Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

Oh how I love Ms. Beaton's style. And dear Agatha, who I want to just shake sometimes! I am really starting to loathe James Lacey, and the opium-like hold he has on our girl. But despite all that, this really was another fun jaunt.

So interesting seeing how Agatha handles the complexities of entrenched small village power structures and institutions. Plus.. murder(s) most foul.

On to the next one!

Vain, petulant, bossy, insecure, mouthy Agatha Raisin--I love her for her impulsive obsessions, her snotty retorts, her cut-the-crap directness, her pathetic vulnerability. The Wellspring of Death was as scathingly funny and improbable as any of the Agatha stories. Village politics heat up when a local landowner agrees to sell water rights to a bottled-water company. After the village council chair is found dead in the spring, Agatha agrees to do PR for the bottling company. Though officially retired from public relations, she is enticed by the attentions of one of the owners as well as the desire to ferret out more information about the murder. Agatha's characteristic poor judgement gets her in all kinds of hot water. Her uneasy show more relationship with neighbor James Lacey, and her friendship with the vicar's wife, Mrs. Bloxby make things interesting and complicated. But not too complicated to be a delightful and entertaining read. show less

Agatha Raisin is feeling depressed about her strained relationship with ex-fiance James when she comes across a body at the wellspring in Ancombe. The wellspring which flows from a garden through a wall into a public fountain has recently become the source of controversy when the owner allows a Water Company to draw water from the fountain to sell. The victim was the Chairman of the Ancombe Council with the deciding vote on the sale. Coincidentally Agatha is offered the PR job for the Water Company on a freelance basis and has accepted. This puts her in the thick of things and she sticks her nose into the investigation. This book was particularly nasty; filled with insults all around and Agatha spouting her share of vitriol. Agatha show more handles her personal life like a teenager and makes terrible decisions. It's hard to sympathize at times. show less

For a lady with bearish eyes and a tight waistband, Agatha seems to get a decent share of nooky. Lovely to have her back in Carsley though the ongoing issues with James Lacey can begin to bore. Then again her adolescent ways with men provide quite a bit of mirth. I couldn't keep up with all the potential suspects but like Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher, Agatha is all about the location and ongoing characters, murder & mystery are secondary.

It was what I needed it to be. Agatha is pure fluff, and enjoyable fluff for the most part. I wish she could stop with the romance, but her ridiculous return to it is as much as her incurable curiosity.

Our Agatha becomes a Public Relations person for a water company. The company wants to take a certain amount of water from an eighteenth century well in the village of Ancombe. Village tempers become frayed as groups form of for and against. It is not long before the inevitable murder occurs and Agatha finds herself in a very uncomfortable situation indeed.

3 ½ Stars
Not as funny as the first 5 books in the series but a definite improvement on the sixth book. This was my favorite scene in this book.

"Can't you steer a straight course?" asked Agatha. "You nearly banged into that rowing-boat."
"We're doing fine," said Roy. "You just dig the pole in, Aggie, and thrust--"
To Agatha's horror, he pole-vaulted and landed face-down on the grassy bank while Agatha and the punt went shooting off in the other direction.
The punt hit the opposite bank with force as she instinctively rose to her feet, and Agatha was catapulted into the river.

Roy and Mrs Bloxby are prominently featured and Roy while still a conniving sycophant is really starting to grow on me. James remains as stubborn and clueless as ever.