Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance

By M.C. Beaton

Book Overview

Bossy, impulsive, and unlucky in love, the all-too-human Agatha Raisin has proved to be a surprisingly effective - and endearing - amateur sleuth. But can Agatha make it as a private investigator? After getting mugged on vacation, in what she will always think of as the Paris Incident, she decides to find out.Agatha soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. Instead of dames in distress with big shoulder pads, her clients are ladies with missing cats and a man whose son has run off with his car. Agatha even worries that she might be outclassed by her sixty-seven-year-old secretary, Emma Comfrey.But then wealthy divorc?e Catherine Laggat-Brown walks in with their first "real" case. Mrs. Laggat-Brown's daughter has received a death threat, and when Agatha thwarts an attack on the girl at a dinner dance, she recognizes an opportunity to show what Raisin Investigations can do. Even better, the case gives her a chance to reunite with her long-absent friend, Sir Charles Fraith. As they scour the Cotswolds in search of leads, Charles' insights prove invaluable and his charms irresistible, leading poor Emma to fall madly in love with him.As ever, Agatha bumbles her way through the case, trying her friends' patience and flirting shamelessly with the chief suspect. Will she put her tiny agency on the map, or has even the outrageous Agatha finally bitten off more than she can chew?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312304366
• ISBN13: 9780312304362
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Aging Agatha achieves another apex

Agatha must learn to rely on others to solve a complicated murder mystery. She dismisses twinges in her hips, and gets out of dangerous situations with her usual elan. A fun read!

Another good read with charmingly irascible Agatha Raisin

With considerable trepidation I picked up the book that re-sets the benchmark for Agatha Raisin's detections: she turns pro. Few amateurs manage that evolution in real life; fewer still make a successful transition in fiction. M.C. Beaton sails right into the different layers of this story: the tribulations of setting up a business, the trials of Agatha's love life, her nuanced friendship with the rector's wife, and -- oh, yes! -- a mystery. Agatha's small twinges of self-awareness continue to develop an interesting (if not always likeable) central character. So much Agatha Raisin history provides near and distant context in this novel that I might hesitate to ask someone who has not yet made her acquaintance to begin here. But for those who, like me, have come to know Agatha as a surrogate for our own small town grandees and busybodies, this is another delightful read. Not being English and never having lived in a Cotswold village, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of Beaton's portrayal of that slice of life. Strikingly, though, she again describes a setting brimming with personalities who, even in "walk-on" roles, obviously lead full lives with stories of their own. It is Beaton's consistent ability to avoid flattening even characters most at the story's edge and her way of evoking a complete community that make the Agatha Raisin mysteries so satisfying to read and, once put aside, to ponder.

The Further Adventures of Agatha Raisin

In her 15th outing, the irascible Agatha Raisin continues to attract murder and mayhem. After being mugged in France, she decides to open her own detective agency. She's no Sam Spade, however, and what people are hiring her for is mainly to find missing cats and runaway teens. That is, until the very wealthy Mrs. Laggatt-Brown enters her office. Raisin Investigations is off and running in a slightly madcap, slightly convoluted, but always entertaining story. Discovering who wants to murder Mrs. Laggatt-Brown's daughter and preventing the murder consumes Agatha and her staff. Agatha still retains her biting humor but does appear to be softening a bit. She not only worries over losing friends, but she actually breaks down and cries in this one. As always, there is a love interest. But devoted followers of the series will be relieved to know that finally a woman, and not a potential lover, has moved into the cottage next door. Will Agatha bond with new neighbor Emma Comfrey or will the cottage be up for sale yet again? All the series favorites are in this one---Ron Silver is down from London and more flamboyant than ever, Mrs. Bloxby is there with her always comforting shoulder to cry on, and Bill Wong aids and abets Agatha's antics once again. Most interesting of all, we are finally given an inside look at the home life of Sir Charles Fraith and his aunt and manservant provide a lot of the biting humor. All in all, an excellent addition to a most enjoyable series. One that leaves us wanting more, more, more of the wacky Agatha.

Good Traditional British Mystery

The fifteenth novel featuring the rich but tightwad, bossy and vain, raunchy, crude and cranky Agatha Raisin. Now she has opened her own private detective agency. While waiting for an exciting case she gets hired to find missing cats, cars taken by young men leaving home, not very exciting. But of course that changes when .. and the bodies .... Like the best of traditional British mysteries, this book is funny, filled with plot twists, interesting characters, and a clean and clear outcome. If you haven't already, this is an excellent way to introduce yourself to Agatha while you collect the rest of the series.

The Best Yet

They're all here: Agatha, Mrs. Bloxby, Bill Wong, Charles, Roy, the cats and the whole Carsley crew. What gives this book an extra wumph is the addition of a truly interesting would-be murderess worthy of the best writer of English Cosies working today. You'll laugh out loud from the first page. How Beaton does it again and again is one of the greatest mysteries here. By-the-bye, why, oh why, hasn't somebody put Agatha on the screen? Who would you suggest? I've been thinking of Annette Benning. Can she do accents?