Beating about the Bush (Agatha Raisin Series #30)

by M. C. Beaton, Penelope Keith (Read by)

Overview

Agatha Raisin in Beating About the Bush

When private detective Agatha Raisin comes across a severed leg in a roadside hedge, it looks like she is about to become involved in a particularly gruesome murder. Looks, however, can be deceiving, as Agatha discovers when she is employed to investigate a case of industrial espionage at a factory where nothing is quite what it seems.

The factory mystery soon turns to murder and a bad-tempered donkey turns Agatha into a national celebrity, before bringing her ridicule and shame. To add to her woes, Agatha finds herself grappling with growing feelings for her friend and occasional lover, Sir Charles Fraith. Then, as a possible solution to the factory murder unfolds, her own life is thrown into deadly peril. Will Agatha get her man at last? Or will the killer get her first?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538451878
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	12/03/2019
Series:	Agatha Raisin Series , #30
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

M. C. Beaton has been hailed as the “Queen of Crime” by the Globe and Mail. In addition to her New York Times and USA Today bestselling Agatha Raisin novels, Beaton is the author of the Hamish Macbeth series and four Edwardian mysteries. Born in Scotland, she currently divides her time between the English Cotswolds and Paris.

Penelope Keith is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and award-winning actress who is best known for her roles in To the Manor Born and The Good Life, but she has appeared in many other television programs, including No Job for a Lady and Law and Disorder. Her theater performances include The Norman Conquests, Hay Fever, and Mrs. Warren’s Profession. She has received several BAFTA Awards and in 2014 was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10

Editorial Reviews

Penelope Keith returns to narrate Book 30 in M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series. Keith provides the perfect voice, tone, and tempo for the delightfully flawed Agatha Raisin, who solves crimes in the Cotswolds. This time Agatha’s private detective agency is hired to investigate industrial espionage. Before long, she and her crew are involved in a murder supposedly committed by a bad-tempered, flatulent donkey. Keith differentiates the voices of the many men in Agatha’s life with varying British accents and other class distinctions. Listeners new to the series will quickly pick up on the backstories. Overall, Keith delivers an Agatha who is sassy, totally self-involved, and endearing, making for an engaging and genuinely funny listening experience. E.Q. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

10/07/2019

At the start of bestseller Beaton’s winning 29th Agatha Raisin mystery (after 2018’s The Dead Ringer), Albert Morrison, the chairman of an English company that manufactures batteries, hires PI Agatha to find the saboteur responsible for burning down the company’s R&D department and with it the prototype of a highly anticipated new product. In the course of her investigation, Agatha comes across the body of Mrs. Dinwiddy, Morrison’s longtime assistant. The blunt-force trauma to the head in the shape of a hoof points to the company’s pet donkey, Wizz-Wazz. Agatha concludes Wizz-Wazz is innocent after discovering an ashtray made from a donkey’s hoof. Disapproving of the subsequent save-the-donkey PR campaign Agatha initiates, Morrison fires her, but this only strengthens her determination to solve Mrs. Dinwiddy’s murder. The obnoxious, rude, and outspoken Agatha may not appeal to every reader, but cozy fans with a taste for the silly and the offbeat will be gratified. This long-running series shows no sign of losing steam. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Assoc. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Winning....Cozy fans with a taste for the silly and the offbeat will be gratified. This long-running series shows no signs of losing steam." —Publishers Weekly

"As usual, Beaton conceals any number of surprises behind her trademark wry humor." —Kirkus Reviews

“Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy.” —Ashley Jensen, star of the Agatha Raisin TV series

"Agatha is in top form in bestseller Beaton's twenty-seventh mystery....A twisty plot, a familiar cast of eccentric characters, and a charming English country setting mean that lovers of cozy mysteries will be satisfied indeed." —Publishers Weekly on Pushing Up Daisies

"Once you meet Agatha Raisin, you'll keep coming back." —New York Journal of Books

"M.C. Beaton has a foolproof plot for the village mystery." —The New York Times Book Review

"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha." —Chicago Sun-Times

"Beaton's Agatha Raisin series just about defines the British cozy." —Booklist

"Full of perfectly pitched interest, intrigue, and charm.” —Lee Child

From the Publisher

2019-09-15
A most unusual suspect helps a detective solve a case.

The engineering firm Morrison's has hired Agatha Raisin and her assistant, Toni Gilmour, to investigate a case of industrial espionage after a mysterious fire at their factory in the Cotswolds. On their way home, they spot a disembodied leg in the woods and recognize its shoe and stockings as those of Mr. Morrison's secretary, Mrs. Dinwiddy. They call the police but feel like fools when the limb is revealed as fake. Many circumstances seem unusual back at Morrison's, where no one seems to do much and the factory that's supposed to be producing battery packs for electric cars turns out to be in Poland instead. Agatha's favorite employee at Morrison's turns out to be Wizz-Wazz, a donkey belonging to Morrison's wife, even though she attacks after Toni whacks her on the nose. After Mrs. Dinwiddy is found dead at the stable, the police are ready to write it off as an accidental death at the donkey's hooves. But Agatha's certain the obviously traumatized Wizz-Wazz is innocent. When Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha's longtime friend and sometime lover (The Dead Ringer, 2018, etc.), accompanies her to the factory, he points out actual horses' hooves that are being used as ashtrays. The fact that one of them has been scrubbed suspiciously clean suggests that Wizz-Wazz was framed. Agatha, devastated to learn of Charles' engagement to a wealthy, unattractive young woman, continues her investigation into what now seems to be a fake factory and consoles herself with a romance with Chris Firkin, who rents a space from Charles to work on converting cars to electricity. Agatha starts a PR campaign to save Wizz-Wazz while working on the difficult and ultimately dangerous case.

As usual, Beaton conceals any number of surprises behind her trademark wry humor.

Kirkus Reviews