Author: M.C. Beaton
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (November 4, 2008)
Format: Paperback; Pgs 256
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: Library
Series: Agatha Raisin #18
Once again, Agatha is bored with the typical missing cat type of investigations that are coming through the doors of her detective agency. Things seem to be picking up a bit with the morning mail when she receives a letter from Phyllis Tamworthy, a wealthy woman who is convinced that her family is trying to kill her.
Sure that the old woman is off her rocker, and with the help of Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha travels to the family home and represents herself as a friend while trying to gage the dysfunctional family. Having had enough of the whiney insufferable clan, Agatha and Charles plan their getaway when Phyllis Tamworthy is found dead. Declared a heart attack by the family physician, Agatha has different ideas and with her suspicious mind, sets out to answer a few questions of her own.
In addition to investigating this suspicious death, Agatha has once again decided that she will put on the perfect Christmas meal. If you have read her previous books, you will remember the time that she almost burned down the village community center when she tried to cook a turkey, so her friends and loved ones are a bit suspicious when it comes to this attempt. Agatha is determined. Even though her feelings for James Lacey are lukewarm, she is determined to make this special for him – she just does not know if he will arrive.
Taking place over a three-month period, you see Agatha interweaving the mysterious death of a penny-pinching bully with her own remembrances of a non-idyllic childhood as the daughter of two alcoholic parents. You see her desperate need to transform the life of a new employee, a seventeen year old that is bringing out Agatha maternal side, all the while putting the perfect Christmas dinner on the table. What is most important, you are once again seeing Agatha growing as a person. She may be kicking and screaming with a squeaky hip, but she is definitely mellowing and putting others before herself.
I would not call it a “Christmas Book”, but more of a “ draw those that you love close and appreciate them more” type of book; and in doing so, you just might get a special gift from friends that want to make it special for you too.
Sure that the old woman is off her rocker, and with the help of Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha travels to the family home and represents herself as a friend while trying to gage the dysfunctional family. Having had enough of the whiney insufferable clan, Agatha and Charles plan their getaway when Phyllis Tamworthy is found dead. Declared a heart attack by the family physician, Agatha has different ideas and with her suspicious mind, sets out to answer a few questions of her own.
In addition to investigating this suspicious death, Agatha has once again decided that she will put on the perfect Christmas meal. If you have read her previous books, you will remember the time that she almost burned down the village community center when she tried to cook a turkey, so her friends and loved ones are a bit suspicious when it comes to this attempt. Agatha is determined. Even though her feelings for James Lacey are lukewarm, she is determined to make this special for him – she just does not know if he will arrive.
Taking place over a three-month period, you see Agatha interweaving the mysterious death of a penny-pinching bully with her own remembrances of a non-idyllic childhood as the daughter of two alcoholic parents. You see her desperate need to transform the life of a new employee, a seventeen year old that is bringing out Agatha maternal side, all the while putting the perfect Christmas dinner on the table. What is most important, you are once again seeing Agatha growing as a person. She may be kicking and screaming with a squeaky hip, but she is definitely mellowing and putting others before herself.
I would not call it a “Christmas Book”, but more of a “ draw those that you love close and appreciate them more” type of book; and in doing so, you just might get a special gift from friends that want to make it special for you too.
1 comment:
This book does sound interesting. and the series as well.. I loved the last sentence in your review here.. and was kind of apt in this case since here is a Liebster award for you from me:
http://myrandrspace.blogspot.com/2012/12/and-liebster-goes-to.html
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