLY book in the series that isn't available on Kindle and I want to know WHY? I feel like someone has stolen Volume M of my set of encyclopedias ... WHAT'S THE PROBLEM HERE?????

Nothing is more satisfying than a new Agatha Raisin mystery. This latest in the series is totally enjoyable. In this book we see Agatha involved in solving a mystery with a new paramour, but this one is apparently married. A new man has moved into James' cottage next door. He approaches Agatha to help lay a ghost to rest in an old cottage in a neighbouring village. Things get going when the woman from this haunted house is found dead a month or so later. Agatha and Paul set out to find a killer. In true Agatha Raisin fashion she bumbles and bosses her way into a solution. What a treat she really is!

This is the 14th book in the popular Agatha Raisin series, and the plots are starting to have a familiar ring to them, though they are still a fast and entertaining read. In this installment Agatha plays sleuth with her new, handsome neighbor Paul Chatterton, who is conveniently married to a woman who lives in Spain. Agatha was socialized to view every male as a possible romance, and Paul is no exception. They offer their services to Mrs. Witherspoon, an elderly eccentric who lives in the village of Hebberdon, who claims her house is haunted, and then work together when Mrs. Witherspoon is found murdered. In the end it is Agatha and her friend, Sir Charles, who solve the case after Sir Charles arrives in Carsely for an unexpected visit. What will Agatha do next? Stay tuned for #15.

As I have said before, the Agatha Raisin books are no longer about the dead body in the other room; they are about the interactions between the recurring cast of characters and the maturing of Agatha. As she comes to realize that she is important and that people do care about her - even if she tries to stare them down with her bear like eyes and doesn't understand that when she spout off at the mouth there is a living breathing human being at the pointy end of her jabs - they just have to be willing to get beyond the wall that she has built.

What could be more tempting than a report of a haunted house? Agatha, with the help of her new neighbor Paul Chatterton, head out to do a little detecting and spend the night doing their own Ghost Hunters type of investigating. But when Agatha gets a little more than what she was expecting and the nasty Mrs. Witherspoon is soon found dead, Agatha once again finds herself knee deep in an investigation and Bill Wong must come to the rescue.

A new day has dawned for Agatha. No longer is she languishing away because a man is not paying attention to her. She is now seeing them as a distraction and she has a new direction in life.

By the way, when did Agatha get sexy? I remember the previous books discussing her in a frumpy sort of way. Now she is turning heads and the ladies of Carsley are a bit on the jealous side. This is a new turn and I hope that it will add yet another dimension to a wonderfully curious woman.

I always look forward to the 'next' adventure of priceless Agatha Raisin. The incident at the top of the stairs of the haunted house left me laughing out loud. The personalities of her various heartthrobs are priceless.

Bring on more!!!