Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1992 October The pretty Cotswold village of Carsely, where 20-year residents are called ``incomers,'' is the retirement choice of fiftysomething p.r. career woman Agatha Raisin, fulfilling a lifelong thatched-cottage dream. Gruff, tough, but not stupid, Agatha begins to soften her image--to the extent of entering a spinach quiche in Carsely's annual ``best quiche'' competition, buying one in London to pass off as her own. It doesn't win--but is taken home by Mr. Cummings-Browne, the judge and a noted philanderer. He eats it and dies, to be found next morning by his snobbish wife Vera. The police pinpoint cowbane as the poison and call it an accident. But Agatha is sure there's murder afoot and nearly loses her own life before she proves it. A mildly entertaining look at insular village life, but Agatha never attains the exasperating charm of the author's Hamish Macbeth (Death of a Prankster, p. 500, etc.), and the rather bloodless puzzle is sidetracked by Agatha's ambivalence toward the lifestyle she's chosen. Placidly diverting. # Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1992 October #2 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. ( Dec.) Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information.
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