Love, Lies and
Liquor
An Agatha Raisin Mystery
M. C. Beaton
St. Martin's
Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-34910-6 (0312349106)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-34910-3 (978312349103)
Publication Date: September 2006
List Price: $22.95
Synopsis
(from
the
publisher): Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective
agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society, she still
misses her ex-husband, James Lacey, so she welcomes his return to the
cottage next door with her usual triumph of optimism over
experience---especially when he invites her on holiday at a surprise
location that was once very dear to him. With visions of a romantic
hideaway in Italy or the Pacific dancing in her head, Agatha goes off
happily with James to ... Snoth-on-Sea, in Sussex.
While James may have fond memories of boyhood holidays there,
Snoth-on-Sea has seen better days, as has the once-grand Palace Hotel,
now run-down and tacky and freezing cold. Nor do the other guests have
much to recommend them, especially the brassy honeymoon couple, Mr. and
Mrs. Jankers, who pick a fight with Agatha in the dining room. But
trouble has a way of following Agatha even if romance does not: Just as
she and James are preparing to flee to warmer climes, Geraldine Jankers
is found dead on the beach---strangled with Agatha's scarf. So much for
Agatha's holiday fantasies: Not only is it time to put her detective
skills to work, but the police are not even sure that she'll be allowed
to leave town.
Review: Love, Lies and Liquor
is the 17th mystery in this long-running mystery series by M. C. Beaton
featuring private investigator Agatha Raisin.
Agatha thinks she's off on a romantic holiday with ex-husband James,
but the resort town on the south English coast to which he takes them
has seen better days and the hotel at which they are staying seems to
be literally falling into the sea. After one of the guests is murdered
in the middle of the night, Agatha finds herself initially accused of
the crime
when her scarf is used as the murder weapon. Hired by the dead woman's
husband to locate the killer, Agatha learns there is no shortage of
suspects who would have liked to see the obnoxious woman dead.
Love, Lies and
Liquor is more about Agatha lamenting the sad state of her
love life than about Agatha discovering the circumstances surrounding a
mysterious death. The important men in her life take her for granted,
and what's worse, she seems to allow it to happen. For an investigator
who should know better, she agrees to meet a total stranger for dinner,
a good-looking man who happens to be dressed smartly, and even that
date ends with disastrous results. To say she has problems with the
opposite sex would be an understatement.
But there's still that unsolved murder, and though the police are
willing to close the case, Agatha isn't. Through sheer determination,
and what seems to be more than a little bit of good fortune, she
manages to name the guilty party.
Beaton is among the best authors of the traditional mystery and Agatha
Raisin typifies the modern English village sleuth. But Love, Lies and Liquor
strays a bit too far off course here. Agatha needs to spend more time
thinking about her case than considering when, where, and with whom
she'll be able to wear her filmy clothes.
Special
thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur
for providing a copy of
Love, Lies and Liquor for
this review.
Review
Copyright
© 2006 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books
Mysteries
in this series by M. C. Beaton:
Agatha
Raisin and the Quiche of Death
St. Martin's Press (1992)
ISBN: 0-312-08153-7 (0312081537)
Agatha
Raisin and the Vicious Vet
St. Martin's Press (1993)
ISBN: 0-312-09242-3 (0312092423)
Agatha
Raisin and the Potted Gardener
St. Martin's Press (1994)
ISBN: 0-312-10927-X (031210927X)
Agatha
Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley
St. Martin's Press (1995)
ISBN: 0-312-11738-8 (0312117388)
Agatha
Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
St. Martin's Press (1996)
ISBN: 0-312-14538-1 (0312145381)
Agatha
Raisin and the Terrible Tourist
St. Martin's Press (1997)
ISBN: 0-312-16761-X (031216761X)
Agatha
Raisin and the Wellspring of Death
St. Martin's Press (1998)
ISBN: 0-312-18523-5 (0312185235)
Agatha
Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham
St. Martin's Press (1999)
ISBN: 0-312-19822-1 (0312198221)
Agatha
Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden
St. Martin's Minotaur (1999)
ISBN: 0-312-20494-9 (0312204949)
Agatha
Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam
St. Martin's Minotaur (2000)
ISBN: 0-312-20496-5 (0312204965)
Agatha
Raisin and the Love from Hell
St. Martin's Press (2001)
ISBN: 0-312-20766-2 (0312207662)
Agatha
Raisin and the Day the Floods Came
St. Martin's Minotaur (2002)
ISBN: 0-312-20767-0 (0312207670)
Agatha
Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate
St. Martin's Minotaur (2003)
ISBN: 0-312-20768-9 (0312207689)
Agatha
Raisin and the Haunted House
St. Martin's Minotaur (2003)
ISBN: 0-312-20769-7 (0312207697)
The
Deadly Dance
St. Martin's Minotaur (2004)
ISBN: 0-312-30436-6 (0312304366)
Agatha
Raisin and the Perfect Paragon
St. Martin's Minotaur (2005)
ISBN: 0-312-30448-X (031230448X)
Love,
Lies and Liquor
St. Martin's Minotaur (2006)
ISBN: 0-312-34910-6 (0312349106)
Omnimystery
keywords for Love,
Lies and Liquor
...
Locations referenced:
Brighton, Sussex, Cotswolds.