Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye

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Gli ingredienti per un gradevole romanzo, ci sono tutti: una famiglia disfunzionale, un vecchio maniero, un omicidio con la cicuta e un altro assai improbabile. The detective agency starts digging around (literally) and they come up with several suspects and lots of trouble. She is involved in a case where someone has ostensibly murdered an obnoxious old woman with four obnoxious adult children. Certes, au bout de 18 tomes, on connaît la chanson : Agatha Raisin a le crime dans la peau et dénoue les enquêtes sans aucune délicatesse et avec beaucoup de chance. La jeune fille vient de décrocher le poste de stagiaire pour seconder Agatha Raisin à retrouver les chiens et chats perdus.

The case is solved of course and the epilogue finds Agatha hosting a big Christmas feast for everyone which is more of a success than the disastrous Christmas dinner that ended the previous book. Read all Agatha's in need of a well-earned break and with Christmas just around the corner it looks like the perfect opportunity to relax. Who in this rather sterile house, complete with fake family portraits, could have hated the old lady enough to poison her? Even the murder of a Mrs Tamworthy, poisoned with hemlock, does little to distract her and yet it should, as Mrs Tamworthy had written to Agatha, telling her that one of her family wanted to see her dead before the year was out.

I'm continuing to enjoy the fun of these cozies which are somewhat different from the TV-series which I saw first. Her biggest hope is that her ex James Lacey will be back in the village in time for the celebration. Toni comes from a very troubled family and Agatha despite her gruff exterior does have a heart, she takes Toni under her wing and does her best to help her get settled away from her awful mother and brother. In Agatha-vein quite a few odd happenings and developments, and yet the story did not come to a crawl like in some of the books.

There is a hint of depth there, a kernel of a much more interesting personality, but it was never developed in this book. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. Agatha sets out to find the murderer, all the while managing a pretty, teenage trainee who makes her feel old and planning for a picture-perfect Christmas, with James, all the trimmings, and perhaps even snow.

Her books feel more domestic and cozy, yet she touches on tough topics without caring to deal with them. Jumping into a series on book eighteen is a bit crazy, but this fit a prompt for a challenge so I went for it. Agatha, her trusty sidekick, Sir Charles, a new young woman, Toni - I do hope Toni will stay, have a feeling she would be too much competition for our redoubtable detective.