Agatha Raisin's latest case (There Goes the Bride, 2009, etc.) pits her against the residents of a quaint village who want to see no evil.

Her Christmas vacation abroad having proved a bust, Agatha returns early to Carsley, where a friend drags her to a Ladies Society meeting at nearby Odley Cruesis to discuss the problems with overzealous Health and Safety Board inspector John Sunday. The meeting at the vicarage is boring until Sunday appears at a window and is found stabbed outside. The next day, wealthy widow Miriam Courtney skis over to ask Agatha to solve the murder. Many people were furious with Sunday, but most of them have alibis. Although the police warn her off, Agatha and her detective agency staff begin sleuthing. When Miriam's manor house is burned to the ground with her inside, her son Tom, arriving from New York, hires Agatha to investigate his mother's death. Though she's attracted to Tom, Agatha is a bit put off by his prissy ways. Her friend Sir Charles and Toni Gilmour, her best young detective, add their skills to the mix. Toni, upset by the murder of a friend whom Agatha fired for drug use, perks up when Agatha hires a clever young man for Toni to train. Another Christmas arrives before Agatha and her cohorts finally figure out whodunit.

Testy Agatha, continuing her habit of falling for unsuitable men, scores again with a cunning mixture of satire and mystery.

When John Sunday of the Health and Safety Board declares that the village's traditional Christmas tree is a menance to public safety, he makes many enemies—even one who decides to kill him. This is the 21st entry (after There Goes the Bride) in Beaton's popular cozy series; purchase according to demand.

In bestseller Beaton's terrific 21st Agatha Raisin mystery (after 2009's There Goes the Bride), the fiercely formidable private detective and her perky young protégé, Toni Gilmour, look into the stabbing murder of John "Grudge" Sunday, a Mircester health and safety board officer, outside a joint meeting of two Cotswolds ladies' societies. The unpopular Sunday had put a pall on the holidays by stopping the annual custom of erecting a Christmas tree atop the Carsely church tower. Millionaire and prime suspect Miriam Courtney, who threatened to kill Sunday, hires Agatha to clear her name. Complications ensue after someone strikes Miriam a fatal blow to the head. Beaton, the pen name for Marion Chesney, does a brilliant job of depicting Agatha's struggles with aging and keeping her detective agency afloat. Her romantic upheavals (will she ever marry close friend Sir Charles Fraith?) continue to tantalize. (Oct.)