The blood of an Englishman: an Agatha Raisin mystery

In the twenty-fifth entry in Beaton's popular series starring Cotswolds private detective and Miss Marple throwback Agatha Raisin, several murders spread from the lusts and ambitions of people involved in community theater. Agatha attends a pantomime play in which the local baker plays the ferocious, threatening ogre (for a fuller explanation of British pantomime, see Simon Brett's recent mystery, The Cinderella Killer). The ogre, although a huge ham throughout the play, doesn't show for curtain call. And for good reason he has been impaled by a spike attached to the elevator platform beneath the stage. Suspects abound; the baker was an ogre in real life, bullying others and beating his wife. Raisin's detective agency is hired to investigate, and, as Agatha makes the rounds with her interviews, another actor is discovered beheaded. A later murder is so cringe-worthy it seems very discordant in a cozy. Beaton has a wonderful way with describing interiors and the people Agatha interviews, but Agatha herself and the plotting throughout seem somewhat thrown together. Beaton is also the author of the Hamish Macbeth series.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2014 Booklist

Bestseller Beaton's 25th Agatha Raisin cozy (after 2013's Something Borrowed, Something Dead) opens stronger than it finishes. During a performance of an embarrassingly amateurish pantomime in the small English town of Winter Parva, the local baker, Bert Simple, is impaled on a spike set up on the bottom of an elevator platform under a stage trap door. Gareth Craven, the show's producer, hires PI Agatha to find Bert's killer, who later strikes again. Agatha, who seems at least as interested in finding a new husband as in locating evidence, has a penchant for repeatedly getting herself into dangerous situations. The by-the-book conversations she has with people display no insight or cleverness, and chance plays a big part in the solution. Still, readers will enjoy the flashes of wit (e.g., "Agatha reflected that Marie was wearing so much make-up, you could skate on it"). Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Agatha Raisin is on the scene of yet another wacky Cotswold murder. Despite her lack of formal training, Agatha's made a success of her detective agency and, to the chagrin of the local police, solved many a murder. Her major weakness is her tendency to fall in love at the drop of a hat, sometimes with suspects in her cases. Although she's attractive enough, she doesn't think she is. Her latest misbegotten romance is ignited when she grudgingly accompanies her friend Mrs. Bloxby to a local pantomime whose ogre is played by the baker of Winter Parva. After he vanishes through a trap door, he's found spitted and very dead in the area under the stage. Gareth Craven, producer of the show, hires Agatha to find the killer when he feels the police suspect him. Despite his weak chin, Agatha predictably finds him attractive despite his obvious interest in the baker's dry-eyed widow, Gwen. As Agatha trawls for local gossip, she meets John Hale, a teacher slated to appear opposite Gwen in The Mikado. Although Agatha finds John even more attractive than Gareth, she's distracted by a good-looking local farmer determined to marry her over the strenuous objections of his grown son. Agatha's team, along with her former husband, James, and her pal Sir Charles, all pitch in to help with a case made ever more dangerous by a second murder and Agatha's close approach to unmasking a killer. Agatha's 25th (Something Borrowed, Someone Dead, 2013, etc.) is another rollicking mixture of clever mystery-making and love gone wrong. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In the twenty-fifth entry in Beaton's popular series starring Cotswolds private detective and Miss Marple throwback Agatha Raisin, several murders spread from the lusts and ambitions of people involved in community theater. Agatha attends a pantomime play in which the local baker plays the ferocious, threatening ogre (for a fuller explanation of British pantomime, see Simon Brett's recent mystery, The Cinderella Killer). The ogre, although a huge ham throughout the play, doesn't show for curtain call. And for good reason—he has been impaled by a spike attached to the elevator platform beneath the stage. Suspects abound; the baker was an ogre in real life, bullying others and beating his wife. Raisin's detective agency is hired to investigate, and, as Agatha makes the rounds with her interviews, another actor is discovered beheaded. A later murder is so cringe-worthy it seems very discordant in a cozy. Beaton has a wonderful way with describing interiors and the people Agatha interviews, but Agatha herself and the plotting throughout seem somewhat thrown together. Beaton is also the author of the Hamish Macbeth series. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Bestseller Beaton's 25th Agatha Raisin cozy (after 2013's Something Borrowed, Something Dead) opens stronger than it finishes. During a performance of an embarrassingly amateurish pantomime in the small English town of Winter Parva, the local baker, Bert Simple, is impaled on a spike set up on the bottom of an elevator platform under a stage trap door. Gareth Craven, the show's producer, hires PI Agatha to find Bert's killer, who later strikes again. Agatha, who seems at least as interested in finding a new husband as in locating evidence, has a penchant for repeatedly getting herself into dangerous situations. The by-the-book conversations she has with people display no insight or cleverness, and chance plays a big part in the solution. Still, readers will enjoy the flashes of wit (e.g., "Agatha reflected that Marie was wearing so much make-up, you could skate on it"). Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates. (Sept.)