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A review by bookishrealm
The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton
4.0
What a pleasant surprise! I wasn't exactly going into this one thinking that I would enjoy it as much as I did. Please keep in mind that this book was originally published in 1992 so all the elements don't exactly age very well.
The Quiche of Death is the first in the Agatha Raisin series and follows a character of the same name who decides to give up her successful PR firm to move to a small town called Carsely. Trying to navigate her new town and the community, Agatha makes the decision to enter the local quiche competition except she decides to buy her quiche instead of making it from scratch. Unfortunately, someone in the town gets her leftovers and ends up dying. While she is initially a suspect and shunned by some members of the village, Agatha works hard to figure out who was truly responsible.
One of the highlights of this book is the character development. Agatha isn't a likeable character. In fact, I'll go as far to say that she's an asshole. Nevertheless, she's hilarious. There's quite a bit of dry humor that makes this book delightful. Not only does she have a lot going on in terms of her internal dialogue, but she also says whatever the hell she wants to anyone that she wants. It makes for tumultuous, yet funny relationships with other characters. What I did find is that there is a softer side to Agatha that may be revealed in future books. The hard external shell that she exhibits with everyone seems to alter when she gets the opportunity to feel comfortable and get to know people.
As expected, there wasn't a lot of "intense" action with the plot. It's pretty straight-forward although I did appreciate the fact that I didn't know who the killer was until the end of the story. I'm getting the feeling that a lot of these could be read as standalones. This book had a closed ending that didn't necessarily lend itself to a sequel; however, it did make me excited to see more of Agatha and how she will continue to grow and get to know more people in the village. Overall, this was a good start to a cozy mystery series. I'm looking forward to reading more in the future.
The Quiche of Death is the first in the Agatha Raisin series and follows a character of the same name who decides to give up her successful PR firm to move to a small town called Carsely. Trying to navigate her new town and the community, Agatha makes the decision to enter the local quiche competition except she decides to buy her quiche instead of making it from scratch. Unfortunately, someone in the town gets her leftovers and ends up dying. While she is initially a suspect and shunned by some members of the village, Agatha works hard to figure out who was truly responsible.
One of the highlights of this book is the character development. Agatha isn't a likeable character. In fact, I'll go as far to say that she's an asshole. Nevertheless, she's hilarious. There's quite a bit of dry humor that makes this book delightful. Not only does she have a lot going on in terms of her internal dialogue, but she also says whatever the hell she wants to anyone that she wants. It makes for tumultuous, yet funny relationships with other characters. What I did find is that there is a softer side to Agatha that may be revealed in future books. The hard external shell that she exhibits with everyone seems to alter when she gets the opportunity to feel comfortable and get to know people.
As expected, there wasn't a lot of "intense" action with the plot. It's pretty straight-forward although I did appreciate the fact that I didn't know who the killer was until the end of the story. I'm getting the feeling that a lot of these could be read as standalones. This book had a closed ending that didn't necessarily lend itself to a sequel; however, it did make me excited to see more of Agatha and how she will continue to grow and get to know more people in the village. Overall, this was a good start to a cozy mystery series. I'm looking forward to reading more in the future.