Publishers Weekly
10/03/2022
The rambling 33rd outing for private detective Agatha Raisin (after 2021’s Down the Hatch), Green’s second collaboration with Beaton (1936–2019), finds Agatha and Toni Gilmour, her colleague at Raisin Investigations, driving through their beloved Cotswolds on their way to a policeman friend’s wedding. Then they spot a naked young man, Edward Carstairs, running down the middle of the road, and they soon learn that Edward, a member of a nudist club, has just found a dead body in the woods. Agatha and Toni follow him to the spot, but the body has vanished. Agatha decides to get to the bottom of things. To that end, Toni, who’s smitten with Edward, suggests that she go undercover—so to speak—at the Mircester Naturist Society. In addition, the pair look into a potential drug ring at a girls’ boarding school and a spot of pilfering from a brewery. Agatha at times comes across as a sad figure, not her usual confident, funny, strong-willed self, and the thin mystery plots offer little suspense. This one’s for established fans, who may appreciate catching up with the current status of Agatha’s ever-expanding team of once, current, and possibly future beaus. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Assoc. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
"Delightful." —Woman's World, Best New Books
“This mystery's got everything." —USA Today
"Trademark Beaton." —Booklist (starred) on Down the Hatch
"Green...ably continues the adventures of private detective Agatha Raisin, thorn in the side of conservative Cotswold society, in the diverting 32nd installment of this bestselling series...The prose sparkles as usual."
—Publishers Weekly on Down the Hatch
"Superb." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Hot to Trot
"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
JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile
The voice of narrator Penelope Keith has become the acknowledged voice of the vain, clever, abrasive, and courageous private detective Agatha Raisin. Keith's imposing delivery and vivacious tone reflect Agatha's feisty personality. This is the 33rd mystery in the Agatha Raisin series, all of which take place in picturesque Cotswold villages. Though no longer written by Beaton, the newer novels still possess the wit, colorful descriptions, ingenuity, and quirky characters so beloved in the earlier novels. This mystery involves Agatha in a murder and cover-up in a nudist club. Agatha and friends bare all in the pursuit of truth and justice. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-09-14
Agatha Raisin continues to handle some murders—and some men—more easily than others.
Agatha and her detective-agency employee Toni Gilmour are on their way to a wedding when they’re flagged down by a naked young man who claims to have found a dead body in the woods. Thus begins one of Agatha’s oddest cases, which will involve her removing her clothes for the Mircester Naturist Society and trying out several new amatory partners while pondering her past relationships. Agatha is attracted to all she can see of Jasper Crane, chairman of the Naturist Society, but since the dead body has vanished by the time she and Toni arrive in the clearing where it had been earlier, they press on to the wedding of DS Bill Wong and DC Alice Peters after trading insults with DCI Wilkes. There, Agatha meets Inspector John Glass, another desirable prospect. In addition to delving into the murder on her own time, Agatha is hired to discreetly investigate drug sales at a boarding school for girls. She’s just visited Sir Charles Fraith, another of her on-and-off lovers, to learn more about the Naturist Society, which was founded by his grandfather, when the missing body turns up in a lake. It becomes clear that Agatha’s investigation has hit a nerve when her house is trashed and she’s almost burned alive. Furious, she digs even deeper and discovers a connection between the society, the drugs, and ice cream that will reveal all.
The convoluted mystery plays second fiddle to the heroine’s even more convoluted love life.
