Hiss and Hers

Agatha Raisin #23

by M.C. Beaton

This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9781849019736.

Agatha has fallen in love - again. This time its the local gardener, George Marston, she has her eye on. But competition for his attention abounds. With shameless determination Agatha will do anything to get her man, including footing the bill for a charity ball in town just for the chance to dance with him. But when George is a no-show Agatha goes looking for him - and finds he has been murdered.

Agatha plunges into an investigation and discovers that George had quite a complicated love life. And if Agatha now can't have George, at least she can have the satisfaction of confronting those women who have ... and finding a murderer in the process!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Cozy, British Literature

279 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 18, 2012

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Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.

Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.

Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very Agatha & Charles-centric installment.

In the last book, Agatha fixed her sights on the town's hot new gardener. And for the first few pages, Agatha chases him around as he tries to slide away under her radar.
But fairly quickly, Agatha stumbles on his murdered body while in pursuit of his company.
I just sighed out loud. Honestly, would it whoever is writing this M.C. Beaton to throw in a little character development when it comes to men? And whatthehell with Charles?!



It's another twisted Agatha Raisin mystery that's just barely fun enough to keep me coming back for more. And if you've made it as far as I have in this series, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe part of the appeal of this one is looking for the inconsistencies in the characters and the storylines? For example, in the last book, Simon (the orphan) came back to town with both parents alive. Or in one book, Charles had twins or something with an ex-wife, and then it is as though that never happened in the next. Either Beaton didn't pay attention to the characters she created, or her ghostwriter(s) were truly terrible at research. It's like the only two things guaranteed to be in a Raisin mystery are the words CARPATIOUS HANDBAG.



I said all that to say that nobody who is reading book 23 in a series really cares about the mystery too much, but it would still be nice if the writer didn't feel the need to drag out the endings. How many times can Agatha almost get killed by a vindictive murderer?
More importantly, why do I keep reading these?<--there's no easy answer to that question, Random Goodreader.

Recommended for diehard Raisin fans.

[Mary Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a glutton for punishment. I continue to read each new Agatha Raisin novel when it comes out, and continue to be disappointed. No longer the fan of mysteries that I once was, I return to Carsely in the hopes that THIS time Agatha will wise up, but she never does. For awhile, desperation and bad choices were part of her "charm" but after 23 books it's just getting old and frustrating. Don't know if I can take another ride on this merry-go-round. But I've been saying that for the last 10 books or so. Surely in the next one....
(By the way, is it just me, or are all the characters [with the exception of the long-suffering Mrs. Bloxby] a lot snippier than they used to be? Seems like Bill, Charles, et al used to soften Agatha's sharp edges -- now they seem to hone them.)

[Sarah Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow.
This is the last Agatha Raisin book.
I just paid for 3 Hamish Macbeth books /: Rats.
In this book MC Beaton continues her annoying habit of resurrecting dead characters, forgetting fairly important character developments (in this she seems to have completely forgotten a child), and changing characters’ temperaments with no explanation.
In this book she yells,”I have AIDS!” (she doesn’t) in order to discourage a woman from banging on the bathroom door while she is on a phone call.
Not funny.

[Mariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Agatha Raisin's mysteries for about 5 years now. While I do have a special place for Agatha in my literary heart, I sadly find myself disappointed that the author does not give more depth and dimension to her characters.

I also read her Hamish Macbeth mystery series and I have noticed for some time now that she forgets old characters traits or even if she had them killed in previous books. In this latest installment to Raisin's adventures I actually found myself exasperated at the sameness, lack of growth of her characters. Some of the beloved side kicks of Agatha like Sir Charles and police officer Bill Wong seem a bit mean in this new book.

One of the previous love interests of Agatha makes a brief (and disappointing ) come back and once more the author has forgotten that last time he was in one of the story lines he had a baby who now is mysteriously missing in action.

Not one of my favorites in the series, it seems I have reached the end of my infatuation with the Agatha Raisin's mysteries. The only consolation is that I did not purchase the book this time but chose to loan from my local library.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this immensely as Agatha makes me laugh. You never know what crazy thing she is going to do next! I was so curious that I had to turn over to the back and read the last chapters to see who the murderer was and then back to the front.

This one has adders in it so if you have a phobia about snakes don't read it.

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been an Agatha Raisin fan but my liking for her has reached new heights and that after just two paragraphs of 'Hiss and Hers'.

She is a lady who is prone to falling in love quite often (an understatement) but she undoubtedly demonstrates the meaning of true love when she falls head over heels for the Carsely gardener and odd-job man, George Marston.

Marston had worked on her garden to such an extent that it had reached perfection, so to ensure that she could keep him in close contact she needed to find other work for him. Therefore, she smashed up her perfectly good bookshelves in order to attain her desire. Well, if that doesn't demonstrate true (or perhaps stupid) love, I don't know what does.

Anyway unfortunately for Agatha, Marston gets killed in true Carsely fashion and when she begins to try to find out who has done the foul deed, Agatha gets a shock. She discovers that he was a serial philanderer and that she wasn't his only lady love. Initially she doesn't believe it but on further investigation it becomes perfectly clear that it is so.

But this doesn't deter Agatha from continuing to investigate the crime, despite, as always, the local police insisting that she keep her nose out of it. Her usual array of friends, Charles Fraith, Mrs Bloxby et al, pop in and out of the action and help or hinder the investigation as only they can.

The number of suspects are plentiful and Agatha and her trusty assistants at her detective agency follow up all leads, in conjunction, or otherwise, with the police. And, in the end, despite Agatha at one point thinking it was to be one of her failures, all is revealed and order is restored with Agatha twitching about her next love affair.

Let's have some more to see what she gets up to next!

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a break from listening to the Agatha Raisin series, but I’m back again. I’m already up to #23 and it was a good one. I can’t help but laugh at Agatha’s antics. She’s a 50-something year old woman who acts like a teenager when it comes to men. Poor Agatha, she never seems to get her man.

This time she finds herself interested in the gardener, George Marston. Agatha isn’t the only woman interested in him, but she’s the only one that discovers his body. His very dead body. Of course she becomes a suspect and investigates the murder herself. She discovers that George had quite a few admirers. Agatha is determined to prove one of them was the killer, not her.

I listened to this on audio, as I listened to all the previous books on audio. They make for easy, fun listening. The murders aren’t complex. It’s more about the relationships and the characters for me. This series makes my commute to work very pleasant. I’m definitely ready for the next one.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Snakes and Bastards!" Are Agatha's favorite cuss words, in this book she comes across a lot of both.

[Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars for Hiss and Hers: Agath Raisin, Book 23 (audiobook) by M. C. Beaton read by Davina Porter.

This is my first book by the author and it just didn’t do much for me.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've gone off Aggie lately. I used to love the Agatha Raisin series, but the last few books have been less than stellar. I don't like the way the plot quickly moves from thing to another with really no lead up. The first part of this book had a tight plot and was centred around an English country summer. The atmosphere was wonderful, hot, dry with a storm finally coming to break the tension. But the tension of the book itself didn't follow the weather scenario. Then in the last half of the book we jumped 9 months, then a year and then almost 2 years with no plot to sustain this swift passage of time. I realize that cozy mysteries work on their own timeline, but this one was ridiculous. I felt like I was running to catch up to what was happening to Aggie and her crew. And Aggie's neediness for a man is getting old and tired too. We didn't get to see much of the wonderful Mrs. Bloxby either, so that in itself is a disappointment. I would give this one a miss unless you're a die hard Agatha Raisin fan.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The 23rd in the Agatha Raisin series. From the six I've read so far (numbers 2, 6, 12, 17, 22 and this one), the quality has gone downhill. This story is set mostly in her village yet there is no real evocation of a Cotswolds setting. At one point, it is remarked that Agatha's village has a lot of thatched roofs and yet if I recall correctly - and this article seems to back me up Tiled roofs in the Cotswolds, although thatching was once common in the area, there was a move over time to tile the roofs with stone slates instead. Also, apart from Agatha's cats which get a lot of mentions, mainly to stress how affectionate they are to other people but not her, there are very few animals included, strange when writing about an area which surely has some sheep and other farming left, and at least has a lot of dogs. I've also come across the odd jarring American term in these books such as 'closet' for cupboard and 'thrift store' instead of charity shop, so given all these points, I have wondered if the author is at all acquainted with the area.

Anyway, at the end of book 22 which I read and rated lower than most, a handsome ex-army man moves into the village and sets up as a gardener/handyman. Agatha immediately falls for him to the ridiculous degree that when he completes the gardening work and is due only to come back for maintenance visits, she takes a sledgehammer to her shelving so that she can ask him back to do some carpentry! Totally ridiculous.

At the start of this book, she is dressing up and wearing high heels in a pathetic attempt to attract him - and it turns out to be a wasted effort because he appears to go for the more rundown specimens of middle aged womanhood in the neighbourhood. All too soon, he winds up murdered rather horribly and there then ensues a protracted search for the killer, with the police as usual getting it wrong and this time arresting the wrong people. And near the end of the book, her old friend Bill Wong of the police force does something absolutely unbelievable that is, maintain observation of two people who might have been poisoned so that he can catch the murderer in the act, rather than rush them to hospital in order to obtain a conviction.

These books come across as remarkably formulaic. A murder or murders occur, Agatha 'howls' and spends time mooning over men in an adolescent fashion, there's a lot about what women are wearing and what people eat in restaurants as they rarely eat at home, there is a lot of repetitious traipsing about interviewing people who often take a disliking to Agatha, and one or two attempts are made on her life and she has various gentlemen friends to stay. No real development of character occurs and it's not easy to remember who all the various suspects are supposed to be. And if there is a very attractive woman she is nearly always, apart from Toni who works for Agatha, a thoroughly nasty piece of work in some fashion.

I won't be reading any more of them.

[Larraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it may be time to cross Agatha Raisin off my list. I’ve read everyone of the MC Beaton books featuring this character. However, the last two or 3 have made me wonder why. Reviewers call her “endearing.” Maybe. She’s also annoying. Plus, there’s less mystery and more stumbling around which was not true in her initial stories. Perhaps this is meant to be funny. Or it could be that my reading tastes are changing. In this edition, Agatha is pining away after the retired Army officer now gardener who has recently moved to the village. She walks around in uncomfortable stiletto heels and too much makeup, hoping that George will notice her. However, he avoids her attempts at flirtation. It’s obvious to everyone who knows her that she finds herself in “love” yet again. However, before anything can happen, George is found dead. Someone has killed him in a particularly nasty way. George’s sister employes her to find her brother’s killer. However, that doesn’t work out very well either. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. However, instead of laughing, I just found Agatha really really annoying.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor old Agatha. Thwarted in love again. This time a gardener she is obsessed with and infatuated. Then he is murdered and she discovers he was a Jack the lad with several unlikely women in the village of Carsley.

I especially liked the listening device episode in the graveyard which temporarily made Mrs Bloxby’s husband more kinder and less arrogant. Sir Charles pops up again and Agatha finds the murderer a psychopath.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The reveal of the murderer after drugging Toni and Agatha was good. Then when Rex is killed in the car accident and Jessica survives. It’s believable that in her trial that she is found innocent. In the end she is caught trying to kill Charles and Agatha. I liked this outing and the humor.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hiss and Hers by M.C.Beaton is the 23rd book in the Agatha Raisin Mystery series. Having fallen for her gardener, Agatha Raisin goes searching for him when he fails to turn up at the local charity ball and finds his dead body in the compost heap having been bitten by a snake. Agatha is always a lot of fun and somehow always manages to stumble into trouble. Kind hearted but always seems to be making bad choices. Always entertaining but I wish she would stop worrying about her age and looks.

[ElaF · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobook
potrzebowałam czegoś lekkiego.. ale czasem irytuje mnie zachowanie Agathy

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ = Good.
Paperback.
As always, the Agatha Raisin series continues to have plenty of interesting characters. Agatha was particularly grumpy and intolerant in this book…just what I love about her!

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agatha and the Gardener
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (September 2012) of the original St. Martin's Press Minotaur hardcover (September 2012)

“I haven’t the resources of the police, so I just blunder about until something breaks.” – Agatha Raisin in Hiss & Hers

Hiss and Hers has Agatha crushing on yet another handsome man in the person of local gardener George Marston. She finds herself in competition with all the women of Carsely however and Marston is then found murdered. Agatha is on the case with no shortage of suspects.

I'm still enjoying the fun of these cozies which are always somewhat different from the TV-series which I saw first. Agatha is definitely more cranky in the books, but her human faults and foibles make us accept her nevertheless. There are some continuity errors in this one that suggest that writer Beaton wasn't being too diligent. Simon Black suddenly has parents again although he had been introduced as an orphan several books ago. The formula is pretty much set in stone now for the series. Agatha finds a new man, is jealous of ex-husband James Lacey and occasional lover/friend Charles Fraith, is jealous and meddling with Toni Gilmour's love life, helps Roy Silver out despite his publicity transgressions, gets sympathy from Mrs. Bloxby, etc.

The narration of this book #23 introduces a new narrator to the series in Davina Porter who is ok in all voices, but is definitely too restrained in comparison to series regular Penelope Keith.

Most (28 of 32) of the Agatha Raisin audiobooks are free on Audible Plus. A continuation series Book 32 Down the Hatch is yet to be released, and is expected to be published in October 2021. Down the Hatch is apparently entirely written by continuation writer R.W. Green whereas #31 Hot to Trot was a collaboration with M.C. Beaton.

Trivia and Links
Hiss and Hers has not yet been adapted for the currently ongoing Agatha Raisin TV series (2016-).

At the end of Hiss & Hers, Agatha and Charles go to Stratford to see Macbeth and a friend of Charles mentions seeing a version of The Merchant of Venice set in Las Vegas which must have been this 2011 staging.

Agatha and Charles must have seen the 2011 Michael Boyd production of Macbeth, with children in the roles of the witches, which has a trailer on YouTube here.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her favorite curse is especially pertinent "Snakes and bastards!" p9, p182, et nauseum. Private detective Agatha Raisin avoids poisonous local adder bites. But her latest crush, sleep-around gardener-carpenter odd jobber George Marston, rejects the wrong female.

All her men friends pitch in: young local cop Bill Wong, composed Sir Charles Fraith, cold ex-hubbie James Lacey, detective agency employees elderly Phil and ambitious heir Simon Black, former PR-hungry employee Roy Silver, in "emerald green leather shorts and a green open-necked shirt with ballooning sleeves .. distressingly thin legs ending in green leather ankle boots .. fake-bake tan .. hair .. highlighted with green and blond stripes" p65, but the latter two swoon over charming psychopathic actress Jessica Fordyce despite her gay hanger-on Rex Dangerfield. Agatha barely escapes when a lookalike visitor is fatally stabbed dozing in her back yard. If not for resourceful persistent Toni, Simon would be another victim.

Agatha can be annoying and unlikable, but here she rescues a lost child, demonstrates more intelligence than foolishness. The suspects are every woman he slept with, alibis are prolific, but one is false. The complicated plot takes a long time to unravel, and Bill riles Agatha and Charles by endangering their safety to catch the culprit "We'll be back later when you are feeling yourself again." and Charles retorts with adult-phrased anger. "I don't go in for masturbation" p287. Ending combines realism of no more "double jeopardy" p288, suicide and enduring positive fame for criminal. Rex helped handle snakes, but Jessica, motivated by jealousy and rejection, was the prime mover, learned fatal knife placement from a doctor supposedly for a part..

[Erik Deckers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like M.C. Beaton, but Agatha Raisin and her supporting cast have almost become caricature stereotypes of themselves. Some days I feel like her books are formulaic -- Agatha will lust after a man, her friends will try to talk her out of it, she'll screw it up, and will spend the rest of the book trying to get over it, failing to learn her lesson yet again. Oh, and she'll solve a murder for the police, who think she's an interfering old bat, despite the fact that she's solved over two dozen or murders for them already.

And yet, I keep reading the damn things. The murders are interesting, the stories are compelling, and she always manages to come out okay in the end. I could just do without the soap operatic never-ending story of Agatha's love life.

[Kaitlin Lorelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry in the Agatha Raisin series. I really liked the brief courtroom scenes in this one, and how all of the characters seemed to have each others' backs when the going got tough. I still think that Agatha is one of my favorite literary characters because she is blunt and stubborn, but also lonely and always looking to belong. It makes her relatable. I just love this series.

[Cassandra Veber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce n’est pas vraiment le meilleur Agatha que j’ai lu (il n’y a qu’à voir combien de temps j’ai pris à le lire). Je crois que je me suis lassée de l’univers ?? Ça me fait mal de le dire mais that is a fact 😔

[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo averla tradita con Hamish Macbeth, il suo "fratello maggiore", sono tornata ad Agatha Raisin, che per una volta ho trovato molto gradevole, malgrado la presenza di disgustose vipere assassine.
Mi sono resa conto innanzi tutto del diverso approccio al romanzo giallo che la Beaton aveva nelle sue due serie. In Hamish Macbeth lei si rif�� al giallo più classico, in cui presenta con un qualche espediente tutti insieme i vari personaggi, tra cui ci saranno la/le vittima/e e in cui poi Hamish Macbeth è autorizzato a svolgere le indagini essendo un poliziotto, anche piuttosto dotato in quanto a capacità deduttive, sebbene non voglia fare carriera in polizia perché a lui la vita va bene così com'è.
Agatha Raisin è diventata solo da poco investigatrice privata a tutti gli effetti: lei si è sempre trovata coinvolta più o meno da lontano in omicidi nel pacifico ambiente dei Cotswolds, e ha investigato per pura curiosità, spesso compiendo mosse azzardate che hanno smosso nel torbido facendo uscire fuori il colpevole (e rischiando più di una volta la vita). Diciamo che i suoi casi vengono risolti più per fortuna che per autentica abilità di Agatha. Quello che mi piace meno dei romanzi di Agatha Raisin è che le indagini sembrano protrarsi troppo, con vendette e ripercussioni inutili a posteriori (è Agatha che sembra scatenare delle reazioni esagerate) mentre lei si agita avanti e indietro indispettendo non soltanto i colpevoli, ma un po' tutte le persone coinvolte nella storia, con tutte le sue fisime da donna single sulla cinquantina (che poi, in effetti: quanto dura questa cinquantina? Secondo me Agatha al ventitreesimo caso dovrebbe essere ormai sulla settantina!)
In questo caso la vittima è l'uomo a cui Agatha fa gli occhi dolci già dal precendente romanzo, George, un avvenente giardiniere, ex soldato, che si rivela essere un autentico dongiovanni (pare essere stato con tutte le donne della zona tranne che proprio con la nostra Agatha!)
Ho capito quasi subito chi era l'assassin*, se non altro per l'insistenza con cui la Beaton insiste su questo personaggio e sul fascino che esercita su uno dei collaboratori di Agatha, però questo per me non è un limite; più che altro lo è l'accanimento che l'assassin* manifesta verso Agatha, motivato solo fino a un certo punto.

[Clarabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce présent tome est globalement très sympa (sauf vers la fin) : les rebondissements se répètent et deviennent incompréhensibles. J'avais l'impression d'un roman bâclé dans sa façon de faire. Pff ! De toute manière il ne faut plus compter sur les effets de surprise car les schémas se ressemblent au fil des livres. Ce n'est pas un reproche non plus, juste un constat.

Dans cet épisode, Agatha qui souhaite combler le vide affectif de son existence tombe sur un nouveau tocard dont elle perce les nobles intentions bien tardivement. Je soupçonne d'ailleurs l'auteure de détester son héroïne tellement elle lui en fait baver ! Et plus le temps passe, plus Agatha devient amère et jalouse de sa jeune assistante par exemple. On tombe vite dans la caricature et parfois dans la vulgarité. C'est pas bien. Car on sait Agatha trop indépendante pour les relations conventionnelles. À quoi servirait Charles, si ce n'est de pimenter son horizon par de brèves liaisons sans lendemain !

La série n'évolue plus du tout, c'est un fait. Long soupir. En tout cas, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce tome-ci, du moins j'y ai cru, je l'ai senti, j'ai cru que c'était possible. Le même style, mais j'en redemande. Dommage, tout a une fin. Même celles qui sont loupées !

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hiss and Hers is Agatha Raisin #23 and it picks right up where #22, As the Pig Turns, left off, with Agatha pursuing (in a romantic sense) the new gardener in the village. As is to be expected by now, Agatha’s romantic affairs do not go smoothly or happily. The desired affair meets a particularly nasty end involving adders, hence the hiss in the title. Agatha, with the help of her team, investigates to solve who the adder-happy killer is before she ends up bitten. Great installment in the series and seemingly to me at least, a lighter turn after the last book which was quite dark!

[Kasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jestem totalnie nieobiektywna. To nie jest ani wybitna literatura ani doskonały, zaskakujący kryminał, ale jest dla mnie tak relaksująca, jak filmiki z pandami albo pieskami albo krówkami.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laws are so different overseas. Fictional or not. And why do I keep reading these? (Other than that I bought the whole series before reading a single one.)
Hindsight.. Always test drive.

[Celestina1210 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depuis le temps que je voulais lire un roman de MC Beaton, je suis une grande fan d’Agatha Christine, j’adore dans ses romans, l’ambiance, les personnages. J’ai le souvenir d’avoir lu pendant des étés entiers lorsque j’étais adolescente meurtre sur le Nil le miroir du mort, dix petits nègres, le crime de l’orient express etc.... Et je dois avouer que je suis assez déçue de ma lecture. En fait, je n’ai pas accroché avec le personnage d’Agatha Raisin, certes c’est un personnage haut en couleur un peu frappa dingue et d’habitude j’adore ces personnages mais là.... Elle enquête pas vraiment j’avais dû mal à suivre l’histoire peut-être parce que je ne suis pas familière des personnages c’est le tome 23 mais quand je lis des policiers j’aime mener l’enquête avec eux, me laisser conduire sur des fausses pistes et surtout j’adore me dire c’est peut-être lui le meurtrier non lui et là pas du tout, je m’en moquais presque, je me disais mais WTF c’est quoi cette enquêtrice qui passe son temps à nous dire ouais j’avais le béguin pour le jardinier, j’étais quand même mieux que ses maîtresses EN SERIO et vous avez le culot de dire que c’est l’héritière spirituelle de Miss Marple en version rock et déjantée euhhhhhhhhhhh NON NO WAY ou alors on perçoit pas le personnage de la même manière.

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot is fairly standard for Agatha Raisin, hopelessly lusting after a new villager, couple of murders, police/villagers regarding her as useless.
You'd hope after 23 books (or novellas really they rarely get past 200 pages!) there's be some character growth, but no.
Even worse than the stagnating plot is the fact M.C. Beaton can't even be bothered to keep up with her own characters.
A previous love interest briefly pops up, minus the baby he had, and his wife but at least she's explained away as dead.
Agatha's sleek new Mercedes has transformed into a tiny SMARTcar, famously a small 2 seater city car. Yet towards the end of this rubbish, Agatha and her fellow detective are bundled into the back seat! That's right, the back seat that a SMARTcar DOESN'T ACTUALLY HAVE!!

Did the aging M.C. Beaten even write this? It's so formulaic and riddled with errors/inconsistencies that I'm starting to doubt it.

[Victoria Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The latest Agatha Raisin, quick summer read for a much too warm afternoon. Once again, our heroine is wild again, beguiled again; however, her man radar is getting even worse. This one is short lived, and Agatha is off to find out who done it, with the usual sidekicks. The detective agency characters are a bit more fleshed out. This is, I think, #23, and it's beginning to appear the author may be wearying a bit of grinding them out. Which is a shame, because Agatha, Mrs. Bloxy, Roy, Charles, James, Bill and the gang at the detective agency deserve a bit more TLC. Let's hope M.C. gets a second wind and breathes a bit more life into her next volume. Nevertheless, a visit with Agatha is always fun.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly my favorite Agatha Raisin, but for unexpected reasons. The mystery is fine and definitely interesting, but Agatha shows a fair amount of growth and it's the first mystery where I wasn't bored to death by Toni. One might go so far as to say this is a feminist cozy mystery. Or very close to it. Regardless, I love every bit of it.