Reviews

The book starts with the protagonist looking to hire a young girl for her detective agency to make her take the lost pet cases and then she proceeds to moan about all the fat girls and one anorexic that came in “dressed in black leather like in Charlie’s Angels.” (Such a super timely reference even when the book first came out /sarcasm) And then the author then proceeds to describe every woman who appears on page as either a bitch or old whore. And you also get to hear about workplace sexual harassment that the author tries to pass off as “tee hee! Aren’t men funny and gross?!”

The author seems like an absolutely miserable asshole who needed to work through her internalized misogyny while she was still alive. DNF’d 20 minutes in.

Content Warnings

carolinajane's review against another edition

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funny mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Enjoyable background book while I did holiday errands and decorated. Didn’t pay too much attention and was shocked when the book ended. I do think I’ve seen this episode so that was fun. Also liked reading about her getting Toni to join the agency, her origin story!

eggcellent_reads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nicolamichelle's review

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5.0

This was my first venture into an Agatha Raisin book and I loved it! I was aware that I was joining a book series some way in and having never read them before, I thought I might be at a slight disadvantage of not knowing any of the characters however quickly grew to learning them all and getting a feel for all their personalities. It was written in such a way where I didn’t feel like I’d lost out not reading any of the others.

I loved Agatha’s character and quickly grew to respect the fiercely independent women. I loved that we got to read about her thoughts, her insecurities and found her to be very relatable. I really enjoyed the whole story and of course, the murder mystery and whodunnit aspect but also the sprinklings of Christmas within the book.

Now I’ve been thoroughly introduced to the characters, I can’t wait to read more of these books and get to know them more. I’m definitely going to start collecting the rest of this series now!

nicrtay's review against another edition

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4.0

Being a huge fan of Marion Chesney, I figured I would give Agatha Raisin another shot after not being too enthralled with my first introduction to it last year. Although I enjoyed it much more this time around and will eventually continue, I won't be wholly chomping at the bit.

Despite them seeming on the surface like brother-sister series, I really don't get the same vibes at all between this series and the Hamish Macbeth series. As a matter of opinion, I don't think I would have even recognized them as sharing an author. While Hamish is more light-hearted and innocent (for a murder mystery), Agatha Raisin shares more of the vulgarity and boldness of Chesney's Edwardian mysteries, despite the vastly different setting.

As I said, I will eventually want to read more. I want to find out more about Agatha's past employees and her fickle relationship with James.

I guess we'll see.

strawberrysundaygirl's review against another edition

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1.0

if you hate women this is the perfect book for you

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