Synopses & Reviews
She's prickly, thin-skinned and totally intriguing. Critics love Agatha Raisin!
"[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in. She's wonderful."-St. Petersburg Times
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."-Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery."
-Tampa Tribune Times
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."-Chicago Sun-Times
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likable heroine...a must for cozy fans."-Booklist
"Anyone interested in...intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."-Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Raisin series brings the cozy tradition back to life. God bless the Queen!"-Tulsa World
"[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!"-Publishers Weekly
Agatha Raisin and The Love from Hell
"Among the many joys of all Agatha Raisin adventures are Beaton's sweetly formal prose and her vivid descriptions of colorful villagers. This one, however, adds a crackerjack plot and a delightfully comic ending to the mix, making it clearly the best of the lot."-Booklist (starred review)
Agatha Raisin and The Fairies of Fryfam
"Witty...[a] highly amusing cozy."-Publishers Weekly
"Agatha is as fractious and funny as ever. Don't miss this one."-Tulsa World
"Outwardly bossy and vain, inwardly insecure and vulnerable, Agatha grows more endearing with each installment."-Cleveland Plain Dealer
"More great fun from an endearing heroine."-Library Journal
Agatha Raisin and The Wizard of Evesham
"Another delightful cozy featuring Cotswolds surroundings, a bit of history, and buoyant characters."-Library Journal
"[A] smartly updated Miss Marple...Beaton's books about this tough little Raisin cookie are well-made and smoothly oiled entertainment machines...trust Agatha to solve it all in style."
-Amazon.com
"The return of Agatha Raisin, amateur sleuth extraordinaire, is always a treat and M.C. Beaton does not miss a beat...another fabulous English cozy by the great M.C. Beaton."
-Harriet Klausner, Painted Rock Reviews
Agatha Raisin and The Wellspring of Death
"Tourists are advised to watch their back in the bucolic villages where M.C. Beaton sets her sly British mysteries...outsiders always spell trouble for the inbred societies Beaton observes with such cynical humor."-The New York Times Book Review
"Outspoken, chain-smoking, aggravating Agatha roars back for a[n]...outing that will keep fans cheering. Must be something in the water."-The Poisoned Pen
Agatha Raisin and The Terrible Tourist
"Another refreshing and delightful series addition."-Library Journal
Agatha Raisin and The Murderous Marraige
"Beaton gleefully creates one excruciating situation after another for her indomitable heroine to endure."-Publishers Weekly
Review
"The Agatha Raisin stories are always well plotted but the real attraction is the quirky characters of Agatha, Sir Charles, and James—fans will be thrilled to catch up with the titanic trio."--
RT Book Reviews "Beaton's Agatha Raisin series...just about defines the British cozy."--
Booklist"A true village mystery with a heroine so timely and real, you'll want to meet her at the pub."--St. Petersburg Times
"Funny, breezy, and very enjoyable."--Midwest Book Review
"[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in. She's wonderful."--St. Petersburg Times
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery."--Tampa Tribune Times
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."--Chicago Sun-Times
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likable heroine¿a must for cozy fans."--Booklist
"Anyone interested in¿intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Raisin series brings the cozy tradition back to life. God bless the Queen!"--Tulsa World
"[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!"--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Marital bliss was short-lived for Agatha Raisin. Her marriage to James Lacey was a disaster from the beginning, and in the end, he left her-not for another woman, but for God. After having been miraculously cured of a brain tumor, James has decided to join a monastery in France. Agatha can usually depend on her old friend, Sir Charles Fraith, to be there when times are tough, but even Charles has abandoned her, dashing off to Paris to marry a young French tart.
Miserable and alone, Agatha hops on a plane and heads for a remote island in the South Pacific. To Agatha's surprise, she makes friends with her fellow travelers easily, and keeps herself out of mischief, despite the odd feeling she gets from one particularly attractive honeymooning couple. But when she later finds that the pretty bride has drowned under suspicious circumstances, Agatha wishes she had found a way to intervene.
Returning home to the Cotswolds, Agatha is grimly determined to move on with her life and to forget about James and Charles. They have, after all, forgotten about her. And what better way than to throw herself into another murder investigation? A woman, dressed in a wedding gown and still clutching her bouquet, has just been found floating in a river. The police say it's suicide, but Agatha suspects the girl's flashy young fiance. With the help of her handsome, and single, new neighbor, Agatha sets off to prove the police wrong.... in M.C. Beaton's thrilling Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came.
"
Synopsis
'Til Death Do You Part...
Crankier than ever, Agatha Raisin wants to forget that her husband left her to enter a monastery-a turn of affairs more humiliating than when she caught him with a mistress. She feels abandoned, fat, frumpy, and absolutely furious.
What are her options? She takes an island vacation and joins a Pilates class. But what finally lifts her spirits is finding a corpse. The dead girl is a member of Agatha's exercise class, afloat in a rain-swollen river, dressed in a bridal gown, and clutching a wedding bouquet. Agatha's policeman friend Bill Wong suggests she leave this macabre murder to the Worcester CID. Pah! What do they know? Once she enlists the aid of the bachelor mystery writer next door, puts on a disguise, and interviews some likely suspects, Agatha will be her brash, redoubtable self again- unless she becomes the killer's next victim first...
Synopsis
Crankier than ever, Agatha Raisin wants to forget that her husband left her to enter a monastery-a turn of affairs more humiliating than when she caught him with a mistress. She feels abandoned, fat, frumpy, and absolutely furious.
What are her options? She takes an island vacation and joins a Pilates class. But what finally lifts her spirits is finding a corpse. The dead girl is a member of Agatha's exercise class, afloat in a rain-swollen river, dressed in a bridal gown, and clutching a wedding bouquet. Agatha's policeman friend Bill Wong suggests she leave this macabre murder to the Worcester CID. Pah! What do they know? Once she enlists the aid of the bachelor mystery writer next door, puts on a disguise, and interviews some likely suspects, Agatha will be her brash, redoubtable self again- unless she becomes the killer's next victim first...
About the Author
M. C. Beaton has been hailed as “the new Queen of Crime.” She is
The New York Times bestselling author of the Agatha Raisin mysteries, including
As the Pig Turns and
Busy Body, set in the English Cotswolds, as well as the Hamish Macbeth mysteries set in Scotland. She has also written historical romance novels and an Edwardian mystery series under the name Marion Chesney. Before writing her first novels, Beaton worked as a bookseller, a newspaper reporter, a fashion critic, and a waitress in a greasy spoon. Born in Scotland, she currently divides her time between Paris and a village in the Cotswolds. She was selected the British Guest of Honor for the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in 2006.