About book Agatha Raisin And The Wellspring Of Death (1998)
Funny Agatha I like. To ubiquitous "Telecom Call Minder .. irritating relic of .. elocution lessons" p 71 "'Did anyone not want to hear messages' thought Agatha crossly" p 72. Just when she seems toughest, she breaks down. She is human after all. Pressed by Guy to continue working after finding body, "she began to cry" p 113.Competing on his own to find answers, James dyes his black hair blond, dons "three ear-rings in one ear" p 72, says little to hide upper-class accent. Also undercover, Zak has fake tattoo on shaven skull, reminds him of clean fingernails. After a while I get tired of her abrasive side, the sameness of her gang. Her first friend, young Chinese policeman Bill Wong, always loses girlfriends to pushy poor cooking parents. Why does she put up with annoying former office boy Roy Silver? He only calls her to put his own face in paper or get commission from boss for her contracts. Neighbor James and Charles can smooth her enquiries, but generally useless, especially her yearnings. Too bad I've read most of author's funny action "regency romances" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... under real name Marion Chesney https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Her Beaton alias Scottish Hamish Macbeth https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... tends, like Agatha, to fall into bed à la sixties temperament. I have to alternate, pause.Agatha interviews shapely suspect, professionally-sculpted Mrs Cutler, herself. The widow married three dying men. "Cancer. So sad. I nursed them devotedly" p 41. With this year's diagnosis of cancer for myself, I am failing miserably at avoiding the illness in fiction, always terminal. Ouch. Not done yet.James softens "My father died of a stroke and my mother of cancer". "So much cancer about", mourned Agatha, "I must give up smoking" p 145. But she doesn't. More ouches. We get sidetracked by Mrs Darcy and lookalike sister, alibis. (view spoiler)[ Killer is Guy, deliberately sleeping with Aggie to distract her. (hide spoiler)]
After just recently finishing the previous book in the series and being on a mystery binge I was quite interested in reading The Wellspring of Death. I was also a little bit apprehensive because I wasn't a huge fan of the previous book, Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist.In the Wellspring of Death Agatha is back at home in the Cotswolds so I was hoping that it would be a bit better than the previous book. Thankfully, it was because there were more of the familiar characters that I like and so it just felt more familiar and a more comfortable setting.Usually with this series it takes a while for the murder victim to show up, but in this instance it happened in the first few pages. From there Agatha was off and running on her murder investigation. I followed along with everything that was being presented and I had a specific person in mind for who the murderer was. Unfortunately I was wrong with my suspicions. I was a little disappointed with this just because I was really hoping that this one person had done it because I didn't particularly like their character. I did also feel like there were a couple of loose ends with that character that made them seem more suspicious.I did feel as though this book was quite a bit better than the previous one. A lot of the things that annoyed me about the previous book were not in this one. So, for now I think that I will pick up the next book in the future and see how I go from there. Overall, I do find the Agatha Raisin series to be quite a fun and interesting mystery series.
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Here she is again. Retired London PR executive Agatha who lives a quiet and secluded life (???) in a Cotswold village gets back into the business with a water company. And, surprise, surprise, a coupld of murders take place under her very nose. Flirtatious, jealous, cigarette-smoking, outspoken she may be but her charm remains and her penchant for sniffing out a villain is still there! With the aid of a friendly detective, an ex-colleague and her ever-present, or as the case may be, absent, heartthrob she eventually solves the mystery in the nick of time. Will she and James ever get together? Maybe, only time, and possibly future volumes, will tell!
—Gerry
In the nearby village of Ancombe there is a spring which runs through a garden and then into a drinking fountain. When a company wants to bottle and sell the water the parish council members are divided about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Agatha Raisin is asked to do the PR for the company as she lives locally. When a member of the parish council is found dead in the spring things threaten to go pear shaped.Naturally Agatha feels the need to get involved in the investigation into the murder and wonders whether this will be an opportunity for her to get on better terms again with her neighbour James Lacey. This is an amusing mystery with Agatha bumbling around in her usual fashion and uncovering things which may be relevant without realising their significance.All the favourite series characters are here – Bill Wong whose love life is continually sabotaged by his parents; former colleague and friend, Roy Silver; the imperturbable and compassionate vicar’s wife, Mrs Bloxby and the other villagers of Carsely. I found this entertaining and relaxing listening and Penelope Keith really does bring this audio book to life. It is her voice I hear when I read the books having listened to several of the audio books. The sound quality is excellent and this is light and easy listening.This review relates to the Audiogo recording of the unabridged book read by Penelope Keith. The book is just as good in paper or e-book format!
—Damaskcat
Book #7 in the Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton takes us back to the Cotswolds for another murder mystery. I started reading this series this year and I like it; I will certainly be looking for the next book in the series soon. The stories are short, entertaining brain candy. I am starting to feel like there's a lot of repetition in the stories and I'm not sure if I will still enjoy the series after 22+ books. Will Agatha ever make a wise decision in any matters outside of business?This book once more shows that these stories are a bit more violent than some of the other cozy mysteries I like to read, but overall it's an entertaining tale. Poor Agatha always seems to get herself in trouble and mortal danger in these books...interesting quote:"That woman has halitosis of the soul." (p. 156)
—Dolly
