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Love Lies and Liquor An Agatha Raisin Mystery M C Beaton 9780312349103 Books

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Love Lies and Liquor An Agatha Raisin Mystery M C Beaton 9780312349103 Books

This is such a good story by a master story teller. You really need to read this series from #1 then progress thru the series. I enjoy the slow but unwilling dying of Agatha's obsession with James. In these stories, the mystery is almost incidental to the characters created by this author but still it is always a very interesting mystery story. This is one of my favorite series and certainly far superior to most of the so called cozy mysteries being written in the U.S. now most of which are boring crap.


Tags : Love, Lies and Liquor (An Agatha Raisin Mystery) [M. C. Beaton] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div><div>Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society,M. C. Beaton,Love, Lies and Liquor (An Agatha Raisin Mystery),Minotaur Books,0312349106,Seaside resorts;England;Fiction.,Women private investigators;England;Cotswold Hills;Fiction.,Women;Crimes against;Fiction.,Cotswold Hills,Crimes against,England,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction Mystery & Detective Traditional,Fiction Mystery & Detective Women Sleuths,Mystery & Detective - Traditional British,Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths,Mystery & DetectiveCozy,Mystery & DetectiveWomen Sleuths,Mystery And Suspense Fiction,MysterySuspense,Raisin, Agatha (Fictitious character),Women,Women private investigators

Love Lies and Liquor An Agatha Raisin Mystery M C Beaton 9780312349103 Books Reviews

I love this series which begins with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death. I love Agatha's creativity and orneryness, her ability to solve other people's problems but none of her own when it comes to men. I have read and re-read these books which are "just for fun!"
Finally! A less obnoxious Agatha Raisin. The business woman she was in London has emerged in her new detective agency - less bumbling, more self confident. I grew tired of Agatha's earlier rudeness to her friends and skipped several books in the series. This time she's actually friendly and appreciative of her co-workers, which makes her abrasiveness to strangers less annoying. She still doesn't have the smarts of Kinsey Millhone or the insight of Mma Ramotswe. But the draw for this series is the author's ability to bring locations alive - you can taste the salt spray. The complexity of the mystery doesn't really matter, because the author finds a way to keep you wondering what's next. And, most satisfying, Agatha realizes James is a jerk.
Fun to read. Agatha always gets into a humorous pickle and seems slow at learning her lessons from past mistakes. The fact that she thinks like so many women today, trying to be admired, and fulfilling dreams at the cost of being silly, makes this enjoyable reading. I laugh out loud at each mistake she is about to execute, and then say to myself---"I told you so...." as the story heads in that direction. That does not make the story boring for me but I enjoy the anticipated humor, like watching old "I Love Lucy" episodes. It's nice reading something you know will make you smile and shake your head.
Guaranteed laughter these books are.
Writing the traditional British cozy is a little like hand weaving. The old craft is still carried on by a few dedicated practitioners but those who buy the product expect a few modern gimmicks. In some cases the gimmick is to produce a pastiche of the genre, mocking its conventions. M C Beaton sticks to some of the old rules. Her sleuth lives in a picturesque Cotswold village and is helped by the vicar's wife. In a pious gesture to the queen of this kind of crime she is named Agatha. This was my first Beaton, so I don't know how it compares with the preceding 16 in the Agatha Raisin series. Agatha runs a detective agency. Her ex-husband takes her on a surprise vacation (sorry, holiday) to a decaying old-fashioned hotel in the decaying old-fashioned shore (sorry, seaside) resort of Soth-on-Sea run by a depressed alcoholic. The weather is terrible. The requisite murder takes place the night after they get there, with a houseful of suspects, and all plausibility is cast aside as the action rolls along at a rollicking pace. Frantic antic follows frantic antic with Agatha getting herself arrested time and time again by the local cops (sorry, constabulary).
This is not the one great book with stunning insights and deathless prose that will change your life, but you might enjoy it.
What was most interesting to me about this book was that it shows that "you can't go home again" meaning, after the passage of time, things you remembered from "back then" have changed. For instance, perhaps the places you visited as a young person that smacked of wealth or cleanliness now looks quite outdated, old, musty, and run-down-at-the-heels from not having been adequately "kept up" & refurbished. Sometimes it can be quite disturbing, going back, to see what changes have occurred; it might have been better not to have gone back, but kept the good memories instead.
I don't give many books four stars. But, I admit I'm biased toward MC Beaton's series featuring Agatha Raisin. She's a fine writer and story teller; all the things so many pretenders to the cozy-writing game fail to be. In fact, if I ruled the world, anyone wishing to write cozies would be required to read all of Beaton's books, take advanced writing courses and apply for a license before inflicting their frothy little what-nots on readers. But back to reality, I gave this book four stars because Beaton's Agatha books never fail to entertain, and I always read the final lines with a smile and sigh of satisfaction. I've read a dozen of them and keep coming back for more. I found book 17 to be a stand-out. All the characters I've come to love - Mrs. Bloxby, James Lacey, Charles Fraith, Bill Wong, Roy Silver - they all show up to take a turn. The book is followed by a terrific short story and a preview of book 18. You get your money's worth and then some.
(3.5 stars) This is the 17th book in the Agatha Raisin series. Agatha is dealing with the return of James and is initially thrilled when he offers to take her on holiday with him. She is disappointed to find themselves at a favorite childhood seaside resort, that is now overbuilt, rundown, and with miserable weather. James is saddened by the clash between reality and his memories. While there, rude customers cause a scene in the restaurant angering Agatha. When the woman ends up dead, strangled by Agatha’s scarf, they are brought in for questioning. Agatha, disenchanted with James, brings her own detective team on the scene to help solve the crime which has a missing jewel heist and mob connections. We see some character development in Agatha as she figures out some things with her relationship with James and also Charles.
This is such a good story by a master story teller. You really need to read this series from #1 then progress thru the series. I enjoy the slow but unwilling dying of Agatha's obsession with James. In these stories, the mystery is almost incidental to the characters created by this author but still it is always a very interesting mystery story. This is one of my favorite series and certainly far superior to most of the so called cozy mysteries being written in the U.S. now most of which are boring crap.