Customer Reviews

A Spoonful of Poison (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 19)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The irascible Agatha Raisin returns in her nineteenth adventure, as feisty, headstrong, and obnoxious as the day readers first fell in love with her. The outspoken sleuth is ready to tell the vicar of St. Odo the Severe she'll have nothing to do with helping him organize his church fete until she discovers handsome George Selby is also a volunteer. Man-hungry as ever, Agatha plunges headlong into making the small village fete the talk of the country and manages to bring murder and mayhem into the village.

When someone puts LSD into the jam, lots of the young people are happily stoned, but two of the village's elder citizens hallucinate themselves into death and Agatha's detective agency must solve the case in order to save its reputation. More murders plus one from the past will all be solved in the typical Raisin style followers of the series have come to love.

Old favorites like Sir Charles Fraith, Roy Silver, Mrs. Bloxby, and Bill Wong are all here as well as more recent additions like the lovely young Toni Gilmour and sometimes-employee Harry Beam. If you've been following the madcap adventures of Agatha and crew, you won't want to miss this latest installment. The return of James Lacey and Agatha's new hair extensions will have you howling and eagerly anticipating the meaning of Agatha's wave of fear and sense that something is terribly wrong with James.

I ALWAYS enjoy Agatha Raisin and her antics with the men in her life and this book was no disappointment.
I'm so glad I stumbled onto it.
I usually read the front flap of a book before I buy it, but not Agatha Raisin.
When I see a new one I snatch it up IMMEDIATELY.
Looking forward to the next one.

As usual, MC Beaton has written another wonderful installment in the Agatha Raisin series. Unfortunately, "A Spoonful of Poison" was over in the blink of an eye and I'm sitting here feeling more than a bit disgruntled. The storyline has Agatha going to the small town of Comfrey Magma to help promote a country fete at St. Odo's. Of course disaster follows and along with that, the retention of Agatha's services to find out who committed the latest dastardly deed. Predictable fluff? Yup, but I love it just the same and highly recommend it too.

M.C. Beaton aka Marion Chesney has done a wonderful job as usual involving her readers with Agatha Raisin's latest exploits. I laughed, then laughed some more as Agatha got into one jam after another. Murder, innuendo, wishful thinking, purring cats and good friends color Ms. Raisins world and paints a lucious picture for all of us.

This has to be the worst of the Agatha books, which I usually love, and read very quickly. This one, though, made me stop, look at the title page to make sure it was actually written by M.C. Beaton. It seemed to me that this was could have been written by someone else, using the basic "formula" for Agatha. It just kind of sleep-walks through the normal worst-of-Agatha stuff. And what about Sir Charles? He's just left to fend for himself, then just fades away I hope the next one gets back to the Agatha I can actually recognize.

Some novelists and series one likes simply because of innovative narrative, haunting characters, and the beautiful usage of the English language. Then there are novelists and series one reads simply out of habit; MC Beaton and her Agatha Raisin novels fall into the latter category. Approximately 18 novels into the series, and Agatha is firmly a one-note character starring in a one-note series. Perhaps author Beaton has sensed this because the past five Raisin novels or so have featured dabblings into the darker psychological thriller genre, but with decidedly tepid results.

It may be noted this review does not touch upon the narrative of "A Spoon ful of Poison." Suffice it to say, there was a spoonful narrative, spoonful of plot and a spoonful of characterization. Our dear Agatha needs a new and improved recipe -- quick!

I'm a very long time fan of M.C. Beaton and have enjoyed her two very successful series of stories! The Hamish Macbeth books and of course these Agatha Raisin books! I've read them all, but have to say that I think it's time for Agatha to start learning some lessons from her past mistakes.

In A SPOONFUL OF POISON, spunky Agatha Raisin is asked to take over the public relations job for a church fete that's to take place in a neighboring village. It's not goodwill on her part to help out! It's the fact that a handsome widower is also involved. As usual, she throws herself into the job and in her very aggressive way, she obtains a popular singer as an attraction for the fete. When things go wrong and two people die from samples they had eaten from the jam-tasting booth, Agatha is blamed because people think bringing in the young singer, also brought in some drug using teenagers who poisoned the jams.

Of course, Agatha's detective agency is hired to help solve the murders, and her young and pretty detective, Toni, is given more press than Agatha, which brings out jealousy and spite in Ms. Raisin. As always, there's a lot of twists in the story and many interesting characters. I really enjoy these books, but I do want Agatha to grow a little kinder and wiser! After 18 books, the author needs to add "a spoonful of sugar" to Agatha's character!

Why on earth would Agatha Raisin agree at the last minute to handle publicity for an obscure village church fete? She's already busy - operating a detective agency after retiring to the Cotswolds with loads of money from her successful London PR career. Aggie's never heard of Saint Odo the Severe or visited its unattractive village of Comfrey Magna, although it's not far from her home in lovely Carsley.

Agatha answers St. Odo's call because of a man, of course: an attractive and suave recent widower of a certain age who sets Agatha's heart aflutter. He's a St. Odo's parishioner who's been helping with the fete.

But also of course, the combination of Agatha Raisin and a village fete is lethal. Somebody slips LSD into the goods at the jam-tasting booth and although a lot of young folks just get happily stoned, two older people are sent on fatal trips by the stuff. The police investigate of course, but so do Agatha and her employees, including young Toni. There's nothing much new about the main story; we've seen this before in this series.

But because Beaton is such a good writer, there were enough fresh bits here that this was a fast and funny read. I enjoyed the story for the character development more than for the mystery, having figured out whodunit very early on.

Agatha's still driven by her old insecurities although she's gained a bit of self-awareness in recent years. She's a prickly mentor to young Toni, who is smart and hardworking and like Agatha escaped a bad family of origin. Toni ends up in the middle of the action here as often as her boss, with perhaps predictable results.

We see most of the series regulars here, including kind and patient Mrs. Bloxby, the erratic Sir Charles Fraith, and Agatha's maddening handsome ex-husband James Lacey. Is Agatha really over James, now that he's gotten engaged to a new love?

I don't think this book is anywhere near the best in the series, and it may not be the best introduction for someone new to the Agatha Raisin series. But I enjoyed it for Beaton's clear-eyed sardonic storytelling, and for the brief visit with Agatha and the people in her world. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the end of the book foreshadows - well, actually it announces - serious trouble in store for one of the series' recurring characters. Which caused me to regret that Beaton apparently decided to save that plot line for the next book instead of mixing it into this one.

I picked up this audiobook at the library after listening to and enjoying a couple of Beaton's Hamish McBeth stories. I see there are several great reviews from readers who love this series. I'm beginning to think this wasn't the best book to introduce me to the character of Agatha Raisin, because I simply didn't like her.
The narrator, Donada Peters, did a lovely job voicing all the characters. However, I just didn't enjoy Agatha. She was whiny and boy-crazy, which was silly for an adult, professional lady. She was also petty and somewhat vindictive, and downright obsessed with how much she hates getting older. ( I understand and share the sentiment, but my goodness, she talked about it constantly.) There were glimpses here and there of a more thoughtful and mature lady, but they were few and far between.
As far as plot is concerned, I never got overly interested in learning who was responsible for the murders. There was another death that seemed to be connected to the other murders, but ended up having an odd, almost tacked-on resolution. The wrap-up of the principal mysteries felt hasty.
I enjoy cozy mysteries as a rule, but prefer Hamish MacBeth to Mrs. Raisin as far as M.C. Beaton's books go. I don't think I'll be visiting Agatha again.

Love MC Beaton and she didn't let me down with a Spoonful of Poison, never predictable, Agatha forges ahead no matter what comes her way. Loved it.