The Deadly Dance (2004)

Which number in the series was this? - I've lost count. It was totally hilarious and at times rather OTT and a bit bonkers - but I really enjoyed it and it may well be my favourite so far. Hilariously, although a few years must have elapsed since the quiche incident - Agatha is still in her early fifties - a bit of artistic license perhaps - well Agatha Christie did the same with Poirot. Agatha Raisin opens a detective agency - which of course starts to be quite successful early on, she has to hire staff - and finds herself putting in some pretty long hours. One member of staff may not be quite all that they seem however. After cases involving philandering husbands, wayward sons and missing cats Agtha longs for a real case, and one duly turns up. Agatha is aided and abeted again by Sir Charles Fraith and good old spiteful Ray turns up a couple of times from London too. As ever good light, escapism that puts a smile on your face throughout. ( )

Fifteenth in the Agatha Raisin mystery series set in the Cotswolds in the UK, in which Agatha finally gets up the steam to open her own detective agency. Now, to me, this book was just plain silly. Instead of one man-crazy woman (Agatha) we also have Agatha’s crazy assistant at the Raisin Agency, Emma Comfrey, who has taken to batting her past-middle-aged eyelashes at every man she meets and obsessing over them. I swear Ms. Beaton must’ve been drinking coffee laced with uppers during the writing of this book or something, because the story bounced all over the place, told partly from Agatha’s viewpoint, partly from Emma’s, and with occasional forays into other folks’ minds as well. While some of the other books in the series have had their irritating moments, I mostly enjoyed them overall. I nearly threw this one across the room in disgust a couple of times. The whole thing was totally unrealistic. Ludicrous! I found that I really didn’t even care about the original ‘whodunit’ case, the rest of the story was so choppy and silly. And I freely admit that I skimmed about the last 50 pages of the book and am taking a long vacation from the Raisin woman, possibly a permanent one. I haven’t decided yet. ( )

I do like Agatha and her adventures, but I've noticed something in the last
several Agatha books. Beaton seems to jump from one topic to another so
quickly, often inside the same paragraph, and there are times when some of
these "asides" are so unnecessary that they are a tad distracting. Still,
she's a good story teller and I do really like the relationship between
Agatha and Sir Charles. I almost wish that Beaton would have these two hook
up on a permanent basis. One thing is for sure -- their lives together
would be far from dull! Another 4, mostly because of the predictability of
these books. There are few surprises here, but sometimes, that's just what
I'm looking for. A nice safe choice. ( )

Agatha Raisin opens her own detective agency and her mundane cases turn interesting with two murders and an attempt on her own life. ( )

Agatha Raisin is a 50ish Stephanie Plum. Crazy things keep happening to her as she stumbles around trying to solve cases. Agatha hires a secretary for her detective agency who attempts to kill her so that she can have Aggie's friend all to herself. Meanwhile the case she's working on has someone trying to kill her also because of what she knows. There a hilarious calamity Christmas party at Aggie's house at the end of the book. ( )