Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 6)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

In this 6th book in the Agatha Raisin series, Agatha decides to take a trip to Cyprus to track down one-time fiancé, James Lacey, who took off after their disastrous almost marriage. Instead of enjoying a romantic reunion with James, they witness a murder of a fellow tourist. Staying in their rented "honeymoon" cottage, Agatha and James work together to solve the murder, but not before the killer strikes again.

This book was harder to get into than several of the other in the series. Overall, this series is one of my favorites in the cozy genre, and I was a bit disappointed in this offering. Agatha is portrayed as desperate for James' affections, and although I like her vulnerability, I could easily see why James becomes annoyed with her. With that said, I would still highly recommend this book as a part of the series since it has a decent mystery and an interesting setting.

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

When last we left Agatha she had solved the murder of her estranged husband whom she had assumed was already dead. Unfortunately for her he showed up very much alive just in time to stop her marriage to James Lacey and when he shortly turned up dead the authorities naturally looked to Agatha and James as their chief suspects. Agatha and James worked together to solve the case and it seemed that James just might forgive her until he took off alone for Cyprus, which was to have been their honeymoon trip.

Still lovesick, Agatha decides to follow James and hope that she will be able to find him. Find him she does but she also finds a group of terrible tourists that she can't stand. Somehow though she always seems to end up running into this group and is present when one of them is murdered. The local police consider Agatha, James and the entire party of English tourists suspects and to clear her name Agatha starts to snoop. In previous books from this series Agatha has basically bumbled around and sort of fell backwards into the solutions of the various mysteries, an observation, which James makes in this entry. This time however she actually uses her wits and solves the mystery on her own. I must admit that I was quite proud of the old girl.

This book is set almost entirely in Cyprus and has a much different feel than the earlier books, which are set in the English countryside. This is a much more rough and tumble and somewhat seedy tail. It is nonetheless very entertaining, as Agatha becomes a target herself, finds another body, sleeps with a character from a previous book and tours the ancient ruins of Cyprus. All of this while she is still chasing after James Lacey who really doesn't come across in this book as much of a gentleman or as much of a human being for that matter. I don't know what will come of Agatha and James' relationship in future books but as of now I have to agree with one of the characters in this book that she deserves better.

This entry in the Agatha Raisin series does lose some of the charm contained in the earlier books but I really liked the fact that Agatha solved the mystery on her own and did so in a way that would make Sherlock Holmes proud. Another plus is that the reader is clearly shown the clues and can solve the mystery the same way Agatha did but one has to pay very close attention. I must admit that I apparently didn't pay close enough attention but once Agatha named the culprit it all made perfect sense. Not bad I would say, not bad at all.

Agatha Raisin who had retired to the quiet life in the Cotswold village of Carsley, is finding life to be very boring without the companionship of James Lacey. She's depressed because James, the love of her life has broken off their engagement. Of course, he had a good reason to do so, because Agatha had not told him the complete truth about her husband, Jimmy. She had led him to believe that Jimmy was dead, and both Agatha and James were shocked to have Jimmy appear at the start of their wedding. James is now in Cypress where he and Agatha were to be together on their honeymoon. Since Agatha is wildly aggressive and impulsive, she decides to follow James and try to rekindle their romance.

Agatha has some trouble in locating James, and to fill her time, she takes a cruise. On the ship she meets up with a rather odd assortment of English tourists. She also runs into Sir Charles Firth who seduces her and causes more conflict between Agatha and James. When one of the English tourists is killed, Agatha jumps in to investigate, and after a second murder takes place; it appears that the murderer is also after our Aggie, as Sir Charles likes to call her.

AGATHA RAISIN AND THE TERRIBLE TOURIST is a little different from the other stories in this series because it takes place in an exotic part of the world. I really enjoyed hearing about the history of Cypress. This is the sixth book in the Agatha Raisin stories.

This book was wonderful. The conflict between Agatha, James, Charles and the new characters was delightful, and I can't wait until the next one! I have read all of the Hamish McBeth and he can't beat Agatha! I love her, she is sooo funny!

Agatha takes devoted fans through the ringer with her romantic escapades and her perilous adventures. Readers should expect to be starved for more of agatha especially in the James Lacey department upon completion of this book. Despite the severely painful adventures agatha faces in this book, her self esteem seems to be improved.

The story line is well explained above so will just commit on my thoughts. I did not enjoy this book as well as the others. Agatha and James move on to Cyprus and leave the friendly place of Carsely. I have come to like the local characters in Carsely and missed them being in the book. The conflict between Agatha and James is beginning to remind me of a "Soap" on TV and I don't like that. I also can do without Charles, he is a pain, in my openion. Hopefully Ms. Beaton will move the next book back to Carsely and the people I have come to like.

Here she is again, the formidable and brash Agatha Raisin in an adventure that is remarkable as it is the first that takes her from her quaint Cotswold village to exotic northern Cyprus. This change of locale, however, is the only breath of truly fresh air in this current installment in the Agatha series. Having discovered both of M C Beaton's detective characters, it remains a suspicion of mine that the Hamish Macbeth character is more developed than dear Agatha. Though I am predisposed to enjoy Agatha's exploits, she remains unfortunately flat, two-dimensional. The current novel is stock, the usual two or three bodies littering the narrative landscape and tidied up in the last 10 or 20 pages. But I wonder if other fans like myself are aware of what may be the real unsolved mystery of the Agatha Raisin series: why on earth does Agatha (who, in agonizingly brief flashes of insight and personal honesty, knows Lacey is no good for her and that life with him would be hellish) persist in a predilection for James Lacey? Though the Agatha series will undoubtedly remain disappointing in certain aspects, I will always anticipate the next novel of her exploits.

In this, the sixth book of this cozy British mystery series, the irrepressible Agatha Raisin is still enthralled with her handsome neighbor and ex fiancé, retired colonel James Lacey, who has left the comfortable environ of their Cotswold village of Carsely for Cyprus to seek refuge from Agatha after their engagement came to an abrupt end at the altar.

The heartsick Agatha also takes off for Cyprus, which was where she and James were to have spent their honeymoon, hoping to catch up with him and make right what went wrong. Along the way, Sir Charles Fraith turns up and creates an interesting diversion for her. Unfortunately, by the time she meets up with James, she has also met up with a party of British tourists, and when one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, once again, she and James, as well as that entire party of tourists, are all suspects.

Of course, Agatha and James, despite their differences, once again team up to do some amateur sleuthing. Stung by James' observation that her previous sleuthing successes have been due solely to some happenstance bumbling, Agatha is determined to prove him wrong and show that she has the right stuff. When a second murder occurs, however, Agatha should be afraid, very afraid.

While I enjoyed this book, I did not enjoy it a much as the others, as I missed the goings on in the village of Carsely, which is part of the charm of the series. Still, fans of Agatha will definitely want to read this one, as the life and loves of Agatha Raisin are something they will not want to miss.

With Jimmy Raisin now dead and James Lacey hightailing it away from their wedding, Agatha is aghast that James would leave for their intended honeymoon destination without her. It was just a misunderstanding that she really was not a widow, but Agatha knows she can make amends if James would just give her a chance. Therefore, off to Cyprus and God willing she will get her man, but first she has to find him.

Agatha finally meets up with a very cold and brusque James and they are quickly drawn into a group of Europeans that somehow involve Agatha in yet another mystery. With the help of an old friend Sir Charles Fraith, one that Agatha really should avoid but yet makes for a very interesting twist to anger James, Agatha continues her investigation into not one but now two murder mysteries, which at times has Agatha in danger of losing her own life.

Though not a very imaginative book, the Agatha saga has me following story after story just to see what lie Agatha will tell next and how she will get herself of out her next sticky situation.

The one endearing part of this book is a very interesting conversation between Agatha and James when he explains his conflict with her and for the first time I see James really opening up. Now if only Agatha could see it that way and stop throwing Charles in his face.

If by any chance this is your first Agatha Raisin read, put it down and start earlier in the series. While these stories are technically cozies, they have much more wit and bite than others I've read. Unlike the other books in this series, Terrible Tourist is 95% soap opera about Agatha's (often funny and very wry) obsession with James Lacey, and 5% "mystery". I, like many, will forgive Agatha basically anything, so I read this book with pleasure. But if it had been the first one I had picked up in the series, I don't know that I would have been inspired to read any more, and that would have been a great loss, to me. I am thrilled I discovered this series so late in the game, because I have all of these books to look forward to. Terrible Tourist just wouldn't be at the top of my list.