Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With each new book, Agatha becomes a more delightful
character (at least to me).

An errant husband reappears and
interrupts Agatha's marriage vows almost in midsentence of
"I do."

When he is murdered, Agatha becomes the main
suspect as well as a scorned fiancee. But while James may
not be of a marriage mind with Agatha, he is still of the
investigative mind. And so off they go to solve the murder.

The usual secondary characters are back and Bill, the local
police officer, even has a love interest.

With little former
background on James Lacy, we do discover here that he is
very well versed in the art of lock picking, even having his
own set of tools.

And a clearer idea of Agatha's age is given
on page 101.

That alone is worth the price of the book.

This was my first Agatha Raisin book, and I loved it. I work at a library, and now I've read nearly all of them. You'll love the village and the recurring characters.

When we last left Agatha she was planning for her marriage to the dapper James Lacey, the man of her dreams. Sometimes dreams have a way of becoming nightmares however and for poor Agatha this nightmare couldn't have been worse. Agatha you see has a terrible tendency to try to deceive both Lacey and the rest of the people of Carsely and although she never gets away with it she just keeps on trying.

In this instance she makes the assumption that the husband she left many years ago but had never divorced had certainly managed to drink himself to death by this time. She assures everyone that she is a widow and actually makes it to the alter before the not so dead Jimmy Raisin shows up and halts the wedding. The very proper Mr. Lacey is of course completely disgusted with Agatha and she is sure that she has lost him forever. On the bright side however, she is soon an actual widow after someone murders Jimmy but the bad news is that she is naturally the chief suspect.

To complicate Agatha's life even more, she has sold her cottage to a rather unpleasant woman who refuses to even discuss selling the place back to Agatha. Having calmed down a bit, Lacey tells Agatha that she can stay with him until she finds a place to stay and since he is a suspect also the two former lovers once again begin to work together on the case of the dead Raisin.

As usual, Agatha is feisty and outspoken and neither her nor Lacey have great sleuthing skills but they get the job done. The rest of the characters are again superb and the author has done a fine job of making the little town of Carsely seem not only real but also like a place where the reader would enjoy living. I even felt sorry for Agatha's friend Bill Wong as he chased puppy like after a lady cop who was working the Raisin case. Beaton's writing style is just simply superb.

That said, I must admit that this is not the best book in the series and the mystery is just a little too easy for the reader to solve. Even so, this is a fun read and no fan of warm fuzzy mysteries should pass this book or this series up.

I have enjoyed the character development in this series. It helps to read the Agatha Raisin books in sequence although it is not necessary to enjoy each story. Agatha and James are complex characters and M.C. Beaton does an excellent job in their delineation. The villagers in this cozy mystery are lovable and reading the book is like living in a small village.
The plot of this book was interesting and the action well-paced. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. The relationship of James and Agatha has reached a different level in this story. Being middle-aged, independent and set in their ways, their feelings for each other are bound to be mixed. They are likable and you care what happens to them.

Agatha was desperate to get married to James unless the bad feeling might be realized before the ceremony. But...she was almost close to commit a bigamy. The damned alchoholic and abusive husband, Jimmy came up alive in the aisle. He deserved to die because he made Agatha's life miserable...even he found to have blackmailed some at the health farm...But, it shouldn't be done by our brave Agatha...

I was touched several timed during reading this book.
One scene is that Bill and Agatha realized the love and friendship toward each other though the horrible Maddie tried to manipulated Bill (but, one thing I didn't like is that the woman in the police should be womanly. Thus Maddie was out from the investigation. I couldn't like her but the reason she was out should be her cruelty abusing the heart of the person who was nice to her..Well, women are sometimes unbelievablely cruel to men who fall for them).
And the second one is that Agatha confessed her miserable youth and the how she got married. I almost empathized, and was moved.
And the third thing was that James and the persons found the Agatha's picture in Jimmy's wallet. Jimmy might thought to use Agatha when he decided to get married. But the only picture he kept in his wallet is not the other girls but only Agatha's. He's a villian, but the one who knew how young Agatha was so sweet with full of dreams.

Wow...from the first moment I got to read the first one of Agatha Raisin series, I got to like her though she was described to be chubby, mean, tough etc. She has attractions. Originally she's a warm-hearted person. The more books out, the more I got to understand her.

Agatha Raisin returns in the 5th book in the series, and is finally going to realize her dream of marrying James Lacey, her next-door neighbor. However, just before they can say "I do", her long-lost husband, Jimmy Raisin, returns to stop the wedding. James is shocked, having thought that Agatha was no longer married, and refuses to speak to her. However, James and Agatha must team up to find a murderer when Jimmy is found dead and they realize that they are the police's prime suspects. When each of the people they question ends up dead, it is a race against time to find the identity of the killer before he/she strikes again.

I adore this series set in the Cotswolds of England, and I cannot get enough of the character of Agatha Raisin! She has charmed me from the first book on, and I personally have felt that she was much too good for James Lacey. It is almost pitiful how Agatha has chased him only to loose him each time...although it is part of the fun of each book to see what antics she will be up to next. As Agatha grows as a character, I feel she only gets better. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, start reading this series today.

The first book in this series is "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death". Enjoy!

I LOVE the Agatha Raisin series. I found the first three at the library many years ago and read straight through them. Agatha is such a refreshing heroine, and the predicaments of her making are reminiscent of I Love Lucy. I have only read this far in the series, but while updating my birthday wishlist, I was delighted to see that several more have been written in the past few years (which I hope to be receiving shortly!). I consider these books clever, not slapstick or corny. Although Agatha's exterior is gruff, it isn't difficult to identify with her vulnerability. I must warn you, though, I've recommended these books to friends who don't seem as enchanted by them as I am. I guess Agatha is not for everyone, but these books are worth a try, particularly if you're not overly fond of Mary Higgins Clark.

Read anything by MC Beaton or Marion Chesney you can get your hands on. She's got great character development in every slim volume that she publishes. What a gem!

Ms. Beaton totally captured my attention in not only this book but the entire series which I read in two weekends...can't wait for the next one...

This is the fifth book in the Agatha Raisin cozy British mystery series. Fans of Agatha will not be disappointed. Her neighbor, distinguished retired colonel James Lacey, has finally succumbed to Agatha's charms, and they are now about to be married. Just as they are about to tie the knot, however, who should inconveniently turn up at the wedding but Agatha's first husband, Jimmy, who she had presumed to be long dead from alcoholism.

James Lacey promptly calls off the wedding and vows never to marry Agatha. When Jimmy turns up dead shortly thereafter, both James Lacey and Agatha Raisin are the prime suspects. Despite the elephant in the room, James and Agatha join forces to do some amateur sleuthing, much to the chagrin of the local police. Before they know it, the bodies start piling up.

Agatha's friend, Detective Bill Wong has a larger, more involved role that usual, and he is truly a wonderful and funny character. As with all cozy mysteries, the mystery is secondary to the evolvement of the recurring characters and the ordinary discourse of life that binds them. As always, the dialogue moves the plot along at a brisk pace, and the book is peppered with a host of interesting, quirky characters that entertain the reader. This is a highly addictive series that makes the reader race off to get the next volume.