From Booklist
At the core of every village cozy is a pinch of arsenic. In the Agatha Raisin Cotswold cozies, the arsenic is Agatha herself, a pushy, whiny, unsociable, self-pitying sort who investigates murders in the tiny village of Carsely the way other women might shop, as a distraction from boredom. Despite Agatha, this series, now in its thirteenth outing, is very popular. In the latest, the village is shaken by the appearance of a gorgeous new assistant cleric. Before long, the cleric is hated by the vicar for pulling in record crowds at services and lusted after by every woman in the village. After the cleric is found stabbed to death at the vicarage, Agatha takes it upon herself to discover who did in the body in the library. The cleric fascinates even after death; Beaton revives a fairly routine plot with a whiff of Dorian Gray here. For die-hard cozy fans only. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin." -Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is refreshingly sensible and wonderfully eccentric."-Buffalo News
"Beaton's Agatha Raisin series...just about defines the British cozy."-Booklist
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."-Chicago Sun-Times
"[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
"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
"Anyone interested in a few hours' worth of intelligent, amusing reading will want to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Agatha Raisin." -Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The Miss Marple-like Raisin is refreshingly sensible and wonderfully eccentric."-Buffalo News
"Beaton's Agatha Raisin series...just about defines the British cozy."-Booklist
"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."-Chicago Sun-Times
"[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
"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
Chicago Sun-Times
Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha.
Publishers Weekly
[Beaton's] imperfect heroine is an absolute gem!
Review
“Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand-new Agatha Raisin mystery.”—Tampa Tribune-Times
“What makes readers love Agatha Raisin? Is it her jealous rages? Inability to quit smoking? Beady little bearlike eyes?... Somehow this cranky middle-aged dame’s many flaws only make her more appealing.”—Booklist
Book Description
Wretched after being dumped by her husband, bored with pottering about Carsely, and wishing every man would sod off, including her neighbor John Armitage, Agatha Raisin is unmoved by news of the captivating new curate. But when she meets the golden-haired, blue-eyed Tristan Delon, she is swept off her feet...along with nearly every other female in the village. Wrapped in brightly coloured dreams of the curate (never mind that he's a tad odd), Agatha is as ecstatic as a girl when he invites her to dine. But his cold body is found the next day, and Carsely is whisked from time-warp monotony to a hotbed of murder and intrigue-and a clear-headed Agatha Raisin is back on track, this time with John. As the corpses multiply, ever-obstinate Agatha trails clues from Lilac Lane to London, unmindful that someone wicked is arranging that Mrs. Raisin's cats never again hear their mistress' footfall on the path...
From the Inside Flap
She's Disgruntled, Disheartened, Discontented…But Whoever Said Anything About Better Off Dead? Wretched after being dumped by her husband, bored with pottering about Carsely, and wishing every man would sod off, including her neighbor John Armitage, Agatha Raisin is unmoved by news of the captivating new curate. But when she meets the golden-haired, blue-eyed Tristan Delon, she is swept off her feet…along with nearly every other female in the village. Wrapped in brightly coloured dreams of the curate (never mind that he's a tad odd), Agatha is as ecstatic as a girl when he invites her to dine. But his cold body is found the next day, and Carsely is whisked from time-warp monotony to a hotbed of murder and intrigue-and a clear-headed Agatha Raisin is back on track, this time with John. As the corpses multiply, ever-obstinate Agatha trails clues from Lilac Lane to London, unmindful that someone wicked is arranging that Mrs. Raisin's cats never again hear their mistress' footfall on the path…
From the Back Cover
She's Disgruntled, Disheartened, Discontented...But Whoever Said Anything About Better Off Dead?
Wretched after being dumped by her husband, bored with pottering about Carsely, and wishing every man would sod off, including her neighbor John Armitage, Agatha Raisin is unmoved by news of the captivating new curate. But when she meets the golden-haired, blue-eyed Tristan Delon, she is swept off her feet...along with nearly every other female in the village. Wrapped in brightly coloured dreams of the curate (never mind that he's a tad odd), Agatha is as ecstatic as a girl when he invites her to dine. But his cold body is found the next day, and Carsely is whisked from time-warp monotony to a hotbed of murder and intrigue-and a clear-headed Agatha Raisin is back on track, this time with John. As the corpses multiply, ever-obstinate Agatha trails clues from Lilac Lane to London, unmindful that someone wicked is arranging that Mrs. Raisin's cats never again hear their mistress' footfall on the path...
"Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand new Agatha Raisin mystery." -Tampa Tribune Times
About the Author
M.C. Beaton is the author of twelve previous Agatha Raisin novels, the Hamish Macbeth series, and a new Edwardian mystery series written as Marion Chesney. She currently divides her time between Paris and the English Cotswolds.
Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate ( Agatha Raisin Mysteries Series) FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Agatha Raisin is feeling miserable - and with good reason. Her ex-husband, James, has abandoned her, and she's been humiliated by an unseemly proposition from John Armitage, her handsome neighbor. So complete is her devastation that Agatha has given up on makeup and taken to wearing the loose cotton dresses and flat, sensible shoes she has always abhorred. But there is light at the end of this dark and lonely tunnel, and its source is Carsely's beatific new curate, Tristan Delon. With his golden hair, large blue eyes, and perfect mouth, Tristan has attracted the interest of more than a few of his female congregants. And to her surprise, he seems to have taken a special interest in Agatha." Despite his charms, however, there is something odd about the curate, and after he's found dead in the vicar's study, it's up to Agatha and John to investigate.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Deserted by her feckless ex-husband, Agatha Raisin finds herself attracted to the gorgeous new curate, Tristan Delon, in Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate, the 13th sprightly entry in this cozy series from M.C. Beaton, author of Death of a Village (Forecasts, Jan. 6) and other titles in his Hamish Macbeth series. But when Tristan turns up dead in the vicar's study, Agatha must pursue a murder investigation instead of romance. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Beaton's grumpy, depressive heroine (Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came, 2002, etc.) has little reason to be cheerful when the curtain comes up this time around. Abandoned in the village of Cardely by her ex-husband James, she's left with no male company save her neighbor John Armitage, a novelist who seems at first unmoved by their proximity. But things brighten with the arrival of vicar Alf Bloxby's new assistant, movie-star-gorgeous curate Tristan Delon. Church attendance naturally soars, and Agatha is even more thrilled when Tristan offers himself as a skilled money manager. The morning after their dinner, however, Tristan is found stabbed to death in the vicar's study. When his murder is followed by the killings of two more women from the village, Armitage thinks he and Agatha should investigate-despite warnings from detective Bill Wong to stay out of it. Their queries take them to London and to business mogul Richard Binser, whose worshipful secretary Miss Partle discloses the news that her boss fell for an expensive scam of Tristan's. Before it's all over, Armitage will have moved to London and Agatha become the target of yet another murder attempt in an absurdly melodramatic denouement. Beaton, never as convincing in this cartoonish series as in her tales of Hamish MacBeth (Death of a Village, 2002, etc.), goes way overboard in one of Agatha's lesser puzzles. Even so, things keep moving fast enough to hold the faithful's interest.
Art & Photography
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