A Spoonful of Poison (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 19)

If you have read any Agatha Raisin's you will know that when I speak of how much I love her and her insecurities, I am speaking about a wonderful creation. If you haven't read an Agatha Raisin, what is stopping you? If you love cozies with wonderful, heartwarming characters, then you must read this wonderful series. It is not for nothing that M.C. Beaton is thought to be the queen of the English cozy, and she seems to do it so effortlessly. In this book Agatha offers to help a small village with their church fete, and lo and behold people are jumping off bell towers and dying of heart attacks. What happened, Agatha wonders? Trying to find the reason sets her on a whirlwind investigation with her faithful young Toni by her side. (See show more what I mean, you need to read the series). Great stuff! show less

Agatha Raisin will likely never be my favorite fictional detective because of her abrasive personality. She's full of herself, jealous, and man-crazy. When I was looking for an audiobook for a trip, I decided to give her a try in this format because it was about the right length for my trip. In this installment, Agatha is asked to help publicize a church fete in a nearby parish. She's prepared to say no, but when she sees the gentleman who is helping organize it, she changes her mind. She manages to snag a top pop music artist to kick off the event. The highlight of this event is always the jam tasting. The problem is that some of it has been laced with LSD and a couple of attendees end up dead while others are "stoned". With only a show more handful of viable suspects, Agatha sets out with the help of one of her younger private investigators to find the killer. There are some interesting twists along the way. I do believe that I enjoyed my audio experience more than I have most of the print encounters with Agatha Raisin. I'm not sure if that is because the plot was better or because the narrator did a better job than I did of interpreting the character. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours on the road. show less

I found it hard to relate to the characters, especially Agatha. She seemed vindictive and petty, and not in a charming or human way, just in an unlikeable way. I think Agatha is supposed to seem "real" and relatable because she is flawed, but I found her flaws irritating. They also seemed like a major hindrance to her detecting; I found myself wondering how she ever solves any mysteries while chasing hot men and making irrational judgments about suspects. Also maybe it wasn't a great idea for me to start the series in the middle because I had a hard time figuring out the backstory of some of the characters like Sir Charles and Ray and how they were related to Agatha and her agency.

The mystery is kind of unsatisfying too. I don't want to show more say too much because of spoilers but there are actually several different mysteries and they are not all resolved very satisfactorily, in my opinion. Like Beaton wanted there to be another twist but forgot to go back and add it. A shame because I am always on the lookout for a good new mystery series, but I just don't think Agatha Raisin will really fit the bill. show less

Agatha and the Doped Preserves
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (November 2015) of the original St. Martin's Press Minotaur hardcover (September 2008)

A Spoonful of Poison has Agatha chasing down a poisoner after the preserves at a village fête are doped with LSD, causing a death. The detective agency is on the case and Agatha begins to be jealous of her protégé Toni Gilmour to the point of suggesting that the latter form her own separate detective agency. Agatha continues to moan about her arthritic hip and the banning of smoking in restaurants (one wonders if these personal asides were based on M.C. Beaton's real life experiences). The case also brings a new attractive man George Selby, into Agatha's sights.

I'm show more continuing to enjoy the fun of these cozies which are somewhat different from the TV-series which I saw first. Agatha is definitely more cranky in the books, but it is her human faults that make us accept her. Young detective Toni Gilmour continues here in this book #19 (in the TV series she was brought in at the beginning of Season 3, but as the niece of the housekeeper Simpson). Sir Charles is much more of a recurring character and occasional love interest than he is in the screen adaptation and his cheap and chintzy manners are played up quite a bit.

The narration of this book #19 and the previous #18 is not by series regular Penelope Keith but by Wanda MacCaddon. MacCaddon is fine in the role but gives a much more restrained performance than Keith does in the other voices e.g. the exaggerated vocal mannerisms of Roy and Sir Charles.

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 No Link
A Spoonful of Poison has been adapted for the currently ongoing Agatha Raisin TV series (2016-). It is currently scheduled to be broadcast as Episode 3 in the upcoming Series 4 later in 2021/early in 2022. There is no trailer yet available. show less

Another enjoyable Agatha Raisin, Cotswolds set murder mystery. Agatha is so wonderfully awful, you cant help but love her. I really enjoy this series, very quick to read with great characters.

An otherwise enjoyable Agatha romp blighted by Beaton banging on about the impending ban on smoking in restaurants through Agatha.

This was my first introduction to Agatha Raisin and, frankly, this immature character turned me off. The mystery itself was fun and the small town life it protrayed was spot on.