From Publishers Weekly
Tetchy Agatha Raisin's attempt at a little R&R in the wake of her beloved husband's defection to a French monastery gets her revved up for another mystery when she hears that a fellow vacationer was murdered. The real story in M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came takes place upon Agatha's return to her Cotswold home, when she learns of a young woman's apparent suicide and decides to investigate with the aid of her new neighbor, the dashing, cultured and vaguely lascivious writer John Armitage, and her own surprising flair for deceit and disguise. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Beaton's Agatha Raisin series (this is her twelfth) just about defines the British cozy: she gives us an individualistic sleuth working out of a thatched cottage in an achingly picturesque Cotswolds village. Agatha Raisin deviates from the sensible Miss Marple norm, however, in being thin-skinned, prickly, and annoying, but this difference spices up the formula. Agatha's latest adventures begin when her husband runs off to join a monastery in France. Agatha seeks solace in an island vacation. During her getaway, she notices a newlywed couple; within days, the groom drowns the bride. On her return home, during a dramatic flash flood, Agatha sees another dead bride, wearing a white gown and clutching a bridal bouquet, sweeping past on the river. Agatha swings into action, pestering the locals and enlisting the aid of her new neighbor, a mystery writer. Very improbable detective work, but a satisfying read nonetheless for cozy lovers. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Beaton's Agatha Raisin series...just about defines the British cozy."--Booklist
"A true village mystery with a heroine so timely and real, you'll want to meet her at the pub."--St. Petersburg Times
"Funny, breezy, and very enjoyable."--Midwest Book Review
"[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in. She's wonderful."--St. Petersburg Times
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery."--Tampa Tribune Times
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."--Chicago Sun-Times
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likable heroine¿a must for cozy fans."--Booklist
"Anyone interested in¿intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Raisin series brings the cozy tradition back to life. God bless the Queen!"--Tulsa World
"[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!"--Publishers Weekly
Review
"Beaton's Agatha Raisin series¿just about defines the British cozy."--Booklist
"A true village mystery with a heroine so timely and real, you'll want to meet her at the pub."--St. Petersburg Times
"Funny, breezy, and very enjoyable."--Midwest Book Review
"[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in. She's wonderful."--St. Petersburg Times
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery."--Tampa Tribune Times
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."--Chicago Sun-Times
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likable heroine¿a must for cozy fans."--Booklist
"Anyone interested in¿intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."--Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Raisin series brings the cozy tradition back to life. God bless the Queen!"--Tulsa World
"[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!"--Publishers Weekly
Book Description
Crankier than ever, Agatha Raisin wants to forget that her husband left her to enter a monastery-a turn of affairs more humiliating than when she caught him with a mistress. She feels abandoned, fat, frumpy, and absolutely furious.
What are her options? She takes an island vacation and joins a Pilates class. But what finally lifts her spirits is finding a corpse. The dead girl is a member of Agatha's exercise class, afloat in a rain-swollen river, dressed in a bridal gown, and clutching a wedding bouquet. Agatha's policeman friend Bill Wong suggests she leave this macabre murder to the Worcester CID. Pah! What do they know? Once she enlists the aid of the bachelor mystery writer next door, puts on a disguise, and interviews some likely suspects, Agatha will be her brash, redoubtable self again- unless she becomes the killer's next victim first...
From the Inside Flap
She's prickly, thin-skinned and totally intriguing. Critics love Agatha Raisin!
"[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in. She's wonderful."-St. Petersburg Times
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."-Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery."
-Tampa Tribune Times
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."-Chicago Sun-Times
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likable heroine...a must for cozy fans."-Booklist
"Anyone interested in...intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin."-Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Raisin series brings the cozy tradition back to life. God bless the Queen!"-Tulsa World
"[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!"-Publishers Weekly
Agatha Raisin and The Love from Hell
"Among the many joys of all Agatha Raisin adventures are Beaton's sweetly formal prose and her vivid descriptions of colorful villagers. This one, however, adds a crackerjack plot and a delightfully comic ending to the mix, making it clearly the best of the lot."-Booklist (starred review)
Agatha Raisin and The Fairies of Fryfam
"Witty...[a] highly amusing cozy."-Publishers Weekly
"Agatha is as fractious and funny as ever. Don't miss this one."-Tulsa World
"Outwardly bossy and vain, inwardly insecure and vulnerable, Agatha grows more endearing with each installment."-Cleveland Plain Dealer
"More great fun from an endearing heroine."-Library Journal
Agatha Raisin and The Wizard of Evesham
"Another delightful cozy featuring Cotswolds surroundings, a bit of history, and buoyant characters."-Library Journal
"[A] smartly updated Miss Marple...Beaton's books about this tough little Raisin cookie are well-made and smoothly oiled entertainment machines...trust Agatha to solve it all in style."
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"The return of Agatha Raisin, amateur sleuth extraordinaire, is always a treat and M.C. Beaton does not miss a beat...another fabulous English cozy by the great M.C. Beaton."
-Harriet Klausner, Painted Rock Reviews
Agatha Raisin and The Wellspring of Death
"Tourists are advised to watch their back in the bucolic villages where M.C. Beaton sets her sly British mysteries...outsiders always spell trouble for the inbred societies Beaton observes with such cynical humor."-The New York Times Book Review
"Outspoken, chain-smoking, aggravating Agatha roars back for a[n]...outing that will keep fans cheering. Must be something in the water."-The Poisoned Pen
Agatha Raisin and The Terrible Tourist
"Another refreshing and delightful series addition."-Library Journal
Agatha Raisin and The Murderous Marraige
"Beaton gleefully creates one excruciating situation after another for her indomitable heroine to endure."-Publishers Weekly
From the Back Cover
'Til Death Do You Part...
Crankier than ever, Agatha Raisin wants to forget that her husband left her to enter a monastery-a turn of affairs more humiliating than when she caught him with a mistress. She feels abandoned, fat, frumpy, and absolutely furious.
What are her options? She takes an island vacation and joins a Pilates class. But what finally lifts her spirits is finding a corpse. The dead girl is a member of Agatha's exercise class, afloat in a rain-swollen river, dressed in a bridal gown, and clutching a wedding bouquet. Agatha's policeman friend Bill Wong suggests she leave this macabre murder to the Worcester CID. Pah! What do they know? Once she enlists the aid of the bachelor mystery writer next door, puts on a disguise, and interviews some likely suspects, Agatha will be her brash, redoubtable self again- unless she becomes the killer's next victim first...
About the Author
M.C. Beaton, the Scottish-born author of ten previous Agatha Raisin novels as well as The Skeleton in the Closet and the Hamish Macbeth mystery series, lives in a village in the English Cotswolds.
Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Marital bliss was short lived for Agatha Raisin. Her marriage to James Lacey was a disaster from the beginning, and in the end, he left her - not for another woman, but for God. After having been miraculously cured of a brain tumor, James has decided to join a monastery in France. Agatha can usually depend on her old friend Sir Charles Fraith to be there when times are tough, but even Charles has abandoned her, dashing off to Paris to marry a young French tart." "Miserable and alone, Agatha hops on a plane and heads for a remote island in the South Pacific. To her surprise, she makes friends with her fellow travelers easily, and keeps herself out of mischief, despite the odd feeling she gets from one particularly attractive honeymooning couple. But when she later finds that the pretty bride has drowned under suspicious circumstances, Agatha wishes she had found a way to intervene." Returning home to the Cotswolds, Agatha is grimly determined to move on with her life and to forget about James and Charles. They have, after all, forgotten about her. And what better way than to throw herself into another murder investigation? A woman, dressed in a wedding gown and still clutching her bouquet, has just been found floating in a river. The police say it's suicide, but Agatha suspects the girl's flashy young fiance. With the help of her handsome - and single - new neighbor, Agatha sets off to prove the police wrong.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Tetchy Agatha Raisin's attempt at a little R&R in the wake of her beloved husband's defection to a French monastery gets her revved up for another mystery when she hears that a fellow vacationer was murdered. The real story in M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came takes place upon Agatha's return to her Cotswold home, when she learns of a young woman's apparent suicide and decides to investigate with the aid of her new neighbor, the dashing, cultured and vaguely lascivious writer John Armitage, and her own surprising flair for deceit and disguise. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Poor Agatha is still ensconced in her Carsely village cottage, but now at the end of her short-lived marriage to next-door neighbor James Lacey (Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell, 2001), who's left her to take holy orders at a French monastery. Her longtime friend and confidant Charles Fraith is also living in France following his marriage to a young Frenchwoman. Even after a trip to an island off the coast of Chile and the arrival of novelist John Armitage at the cottage once occupied by Lacey, Agatha finds her spirits low. Luckily, there's the tonic murder of young Kylie Stokes, whose body, found floating in the river at nearby Evesham, rouses Agatha's interest, especially after her detective friend Bill Wong informs her that Kylie had died of a drug overdose but that her body had been frozen after death. Kylie's fiance, Zak Jensen, whose father owns the local disco, claims that Kylie had been addicted but had quit. Decked out in blond wig and glasses, supposedly gathering material for a TV program on youth in the provinces, Agatha proceeds to nose around Kylie's co-workers, friends, and family. She's joined intermittently by neighbor Armitage, now her buddy, and manages to irritate Police Chief John Brudge thoroughly before another death and her own narrow escape lead to the killer. The latest installment in this long-running series is as flaccid and downbeat as its heroine, with a puzzle barely intriguing enough to pull the reader to the finish. Lighten up, Agatha.
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