Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this eighth book of this contemporary cozy mystery series, the indomitable Agatha Raisin is still trying to meld into village life in the Cotswalds. It is still slow going, as her insecurities still often get the best of her. Agatha is a menopausal woman in her fifties who is trying to look her best and, despite the encroachment of the aging process, still wants men to find her attractive. This can often lead to missteps by our feisty heroine, as when she tries to wash the gray right out of her hair and ends up with purple hair.

What is a girl to do? Well, Agatha turns to Mr. John, the much in demand hairdresser in the nearby village of Eversham, to rectify the situation. When she meets Mr. John, he actually succeeds in fixing her hair problem, and she, too, falls under the spell of his blue eyes and his charmingly, reassuring manner that inspires cozy confidences. Poor Agatha, she always seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places.

When some clients seem to be afraid of this hair wizard, Agatha's friend, Sir Charles Fraith, suggests that perhaps that those cozy confidences are simply the basis for some sort of blackmail by Mr. John. A concerned Agatha then decides to look into these allegations of blackmail, but before it bears fruit, the hair wizard of Eversham dies under mysterious circumstances, poisoned.

What follows is typical Agatha Raisin. There are many twists and turns, as Agatha, our ever engaging heroine, bumbles along as she tries to discover just who is up to no good. Her investigatory efforts, however, land her and Sir Charles Fraith in a bit of a pickle, as they themselves suspects in the murder of the wizard of Eversham. Moreover, just when Agatha thinks that her hair trouble is behind her, insult is added to injury when the actual murderer catches up with her.

As with all cozy mysteries, the mystery is secondary to the evolvement of the recurring characters and the ordinary discourse of life that binds them. As always, the dialogue is laced with humor and moves the plot along at a brisk pace, and the book is peppered with a host of interesting, quirky characters that entertain the reader. This is a highly addictive series that makes the reader race off to get the next volume.

M. C. Beaton is one of my favourite authors. Her Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin mysteries seem to go on and on and I can't wait for the next one. I am collecting all her mysteries. They are fun, consistent and easy to read.

Agatha Raisin's love life is in a mess . . . even though she's found a great hair dresser, Mr. John (the wizard of Evesham). James Lacey is away and isn't staying in touch. Mr. John is quite delicious in Agatha's eyes, but the frightened reactions of other women to Mr. John's name make Agatha suspicious. Out on a date with Mr. John, she finds her resistance melting. But Sir Charles Fraith (whom she saved from death in Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley and with whom she had a one-night stand in Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist) also wants to date "Aggie" and talks her into a joint investigation of Mr. John. Soon, Agatha is extravagantly throwing money and herself at the wizard . . . but she has some benefit because her hair has never looked better.

All of this fun is interrupted when Mr. John is poisoned. Agatha and Charles up their investigations . . . and also draw danger to themselves. They also draw more than the usual ire from the police, including Bill Wong who is being watched very carefully lest he play favorites with Agatha.

This is a confused Agatha. She makes fewer good decisions than usual and is clearly adrift emotionally. For those who like to think of Agatha as the next thing to Super Woman, this book will be a disappointment. If you don't like hair-based humor, this book also won't excite you.

Part of the appeal in this book comes from knowing how attached some women get to a given hairdresser. Turning that sometime attachment into a humorous mystery story is a good idea.

Detecting with Sir Charles isn't quite as much fun as detecting with a friendly James Lacey. There are also fewer romantic dreams for Agatha to relate. Instead, she's starting to wonder if she's just a dowdy middle-aged woman, despite younger men paying attention. I felt sorry for Agatha, and that made me realize that the character development was working for me. Before this book, I thought of Agatha as an interesting character rather than as a character I related to. In this book, the barrier finally dropped for me.

I read this book in two sittings, and it's the first I've read in the series. Honestly, I love M.C. Beaton now. So, I went and bought a bunch of Raisin Novels.

Strangely, I found 3 typographical errors in the novel, which seemed strange, as I wonder who proofed the work before publishing, but it was very minor errors like, "I think you're silly," sad Agatha. Instead, it should have been "said".

One thinks with everything done now in Windows, when you hit "spell check," it's only going to find misspellings...not incorrect words.

Other than that, it was a fantastic read !!!

Mike

In the 8th book in the Agatha Raisin series, Agatha turns to a "wizard of a hairdresser" to repair the damage she has caused to her hair with a home coloring kit. The hairdresser, Mr. John, is good-looking and quickly charms all of his clients. Agatha soon falls under his spell, and spills her confidences to him. When several of his clients appear to be afraid of him, and then he is found dead, Agatha begins to be suspicious that he was murdered. Sir Charles Fraith, a friend of Agatha's from previous books, suggests to Agatha that Mr. John may have been blackmailing some clients, and one of them killed him to stop the blackmail. Agatha and Charles set out to discover the murderer, before Agatha gets more than just a bad haircut.

I am a huge fan of the Agatha Raisin series and I highly enjoyed this installment. Noticeably absent in this book is Agatha's on-again, off-again love interest, James Lacey and I since I am not a huge fan of his character, I was glad he was on holiday. Overall, this is a wonderful book to read if you like cozy mysteries, or want to laugh aloud at some of the troubles with being a middle-aged, single woman.

The first book in the series is "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death". Enjoy!

I enjoyed this installment of Agatha. If nothing else, we were spared the odious James this time round. I think Charles is better than him - at least he's true to a type! Agatha gets involved with a handsome hairdresser from a neighbouring village in this story. Then she finds out that he is not as he seems. She pieces together that he has been blackmailing middle-aged women. Agatha tries to prove the blackmail, but in the meantime Mr. John is poisoned. Agatha and Charles set out to find the killer. Agatha is really very appealing in this story. Her vulnerability is charming to me, as she tries to hide it in her usual bluster.

This book was really great and it seemed to loose something at the end.

I love all the characters Agatha Raisin is in contact with.

Ok, Agatha is not perfect. She is still too obsessed with James Lacey and keeps on getting together (for a night at least) with that idiot, Sir Charles Fraith. She has her faults but these books are just plain funny. I love Agatha! I laughed out loud at the end of the story (don't want to give away the surprise ending) and eagerly look forward to move visits to Carsely. By the way, has anyone else noticed how the spelling of this village seems to change... Sometimes its Carsley, sometimes Carsely.... in the same book!

I was not impressed with this latest Agatha Raisin mystery. M.C. Beaton seemed to be writing to fulfill a contract. I found the book to be predictable, the obsession with James wearying--especially since he was nowhere to be found in the book--and quite a few loose ends that were never tied together. Agatha seemed to have lost her spunk. I hope the next Agatha gives us a little more!

Although this book was a tad more cohesively written than the "wellspring of death", and the reappearance of Charles is less numbing than James, I, too am eager for Agatha to grow into a more self-aware and self-possessed woman. As a successful business-woman, she is entitled to more confidance about her own qualities and abilities, and if feels out-of-character for her to be so insecure about her person and her worth.