Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death

November 30, 1992
In this highly promising launch to a new mystery series, Beaton turns from the adventures of her Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth to introduce the redoubtable Agatha Raisin. At 53, Agatha, whose personality is a piquant combination of brusque competence and fallibility, sells her London public relations firm to retire to the picturesque Cotswold village of Carsely. Determined to gain acceptance among the villagers, the undomestic Agatha enters a local bake-off. The judge, Reg Cummings-Brown, not only snubs her entry but later dies, poisoned by cowbane in Agatha's killer quiche. Of course Agatha is innocent: her ``homemade'' entry came from a Chelsea delicatessen. Knowing news of her cheating will light up the village, Agatha hopes to save face by proving Reg was murdered, even though the police think it was all a ghastly accident. But was Reg or Agatha the target? And why would anyone want to kill the popular Reg, whose wife was only one of ``quite a lot of ladies . . . sobbing into their handkerchiefs'' at the inquest? While the murder is occasionally overshadowed by Agatha's settling-in problems, Beaton's ( Death of a Snob ) playful depiction of village life makes it all a delicious romp.

August 2, 1993
The author of the estimable Hamish Macbeth mysteries falters with this second story (after Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death ) to feature London PR executive Agatha Raisin, who has recently retired in the Cotswolds. When handsome veterinarian Paul Bladen dies from a drug injection intended for a horse, Agatha decides it was murder and calls on her bachelor neighbor James Lacey to help investigate. Although her friend, Detective Sgt. Bill Wong, believes the death was an accident and cautions her against overdramatizing life in their village, Agatha proceeds . She discovers an angry former client of the vet whose cat had died at his hands and claims she has information about Bladen. But when Agatha shows up for their meeting, the woman is dead; another accident, suggest the police as Agatha cries murder once more. Pursuing men and clues with abandon, Agatha finally ferrets out the murderer but loses her male quarry in the process. Stretching for charm, Beaton here unexpectedly scants characterization and plot--both of which are amply supplied in Constable Macbeth's Scottish Highland adventures.