The Deadly Dance : An Agatha Raisin Mystery

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Agatha Raisin novels
Review: A fan of Beaton's Hamish MacBeth books, I was slow to warm up to the Agatha Raisin series. Now I wouldn't miss one for anything.

Of course, old Aggie is not a warm personality. She's selfish, driven, retired from her success as a hard-as-nails London PR flack to the Cotswold countryside of her childhood fantasies (said childhood was in a Birmingham slum). Where her lack of self-knowledge, friendless existence, manipulative PR skills, ignorance of small-town life, obtuseness to the feelings of others, and hidden vulnerability and emotional neediness, set her up for memorably funny - and poignant - encounters and adventures.

In her new Cotswold village life, Aggie makes a few friends, acquires two cats, falls deeply in love with a series of Wrong Men, gets married and soon divorced - all the while plowing through a series of amateur crime investigations. Some of her rough corners are bumped off. But she's not converted into Miss Marple - or even anyone you'd want to deal with every day of your life.

In this the umpteenth (15th?) entry in the series, Agatha finally opens her own private investigation agency and meets her latest neighbor, the genteel retired Emma. Emma soon proves herself a key member of the PI agency team. The plot is a robust mixture of lost pets, absconded teenagers, adulterous spouses, unrequited love, attempted murder, obnoxious social-climbing snobs, obnoxious downwardly-mobile aristo snobs, actual murder, scary attempts on Agatha's life, jaunts to Paris, and Agatha's friends Mrs. Bloxby, Ron Silver, Sir Charles Fraith and police officer Bill Wong. There's also a very handsome divorced man with a mysterious import-export business, whose attentions of course send Agatha into a dither.

In the hands of a lesser author it might not work. But the superbly accomplished M.C. Beaton mixes it all up with a sure hand and serves up a terrifically enjoyable read. I hated to put it down, and sat up late to finish it.

Rating:
Summary: Agatha Raisin truimphs again
Review: Agatha Raisin has decided to become a private detective -- years of enthusiastically involving herself in police investigations and solving them ahead of the police has convinced her that she should turn professional. And so she rents an office in Mircester, hires a freelance photographer as well as retired police technician to do the electronic work, and her new neighbour, Emma Comfrey, as secretary-receptionist, and sits back, prepared to be overwhelmed with serious, perplexing cases. Except that the first few cases seem rather uninspiring: missing pets, teenagers and infidelity cases. And then rich divorce Mrs. Laggart-Brown walks into the office. Mrs. Laggart-Brown is about to host a dinner party where her daughter's (Cassandra) engagement to a stockbroker (Jason Peterson) will be announced. But just days before the party, Mrs. Laggart-Brown receives a letter threatening Cassandra's life. Mrs. Laggart-Brown want to hire Agatha to come to the party, mingle with the guests and keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour. And at the party, Agatha successfully thwarts an attempt on Cassandra's life. Now, Agatha and her team must begin the hunt for the would-be killer in earnest. Their suspects are practically non existent. For who would want to kill a young lady who's led a sheltered, quite life? And if that's not bad enough, Agatha must battle with her feelings of jealousy for her new secretary, Emma, who seems to be proving to be a rather good detective...

While not written in a wacky-zany vein, the Agatha Raisin mysteries are written with biting humour, and feature a heroine who seems to have the unhappy knack of creating farcical situations wherever she goes (a strange knack given that Agatha was once owned a successful PR company). With a penchant for falling in love rather unwisely, this time around, Agatha has decided not to allow her heart to rule her head. This made "Deadly Dance" refreshingly different. Agatha is still brusque, insecure and susceptible to good-looking men, but in "Deadly Dance" she doesn't start obsessing about them either -- or at least not all that much. The storyline is a tad convoluted this time around, but one hardly notices this thanks to M. C. Beaton's crisp writing style. Carefully plotted, "Deadly Dance" unfolds in a smooth and fluid manner, and made for compelling reading from start to finish. All in all, a good storyline, eccentric characters and a heroine whose brusque yet vulnerable manner makes her so very endearing (to me anyway), "Deadly Dance" was a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Agatha Turns Pro!
Review: As a dedicated fan of MC Beaton, I loved Deadly Dance. Agatha shrewdly moves into creating her own detective agency and manages to turn a profit in spite of herself.

As always, readers have fun reuniting with the cast of characters -- the vicar's wife, the town policeman, the cats and more -- and watching Agatha Raisin in action. I love having a middle-aged heroine who combines acute business sense with a misguided view of human nature. She's so real and Beaton manages to convey complex emotion in a light-hearted Cotswold romp -- not an easy feat.

The plot seemed a little more twisted this time and I had trouble accepting Agatha's flirtation with someone who's obviously destined for villain status. And while all of the characters are foils for Agatha, one female character turns out to be a little too much like the heroine herself -- a darker and nastier version, to be sure, but sharing Agatha's penchant for impossible crushes on unreachable men.
Agatha needs to play against a strong character, like James Lacey, or compete against a truly interesting villain.

But not to worry -- I absolutely love Agatha Raisin and hope she doesn't give up on the detective agency. Like most professionals who retired too soon, she needs a new career!

Rating:
Summary: Deadly Disappointing
Review: As a long-time Agatha Raisin fan, I opened "Deadly Dance" with eager anticipation. What a disappointment! Although the story itself has all the elements of another excellent Agatha Raisin novel, Ms. Beaton's usually entertaining writing style has here turned choppy and abrupt. "Deadly Dance" reads like a story outline that an over-eager publisher accidentally printed instead of the finished product. If you're a dedicated reader of the series and can overlook the awkward writing style, you'll probably enjoy the latest adventures of Agatha Raisin. But let's all hope that Ms. Beaton's literary skill returns before the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: The Deadly Dance
Review: Best Agatha in a long, long time and a happy event for her loyal fans. Kudos to M.C.

Rating:
Summary: What a delight is Agatha Raisin!
Review: I always look forward to the next Agatha Raisin mystery, and this one does not disappoint. Agatha is her usual bumbling, "bull-in-a-china shop" self, and she again meets up with some pretty odious characters. What about Emma, her new secretary that she's just hired for her new detective business? And then there's her first real clients - are they what they seem to be? (especially the handsome ex-husband). Anyway, you can bet that murder and mayhem are going to follow her around, but she will persevere as she always does. We get lots of introduction to her two friends Roy and Charles, and they are just as delightful as always. Not a bad book at all!

Rating:
Summary: Not a classic, but not bad either....
Review: I've been reading this novel for a few days now; not having purchased it, but I signed up for a neat program (yes, it's free) on the publisher's website (www.stmartins.com) where you're sent about 5 minutes worth of reading in sequence every day for a week's worth of each novel, and thus far - it's pretty good. I'm typically a fan of the more classic murder mysteries (which I suspect Beaton is poking fun at to some small extent), but this is a good story, well written, and fairly engaging. It's the perfect example of a book you would buy for brain candy (in my own case, to relieve the eye strain of long days of philosophy) that ends up being a fairly decent read. I would recommend this to just about anyone in search of such a brain candy book and hope they would find the same enjoyment in it that I have so far - can't wait to see what happens to Agatha and Emma in tomorrow's installment!

Rating:
Summary: The Further Adventures of Agatha Raisin
Review: In her 15th outing, the irascible Agatha Raisin continues to attract murder and mayhem. After being mugged in France, she decides to open her own detective agency. She's no Sam Spade, however, and what people are hiring her for is mainly to find missing cats and runaway teens. That is, until the very wealthy Mrs. Laggatt-Brown enters her office. Raisin Investigations is off and running in a slightly madcap, slightly convoluted, but always entertaining story. Discovering who wants to murder Mrs. Laggatt-Brown's daughter and preventing the murder consumes Agatha and her staff.

Agatha still retains her biting humor but does appear to be softening a bit. She not only worries over losing friends, but she actually breaks down and cries in this one.

As always, there is a love interest. But devoted followers of the series will be relieved to know that finally a woman, and not a potential lover, has moved into the cottage next door. Will Agatha bond with new neighbor Emma Comfrey or will the cottage be up for sale yet again?

All the series favorites are in this one---Ron Silver is down from London and more flamboyant than ever, Mrs. Bloxby is there with her always comforting shoulder to cry on, and Bill Wong aids and abets Agatha's antics once again. Most interesting of all, we are finally given an inside look at the home life of Sir Charles Fraith and his aunt and manservant provide a lot of the biting humor.

All in all, an excellent addition to a most enjoyable series. One that leaves us wanting more, more, more of the wacky Agatha.

Rating:
Summary: Good Traditional British Mystery
Review: The fifteenth novel featuring the rich but tightwad, bossy and vain, raunchy, crude and cranky Agatha Raisin. Now she has opened her own private detective agency. While waiting for an exciting case she gets hired to find missing cats, cars taken by young men leaving home, not very exciting. But of course that changes when .. and the bodies ....

Like the best of traditional British mysteries, this book is funny, filled with plot twists, interesting characters, and a clean and clear outcome. If you haven't already, this is an excellent way to introduce yourself to Agatha while you collect the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: Another good read with charmingly irascible Agatha Raisin
Review: With considerable trepidation I picked up the book that re-sets the benchmark for Agatha Raisin's detections: she turns pro. Few amateurs manage that evolution in real life; fewer still make a successful transition in fiction. M.C. Beaton sails right into the different layers of this story: the tribulations of setting up a business, the trials of Agatha's love life, her nuanced friendship with the rector's wife, and -- oh, yes! -- a mystery. Agatha's small twinges of self-awareness continue to develop an interesting (if not always likeable) central character.

So much Agatha Raisin history provides near and distant context in this novel that I might hesitate to ask someone who has not yet made her acquaintance to begin here. But for those who, like me, have come to know Agatha as a surrogate for our own small town grandees and busybodies, this is another delightful read.

Not being English and never having lived in a Cotswold village, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of Beaton's portrayal of that slice of life. Strikingly, though, she again describes a setting brimming with personalities who, even in "walk-on" roles, obviously lead full lives with stories of their own. It is Beaton's consistent ability to avoid flattening even characters most at the story's edge and her way of evoking a complete community that make the Agatha Raisin mysteries so satisfying to read and, once put aside, to ponder.