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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overview
I haven't read one of these books in a while and I looked back at the last one I read which was the Walkers of Dembley. I had issues with that and it's views towards race and feminism and I believe rape. It was problematic and outdated. Now these were written in the 90s so I get the difference is that it is now 2020. However, this book also had moments of "oh no, not good." It is very outdated. Now Agatha Christie has this issue too because she wrote even earlier but there is enough in a AC book that makes up for it, namely a good plot and likeable characters. The Agatha Raisin books don't. The characters are mostly deeply unlikeable and the plot is sort of there?? But this particular one wraps up in about 10 pages in the last 20 pages and there is so little build up or anything.
These are the definition of popcorn books.
I haven't read one of these books in a while and I looked back at the last one I read which was the Walkers of Dembley. I had issues with that and it's views towards race and feminism and I believe rape. It was problematic and outdated. Now these were written in the 90s so I get the difference is that it is now 2020. However, this book also had moments of "oh no, not good." It is very outdated. Now Agatha Christie has this issue too because she wrote even earlier but there is enough in a AC book that makes up for it, namely a good plot and likeable characters. The Agatha Raisin books don't. The characters are mostly deeply unlikeable and the plot is sort of there?? But this particular one wraps up in about 10 pages in the last 20 pages and there is so little build up or anything.
These are the definition of popcorn books.
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a slight disappointment. The series seems to have lost its spirit and this installment is somewhat depressing. It is hard to keep rooting for the main character in the midst of all her angst.
OK so this is about an unlikeable, whingy, rich white woman and her tendency to hang out with a completely odious, emotionally abusive (in the push-pull sense) richer white male privileged aristocrat. Agatha is a self-pitying, image obsessed, lazy (that part was a bit fun), bored woman who solves murders as a hobby because her life has no more meaningful activity (seemingly) than going to the hairdresser all the time.
She feel depressed a lot. I am not surprised. Her cynicism, narcissm, absolute lack of engagement with humanity is trumped only by the horrid meanness of the males she chooses to devote all her mental energy on. She sort of has a female friend, on the periphery of her life but she is ridiculously dependant on her odious friend Charles who takes every opportunity of insulting her intelligence or appearance casually, ignoring or trivialising her emotional needs...oh and occasionally sleeping with her or getting in the way of her other possibilities for love.
Agatha is determinedly and desperately heterosexual in a book where all males seem to be emotionally stunted, manipulative, selfish and not even much to look at. If she was the only female character like that I guess you could call it a "character flaw" which can be a sign of well-rounded writing but the whole book is strewn with females who define a "good" husband as one who is only emotionally abusive and only makes them feel incompetent and ugly rather than all out beats them up. You also find bitter divorced women who want the awful husband back because being alone is so awful.
I am not saying the lot of them should turn gay (necessarily), I am just saying maybe instead of mooning over awful men they could do something meaningful or fun.
The mystery itself was also unsatisfactory. It was predictable, so predictable that I thought what I saw was a clever red herring. No, it was the actual solution (yawn). The murder victim was toxic and you can't help feeling glad he was dead, somehow they managed to make the murderer almost as unlikeable as him which was quite a feat. I shared Agatha's lack of emotional connection with the case but found it hard to believe that sexual frustration and boredom would lead someone to go to those lengths to solve a crime (risking being arrested on numerous occasions and even death).
The horribly patronising Charles encourages her "hobby" while undermining any opportunity for her to take any self-esteem from her success. The only slightly redeeming feature here was there were a couple of almost snide sections where Charles' horribleness was maybe portrayed with less than sympathy from the author and that he wasn't correct at the end in any of his know-it-all comments. I had a horrid suspicion about half-way through the book when Charles was being dismissive (as usual) of Agatha's thinking that he was going to be right and she wrong about the murderer at which point I would have thrown the book across the room and given it one star. It gets 2 mainly because Agatha at least solved the crime (then to be humiliated in various ways and the reader deprived of a triumphant finish).
If you really hate women you will love this book. If you really hate men you can read it to have your hatred confirmed. If you have any inkling of liking for humanity there are better books out there.
Next time I will look for a (female) detective who may be flawed but has some family or friends and a life that is more than hairdressing appointments, smoking and wishing she had a man.
She feel depressed a lot. I am not surprised. Her cynicism, narcissm, absolute lack of engagement with humanity is trumped only by the horrid meanness of the males she chooses to devote all her mental energy on. She sort of has a female friend, on the periphery of her life but she is ridiculously dependant on her odious friend Charles who takes every opportunity of insulting her intelligence or appearance casually, ignoring or trivialising her emotional needs...oh and occasionally sleeping with her or getting in the way of her other possibilities for love.
Agatha is determinedly and desperately heterosexual in a book where all males seem to be emotionally stunted, manipulative, selfish and not even much to look at. If she was the only female character like that I guess you could call it a "character flaw" which can be a sign of well-rounded writing but the whole book is strewn with females who define a "good" husband as one who is only emotionally abusive and only makes them feel incompetent and ugly rather than all out beats them up. You also find bitter divorced women who want the awful husband back because being alone is so awful.
I am not saying the lot of them should turn gay (necessarily), I am just saying maybe instead of mooning over awful men they could do something meaningful or fun.
The mystery itself was also unsatisfactory. It was predictable, so predictable that I thought what I saw was a clever red herring. No, it was the actual solution (yawn). The murder victim was toxic and you can't help feeling glad he was dead, somehow they managed to make the murderer almost as unlikeable as him which was quite a feat. I shared Agatha's lack of emotional connection with the case but found it hard to believe that sexual frustration and boredom would lead someone to go to those lengths to solve a crime (risking being arrested on numerous occasions and even death).
The horribly patronising Charles encourages her "hobby" while undermining any opportunity for her to take any self-esteem from her success. The only slightly redeeming feature here was there were a couple of almost snide sections where Charles' horribleness was maybe portrayed with less than sympathy from the author and that he wasn't correct at the end in any of his know-it-all comments. I had a horrid suspicion about half-way through the book when Charles was being dismissive (as usual) of Agatha's thinking that he was going to be right and she wrong about the murderer at which point I would have thrown the book across the room and given it one star. It gets 2 mainly because Agatha at least solved the crime (then to be humiliated in various ways and the reader deprived of a triumphant finish).
If you really hate women you will love this book. If you really hate men you can read it to have your hatred confirmed. If you have any inkling of liking for humanity there are better books out there.
Next time I will look for a (female) detective who may be flawed but has some family or friends and a life that is more than hairdressing appointments, smoking and wishing she had a man.
This case is different then some of the other Agatha raisin novels. Aggie suspects her hairdresser is a blackmailer and wants to prove her suspcions. Then later he is murdered. She and Colin fraith are tracking down a murdered amongst all his victims. Aggie grows on you. I feel like I have been binge listening to the audio books. Ready for #9
I enjoyed this addition to the series. I could have done with more focus on some of the other characters.
I enjoyed this book more than the last because it kept James Lacey to a minimum.