Killing Time

September 15, 2024
R. W. Green, a longtime friend of M. C. Beaton (who died in 2019), has taken up the torch of Beaton's long-running Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. Readers will find this is the same Agatha: vain, fearless, funny, resourceful, and as infuriating as in the dozens of preceding Agatha Raisin mysteries. And they'll find the same cozy atmosphere of Agatha's milieu: the Cotswolds. In this, the thirty-fifth Agatha Raisin (and the fourth written by Green), one of Agatha's former lovers asks her to host a massive celebration at his stately home to launch his new wine. But Agatha's PR savvy gets sabotaged by a series of burglaries on the High Street of her Cotswolds village. A brutal assault on a jewelry shop owner, and then the murder of an antiques dealer, follow. In addition to building suspense, Green provides lots of comedy and fascinating information about event-planning, antiques, and sleuthing throughout. Agatha Raisin lives on.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2024
Agatha Raisin is bedeviled by murders past and present in the Cotswolds. Sir Charles Fraith, who knows how to get Agatha's attention, tells her about a murder that took place in 1660. He wants Agatha, a former star in public relations, to stage a big event to introduce Ch�teau Barfield wines, and since he knows she can never resist a puzzle, he uses that historical murder to tempt her into helping. Signing on, Agatha enlists the help of her friend Roy Silver, another PR expert with a stylish flair. Agatha already has plenty to do with her detective agency, but her excellent staff can hold things together while she works on the project. In the meantime, a number of break-ins have puzzled the police, and the Mircester Chamber of Commerce hires her firm to find the culprits. Because she thinks of adding an auction to the Barfield extravaganza, Agatha accompanies the antique dealer Mr. Tinkler to an auction, where she gets carried away by the fierce bidding on a clock that she's determined to make her own. Keeping the clock in his shop for his twin brother to repair, Mr. Tinkler hands it over just before he's murdered. Agatha promptly begins to get death threats in the form of puzzles, adding to her list of things to solve. She takes time to go meet her lover, John Glass, a retired police officer who works on a cruise ship as a dance instructor, but leaves in a rage when his dance partner intimates that they're more than just colleagues. Returning home, she concentrates on all her cases and eventually solves them in surprising ways. Agatha is always a hoot, but behind the extravagant exterior lie a clever mind and an iron will.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.