Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book; [Audio CD]
ISBN #: 9781250157751; [9781538451953]
Minotaur Books; [Blackstone Publishing]
256 Pages
$20.49; $13.99; [$21.00] Amazon
November 17, 2020
⭐⭐⭐
When private detective Agatha Raisin learns that her friend and one-time lover Charles Fraith is to be married to a mysterious socialite, Miss Mary Brown-Field, she sees it as her duty to find out what she can about the woman. Coming up empty, Agatha -- out of selfless concern for Charles, of course -- does the only sensible thing she can think of. She crashes their wedding, which ends up in a public altercation. Nursing a hangover the next morning, she gets a phone call from Charles, with even more disturbing news: Mary has been murdered.
Agatha takes on the case, and quickly becomes entrenched in the competitive equestrian world, in which Mary had been enmeshed -- as well as the victim's surprisingly violent past. Agatha finds no shortage of motives among a wide range of characters, from Mary's old riding competitors, to enemies from her schoolgirl days, to her surly father, who threatens Agatha to mind her own business. Meanwhile, the police department has its money on another suspect. Will she track down the criminal in time, or end up behind bars herself?
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Agatha Raisin is a private detective in the Cotswolds, and it saddens her to see her one-time lover Sir Charles Fraith getting married to a shrew who hates not only her, but Charles' long-time valet, Gustav. In fact, it seems the woman hates just about everyone. Agatha knows that Mary has a hold on Charles, and sets out to discover what it is; and is surprised to find her nemesis Gustav egging her on.
When Agatha crashes the wedding with her ex-husband James, she sneaks out before there's a confrontation. But it seems it's only postponed when she also sneaks into a masquerade ball (with the help of Gustav) and is recognized by Mary, who throws a fit - and something else at Agatha, causing pandemonium. But when Mary is murdered later that night, her friend policeman Bill Wong warns her to stay out of the investigation, because his boss hates her and has it in for her, and would pin it on her if he could.
But when Charles becomes a suspect, he asks for Agatha's help in proving his innocence. When she starts digging into Mary's past, unsavory aspects come forth. Not only hers, but her father's as well. Will Agatha find the killer, or will Charles be imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit?
I wanted to read this book because I've read the others in the series, and especially the last two, which have led me here. Unfortunately, it seems R.W. Green didn't read either of those. I say this because while the book is written in the style of Ms. Beaton, it's not written in the feel of previous books. This book gives off a different aura for Agatha, and I don't think Charles would be so cavalier to her, since in the last two books things were otherwise. (I do not want to say too much on the subject because I do not wish to spoil those books for readers who have not read them yet).
In this book, it seems that James is less of who he has been. He's rather a pale imitation of himself, as are the others. There's no pretentiousness at all; he's just anyone who walks down the street. Charles isn't charming as he has always been in other books; I didn't feel it and unfortunately, it didn't draw me to him. Agatha herself isn't being Agatha. Where are her heels? Her insecurities? Agatha has changed into someone I don't recognize at all.
Let us just say that this book is taking us down a path I didn't expect nor really relish. Actually, I was hoping that the last two books would lead us to something else; but ah, well. As a book, it was written well and, of course, Agatha discovered the murderer, as we know she must. I will read the next in the series to see where it's going.
More on M.C. Beaton's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/m-c-beaton/
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