Love, Lies and Liquor

Donada Peters is a superb Agatha Raisin--frumpy, whiny, frustrated, yet tenacious and incurably romantic. Invited on vacation by neighbor (and ex-husband) James Lacey, Agatha winds up in a run-down seaside hotel, involved in murder and an unresolved jewel theft. Originally a suspect, Agatha soon turns the energies of her detective agency loose on the crimes. Peters displays her talents through a full array of English accents--from those of low-class suspects to that of penny-pinching aristocrat Sir Charles Fraith. Peters's distinctive vocal characterizations are particularly on target when Agatha's date turns out to be the mastermind of the jewel heist and other nefarious deeds. D.P.D. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine