Book Review: Dishing the Dirt by M.C. Beaton

Dishing the Dirt by M.C. Beaton, published September 15, 2015 by Minotaur.
Genre: cozy mystery
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
I can't believe this is the 26th in the mystery series and that I've read almost all of them. The main character Agatha's eccentricities are endearing, so I enjoy following her escapades in the little Cotswold village of Carsley!

Agatha has friends and allies who appear in almost all of the books: the vicar's wife, Mrs. Bloxby; a faithful helper, her cleaner and cat sitter Doris; her occasional lover and ally, Sir Charles Fraith; her ex-husband and neighbor James Lacey; her friend on the police force Detective Sergeant Bill Wong; a team of employees at her detective agency in Carsley, and a few others whom we get to know more in every book.

In this latest mystery, Agatha is incensed when a new therapist in the village spreads gossip about Agatha's very humble or "poor beginnings." When the therapist Jill is found strangled in her home, Agatha is a suspect and tries to find the real murderer, who goes on to pick off others who might identify him. Agatha blunders about in her investigation, as usual, but her sharp intuition helps her out in all situations, including this one.

I loved this book and was all set to give it a full five stars, but felt the author didn't seem to want to end it and wanted to start on the next story right away. In other words, the book could have been a couple of pages shorter as I don't think M.C. Beaton needed to set the stage so firmly for the next Agatha mystery. We are already with her all the way.

Book Review: As the Pig Turns by M.C. Beaton

 Title: As the Pig Turns: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton
Publication date: October 11, 2011
Genre: mystery
Source: library

Comments: Another enjoyable cozy with retired PR turned private investigator Agatha Raisin, who runs her own PI office in a picturesque cottage in the Cotswolds. I found the first murder in the book (there are two) rather gruesome for this series, but the likable and quirky personality of Agatha pulls the novel through. We are just as interested in her friendships with longtime pals Roy and Charles, and ex-husband James, as we are in the mystery she is trying to solve. Agatha's monitoring of the love life of her best young PI in her company also makes for interesting reading.

I have gone through all the books in the Agatha Raisin series and am not disappointed in this one.

© Harvee Lau 2011

Book Review: Busy Body by M.C. Beaton

Busy Body: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (October 12, 2010)
Genre: mystery, cozy
Source: Library

About the book: Agatha does it again - solves a couple of murders while helping her friends and employees of her private investigation company in Carsley, a village in the Cotswolds. Not a typical P.I. heroine, she is middle aged, heavyset with bear-like eyes, but with "good legs" and lots of raven hair. Her determination gets her through thick and thin and she has faithful friends. A former husband jumps in and out of her life as does a sometime lover, Sir Charles Fraith, both of whom play a part in the resolution of this mystery.  
 
John Sunday, with the Health and Safety Board, is so detested by the residents of the neighboring village of Odley Creusis that it no surprise when he is stabbed, but no one in the village will say by whom, if they know. When another person dies, Agatha is hired by the son of the victim to find the killer. Attempts are made on the lives of two other people, and everyone feels the danger in the tiny village. 
 
Comments: Another enjoyable cozy by the prolific M.C. Beaton, who writes two other mystery series set in the U.K. I liked the village setting, the mystery plot, as well as Agatha's personality.
 
Rating: 4.5 of 5.