Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 8)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Though I remain a staunch supporter of the Agatha Raisin series, its plot staples (Agatha's unrequited love for James, her feeling displaced in the Cotswolds, her battles with weight and the signs of old age) are wearing thin. In the Wizard of Evesham, there is not even the tinge of humor that marked the first few entries in the Agatha series. I read this novel in the dashed hope that M C Beaton would finally make Agatha fuller character. Yet Agatha persists in coming across as two-dimensional, a cardboard cutout.

As for the "mystery," it fell flat. Rather than taking a truly active role in the storyline, Agatha blunders through the story. It hardly seems in character that a tough businesswoman would be such a victim in any aspect of her life. Elements from past novels were recycled (Agatha buying catered food, passing it off as her own. Agatha "solving" a crime by placing herself in the killer's hands.)

If Agatha must remain a cardboard figure, why not explore the lives of the others in the village of Carsley? Though the vicar's wife, Mrs. Bloxby, is made to seem a paragon of Christian charity and humility, I sense each time she appears a more sinister side could be lurking just beneath the surface. It is the mark of a truly poor book when a secondary character draws a reader's interest more than the titular main character.

Let's have more and BETTER Agatha Raisin.

I enjoyed this installment of Agatha. If nothing else, we were spared the odious James this time round. I think Charles is better than him - at least he's true to a type! Agatha gets involved with a handsome hairdresser from a neighbouring village in this story. Then she finds out that he is not as he seems. She pieces together that he has been blackmailing middle-aged women. Agatha tries to prove the blackmail, but in the meantime Mr. John is poisoned. Agatha and Charles set out to find the killer. Agatha is really very appealing in this story. Her vulnerability is charming to me, as she tries to hide it in her usual bluster.

Although this book was a tad more cohesively written than the "wellspring of death", and the reappearance of Charles is less numbing than James, I, too am eager for Agatha to grow into a more self-aware and self-possessed woman. As a successful business-woman, she is entitled to more confidance about her own qualities and abilities, and if feels out-of-character for her to be so insecure about her person and her worth.

I couldn't put it down. The usual feisty Agatha dealing with that most closed of worlds-- inside the hairdresser. Inside the hairdresser lurks jealousy, sexual fantasy, blackmail, murder and the dark underside of small idyllic rural village life, not to mention a local baronet. A real page turner. It happily ensconced me during all 7 hours of a trans-Atlantic flight.

This book was really great and it seemed to loose something at the end.

I love all the characters Agatha Raisin is in contact with.

In the 8th book in the Agatha Raisin series, Agatha turns to a "wizard of a hairdresser" to repair the damage she has caused to her hair with a home coloring kit. The hairdresser, Mr. John, is good-looking and quickly charms all of his clients. Agatha soon falls under his spell, and spills her confidences to him. When several of his clients appear to be afraid of him, and then he is found dead, Agatha begins to be suspicious that he was murdered. Sir Charles Fraith, a friend of Agatha's from previous books, suggests to Agatha that Mr. John may have been blackmailing some clients, and one of them killed him to stop the blackmail. Agatha and Charles set out to discover the murderer, before Agatha gets more than just a bad haircut.

I am a huge fan of the Agatha Raisin series and I highly enjoyed this installment. Noticeably absent in this book is Agatha's on-again, off-again love interest, James Lacey and I since I am not a huge fan of his character, I was glad he was on holiday. Overall, this is a wonderful book to read if you like cozy mysteries, or want to laugh aloud at some of the troubles with being a middle-aged, single woman.

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

I read this book in two sittings, and it's the first I've read in the series. Honestly, I love M.C. Beaton now. So, I went and bought a bunch of Raisin Novels.

Strangely, I found 3 typographical errors in the novel, which seemed strange, as I wonder who proofed the work before publishing, but it was very minor errors like, "I think you're silly," sad Agatha. Instead, it should have been "said".

One thinks with everything done now in Windows, when you hit "spell check," it's only going to find misspellings...not incorrect words.

Other than that, it was a fantastic read !!!

Mike

Agatha is a never ending source of entertainment for me. From storyline to storyline she manages to get herself in one jam after another with pretty much the same outcome. Though that sounds redundant, MC Beaton makes the books entertaining and at times downright laugh out loud funny.

Agatha should never be left to her own devices, when she is bored things go from bad to "Oh, Agatha" very quickly. So when James is out of the country, Bill is on vacation and Charles is a bit stand offish, Agatha decides to head off to Evesham and visit the wonder Mr. John, a salon owner who has a way of working miracles.

Agatha gets a bit more than she bargained for when Mr. John starts putting on the romantic moves, y nature Agatha is a big apprehensive, and when Mr. John collapses in his shop she grabs his keys and heads to his home to find out what this man is really all about.

Is he really the blackmailer that everyone seems to believe he is or is there something or someone else actually pulling all the strings.
As the story comes to light, Agatha once again has the fame and glory pulled out from under her and must return to Carsley with a rather fantastical tale and no way of proving that it was actually she who solved yet another case for the police.

Agatha just needs to face the fact that no good deed goes unpunished and no matter what she does to get James attention it is just going to backfire on her which is what, in an absurd way, makes me come back to these books time and again.

For some reason, I enjoy the Agatha Raisin books. I'm a fan of Miss Marple, so maybe that's it - the cozy-Cotswold type mystery with its homemade jam, village fetes and nosy neighbor plotline appeals to me. It's certainly not the appalling editing, repetitious redundancies and recycled descriptions so characteristic of this series. I don't know how many times I've read about Agatha's "small, bearlike eyes", "surprisingly good legs" and inability to cook anything beyond a microwave meal. I'm also not sure (how) she manages to solve anything, because there is very little deduction or detecting going on, and a great deal of bumbling around on our oddly addictive anti-heroine's part - in between changing clothing, taking tea in Mrs Bloxby's garden, and going to the hairdresser's, of course. Still, I've read about 10 of these books now, and they provide wonderful poolside entertainment. If I'd actually purchased them, though, instead of borrowing them from the library, I might be a little less enamored.

I really enjoyed this book because Agatha was helping others to understand their self worth - but she cannot see her own. I think M.C. needs to get Agatha a mirrror and let her see her own self worth.
Other than that - this was the best read in the series so far (I am reading them in numerical order). I love the town, and the wonderful descriptions of the people and surrounding country side. There are more people to get into and it was really well done. This is a 5 star book!!