Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this fourth book in the Agatha Raisin series but while reading it, I had a vague feeling of disquiet. It took me a while to figure out what was bothering me and I finally realized that Agatha, in this book, had resorted to namecalling in her insults and some of those names are quite vicious. She has in all the books been quite tart with others but in this one, she is downright vicious.
The leader of a rambling group (a group of people who get together to walk & enjoy the country) from a nearby village is murdered. A friend's niece is one of the suspects and she asks Agatha to investigate. Agatha, naturally, agrees to do so and she & James go undercover as a married couple in the nearby village.
The suspects are plenty and none of them are likeable. Not even any of the secondary characters are that nice.
I would hesitate to pick up the next book in the series if it were not for the cliffhanger ending of this one.

I love Agatha Raisin. M.C. Beaton has created one of the finest character studies of small provincial towns I have come across. I've found myself laughing aloud several times with each book that I pick up and I bless Beaton for that.

In her previous three stories, the mysteries have stood second stage to Raisin's interactions with people in the town. And that was just fine. But here it seems that Beaton is attempting to turn Raisin into a bumbling Mrs. Marple alluded to in every story. But it doesn't work. Beaton just can't set up a mystery on par with Christy and in her efforts to do so, Beaton sacrifices much of what was so enduring about her first three Raisin stories.

I did not especially like this book though I plan on reading more Raisin novels in the hopes that Beaton once again captures the magic of her past triumphs.

AS usual I enjoyed another Agatha Raisin doing her thing. Her thing this time also gets her really involved with James Lacey. Agatha has returned to Cotswold village after six months in London. She is not back long before someone murders one of the walkers of dembley, a group that gets together and walks on the weekend. They follow old trails that have since been planted in crops. The farmers, of course, do not like this as it destroys their fields. After one is killed, another is killed. Who could be doing this? One of the walkers, one of the farmers, a lover? Agatha and Lacey keep asking questions until they figure it our. Or do they? I can see the village and the people in my mind as I read. Beaton does an excellent job if you will just let yourself go and feel the writing.

I am new to the Agatha Raisin series. I have not been reading them in sequence and I am really glad I did not read this one first. I did not find this story as interesting as the others in the series that I have read. This story lacked the humor that I am accustomed to from M. C. Beaton's other books.

This story deals with class prejudice.

It is about a group of Walkers from Dembley, England more often called Ramblers in this story. This is no ordinary group of ramblers that like to ramble in the countryside. This group is described as an odd bunch of leftists who like to demand their walking rights and aggravate aristocratic landowners by trespassing on their private property. In the group are teachers, waiters, an IRA sympathizer, and a male chauvinist.

The group has a major falling out with the leader, Jessica. Jessica is a bully and Marxist sympathizer. Jessica wants the group to trespass on Sir Charles' property. The others refuse so Jessica decides to walk by herself and is found murdered. Agatha Raisin and James Lacey go undercover and discover by accident the real murderer. Unfortunately, this happens after a second member of the group is found murdered.

All the members of the walking group plus Sir Charles are prime suspects. Sir Charles is a ladies' man and has an interest in one of the ramblers, Deborah.

It is Deborah who convinces Agatha to help Sir Charles by finding the real killer so that Sir Charles would no longer be a prime suspect.

Agatha is a middle aged PR professional and amateur detective. Throughout most of the book she creates a fantasy romantic life with her neighbor James Lacey. She eagerly suggested that she and James should pose as husband and wife and infiltrate the Dembley Ramblers so they could learn more about the characters involved.

James for most of the story is indifferent towards Agatha. He likes being a bachelor. By the end of the story he draws closer to Agatha.

In the fourth book in the Agatha Raisin series, our heroine is again put right in the middle of a vicious murder. Following her return from working for a London P.R. firm, Agatha must help friend Sir Charles Fraith clear his name. It seems as though the leader of a walkers group has been murdered after being seen arguing with Charles, and Agatha sets out with James to pose as a married couple to infiltrate the village of Dembley. Of course, Agatha finds herself miserable, and finds that living with James is not the romantic getaway that she had hoped for.

This series is one of my favorites and this book shows Agatha at her finest. Her gruff exterior is no match for her soft heart, and those that truly get to know her see this warm side. I highly recommend each book in this series, and also the series about Hamish MacBeth, also written by M.C. Beaton.

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

Imagine a middle aged woman living in the Cotswolds who can neither cook, garden, nor has the slightest clue as to why she frequently offends people. But Agatha has Sherlockian instincts for crime, and a bulldog approach to problems of both murder and romance. Hilarious.

I'm unusual in that I like the aggressive Agatha more than the lazy, unambitious Hamish MacBeth. This one is as good as the others in the series -- although the first one, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, is the best.

I suspect I liked the first book best because James Lacey played so little a part of it. The biggest mystery in this book, as in all of the them, is what lively, clever Agatha sees in the priggish James Lacey. He's a snob and a pill. There are women who think they're nothing without a man -- even one as boring as Lacey -- but Agatha certainly doesn't strike me as one. I blame Ms. Beaton for Lacey, and I hope he can be bumped off next in order to put us all out of our misery.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Agatha Raisin, the sleuth in this story, is an enjoyably cranky middle-aged British lady. She has retired from the high pressure of London business (public relations) to settle in the quiet Cotswolds, only to get caught up in a murder and mystery. Being a rather cranky, middle-aged female myself, I found Agatha charming in her cantankerousness. The writing is amusing without being cloying, and I actually chuckled aloud several times. This was my first foray into murder with Agatha Raisin, and I'll definitely seek out another adventure with her.

Agatha is at her most endearing and infurating best. I snap up all the Agatha series books as soon as they come off press because I know I'm in for a wonderful read. Anyone who like to take their murders with a dose of good humor will love Ms. Beaton's Agatha series. (Although this title is listed as part of the Hamish Macbeth series, the Agatha Raisin character has never even met Constable Macbeth. Suggestion to the esteemed author: Send Agatha to Hamish's beloved Lochdubh on vacation, knock off some offensive character and have Hamish and Agatha work together to solve the mystery. Your readers will be in for the ride of their lives!!)

In "Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener", a unexpected person who had a really trivial rold in the story line was found to be a murderer, while in this book, you might guess who the murderer is.

Like the previous works, besides the murder and whodunit plot, the unusual romance of Agatha chasing James gives much laughters. Finally Agatha had a chance to live with James under the same roof!!! There is no one who can't imagine how Agatha acted to hook James.

It's Fun, but a little bit boring compared to the previous ones, but I expect to read what this energetic Agatha unfolds hilarious adventires in following series.