Customer Reviews

There Goes the Bride: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I am such a fan of the Agatha Raisin series but was a bit disappointed with this latest offering. It felt rather disjointed to me in several places. It lacked the flow the novels usually have that let me "enter" the world of Agatha. It felt more like a series of happenings, rather than something plot driven with flow. The end of the novel(the last few chapters) especially felt this way. Don't get me wrong- I love the series and will pre-order the next book when it is released. However, this book just didn't cut it for me. I don't want to say more for fear of giving away spoilers for those who have not read.

This is the 20th in the Agatha Raisin series and I've read them all. In fact, I wait every year for the latest book. Agatha started off as an amateur sleuth and now owns her own detective agency. She is battling aging, a bad hip, and is starting to feel frail. Even worse she is beginning to think she is losing her ability as a detective. She is also a romantic who is waiting for the right man to come along. Her ex-husband, James, who divorced her because he wanted to become a monk, is now engaged to a a beautiful, young woman and has invited Agatha to the wedding. When the bride is murdered minutes before the wedding, Agatha becomes the prime suspect. These books are an updated version of the British cozy and are very entertaining.

My impression is that the publishers rushed to publish an outline of a story and not an edited final draft. Almost every paragraph either had separation stars or a few blank lines between them, signifying that the author's outline was used rather than a final draft. The dialog is in outline form, the plot is not smooth, the transitions between paragraphs are not present, and there are even bullet-points still present that she obviously intended to edit at some future time. I don't know if the author has gotten too old to really craft a fine novel anymore, but nothing can kill a series faster than a shoddy version like this that will disappoint die-hard fans. (See Lilian Jackson Braun's last "The Cat Who..." book for a similar ignominious finale). Age itself does not seem the issue -- indeed, P. D. James latest was again brilliant-- but for fans of M.C. Beaton, this novel was so dramatically weaker than all previous entries, there is a serious question as to whether the author herself was actually involved in the publication decision. But publishers need to remember that if we are burned by one purchase, we will not be very likely to run out and purchase any subsequent books in ANY of her series. Personally, I'm going to wait for a library copy of the next book, just to be sure.

Book Club Review
There Goes the Bride
M.C. Beaton

Our book club's choice for January was THERE GOES THE BRIDE, by M.C. Beaton. We had a very specific agenda in choosing this book. After struggling through 2666 by Roberto Bolano for our November/December choice, we felt entitled to something fast, light, and short. Most of us had read Beaton in one form or another over the years, whether the Agatha Raisin books or Hamish Macbeth books. So it was easy to come to consensus on our January book.

THERE GOES THE BRIDE finds Agatha Raisin--middle-aged divorcee, former PR specialist, and current detective agency owner--in the middle of a murder. The victim is the intended bride of Agatha's ex-husband, James. The borderline-retarded and completely nymphomaniacal Felicity is shot through her bedroom window as she is performing one of her infamous strip-teases for the neighborhood boys. Agatha is asked to investigate by the girl's grieving mother, only to be pulled off the case by the girl's not-so-grieving father.

There is only one word to describe our collective response to this book: disappointment. Everything about THERE GOES THE BRIDE seems phoned in. The writing is repetitive and sloppy. The plot is foolish, and takes much too long to resolve. The motivations make little or no sense. Every once in a while one sees those interesting or dark angles that Beaton's other work is noted for, but they happen much too rarely.

The biggest disappointment is Agatha Raisin herself. While most of us could relate to Agatha's frustration at getting older, the Agatha Raisin of this book is a thoroughly unpleasant person. It's hard to believe that she is a famous and respected detective, because she does almost zero detecting. She really should know better than to get herself into the highly unbelievable scrapes she gets herself into in this book. She comes across as a naive, sheltered girl instead of the supposedly cultured and sophisticated woman that she is. One of the villains is so over the top as to be completely ridiculous.

Certainly the book was a fast enough read, but most of us felt that it was padded, and that the author occasionally lost track of what she'd said and written (aren't editors supposed to catch that kind of stuff)? The book received a thorough thumbs-down from the entire group, with a lot of sorrow that an author we have all read and enjoyed could turn out something so amateurish.

This led to the discussion we have had from time to time about series characters (and series themselves) losing their grip over the years. We are starting to think that we may have to read early books in series rather than later ones. But since we like to read newer books, this may mean that we try more new authors and fewer of the old stand-bys. That is actually something we are looking forward to.

I found "There Goes the Bride" to be so-so and not one of Beaton's best. James is back and is getting married to a young woman with a strange family. Agatha agonizes about whether to attend the wedding, but is surprised by her own calm at James' remarriage. When the bride is murdered, she is hired by the young woman's mother to sleuth -- and Tony joins her in the case. I will read everything Beaton writes, and did enjoy this book, but it is not one of my favorites.

I enjoyed all MC Beaton's previous Agatha Raisin tales but this one seemd to be written by someone else. It consisted of a series of disjointed and irrelevant stories, as if the chapters were called in by various writers who concocted their own series of short stories to be mixed in with the main mystery. The ending seemed to be an afterthought, quickly provided so as to have some sort of coherence. I was disappointed.

I won't repeat what many other reviewers have said. In short, this was a fairly disappointing book from an author whose books I once really enjoyed reading. If you want real English mysteries, stick to the classics: Christie, Rendell, Allingham, James, etc.

In her twentieth side-splitting adventure, Agatha Raisin travels to the wedding of her ex-husband, James Lacey. When the bride is murdered just hours before walking down the aisle, the chase to catch the killer is on. Agatha encounters a seductive Frenchman, two unusual parents, Chinese illegals, and more as her life is put in jeopardy over and over.

As loyal followers of Agatha Raisin know, in addition to catching the bad guys, Agatha is also on a never-ending search to find love. This time she employs a dating service to help her and match after match will leave the reader laughing at the comic misadventures of the Cotswold's most famous amateur detective. There's humor aplenty before Agatha has a shiny ring on her finger, but a pre-wedding holiday ends with a surprising twist that will leave Agatha's fans eager for the next entry in the series.

I'm a big MC Beaton fan from back in her Marion Chesney Regency-rom days. No matter what name she's going by, she tells the most endearing stories with wonderfully-imperfect chracters. That part hasn't changed but early on in the series, I accidently got the CD book instead of the paper book and fell in love with how wonderfully Donada Peters read the Agatha Raisn series. To me, her voice WAS Agatha Raisin. I loved the way she said "Morton & Marsh" in that British-sing-songy way that just tickles my American ear. Since then, I've read this series by cassette & CD.

Imagine my surprise when I put the new CD on and heard a different voice! It's like putting on your favorite slippers and finding someone had switched them to a different size!

I'm sure I'll get used to this new reader but it was not a good surprise at first and I wanted to pout as I will miss Dinada Peters and all her various voicing of my favorite chracters.

There are some things about her writing that I really like.

On the other hand, her plots are really unrealistic, almost like a children's book.

The worst though is that the way she writes is really negative/catty/judgmental. Eyeroll

I agree with the reviewer who recommended P.D. James, & Christie. I also recommend Dorothy Cannell.