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and life along the winding road

Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton

M.C. Beaton who publishes under many pseudonyms including her own name, Marion Chesney, is a prolific writer. The Agatha Raisin series began in 1994 and Ms. Beaton has published a cozy mystery in this series each year since then. At the same time, she has continued to publish books in the Hamish MacBeth series which began in 1985.
Curious about the character, Agatha Raisin? You can read her bio here.

Having been to the Cotswolds where the Agatha Raisin series is set, I find it easy to picture the cozy thatched cottages and quaint villages as Agatha traipses around trying to solve mysteries. A Spoonful of Poison is a story where many of the well known characters such as Sir Charles, Mrs. Bloxby and Agatha's ex-husband, James are featured. But Ms. Beaton weaves each of these in with minimal interruption of the story and you can easily pick up a book at the beginning of the series or the middle without ever feeling lost.

From the cover:

Agatha gets herself into a very sticky situation in her 19th adventure, complete with brand new cover design.
Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that she decides to take time off for rest and relaxation. But as soon as she does, she remembers that when she does have time on her hands, she doesn't know what to do with it. So it doesn't take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicize the church fete - especially when the event organizer, George Selby, turns out to be a handsome widower.

Agatha brings out the crowds for the fete all right, but there's more going on than innocent village fun. Several of the offerings in the jam-tasting booth turn out to be poisoned and the festive entertainment becomes the scene of two murders.

Along with her young assistant, Toni, Agatha must lift the lid on the jam tampering, see to the safety of the church funds, and root out the nasty secrets lurking in the village. Quite a tall order while she is attempting to flirt with gorgeous George, who probably has a few secrets of his own!