Down the Hatch: An Agatha Raisin Mystery: 32

Product Information

May I take that, please, sir?” Bill Wong stepped between Agatha and his boss, carefully grasping the very top of the bottle with his white-gloved fingers. “Forensics will want to take a look at it. Mrs. Raisin, Constable Peters is ready to take a statement from you now.” Down the Hatch is a classic English mystery set in a village in the Cotswolds, and the first death occurs at the local bowling club. Who knew bowlers were such a feisty lot? Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green--with the body of an old man lying at their feet. I had already reviewed Down the Hatch in its audiobook edition, but as I had it on hold at the library as the hardcover as well, I thought that I'd give it another view. This was primarily to confirm my impressions that I had from the audiobook that R.W. Green had done a reasonable job in stepping into M.C. Beaton's (aka Marion Chesney's) (1936-2019) shoes in this continuation series. Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green — with the body of an old man lying at their feet.

My wife collapsed,' he explained, then nodded towards the figure lying on the grass, 'when she saw him.' Butterfly-printed skirt"? Has this author understood anything about the main character? The fun of Agatha is in experiencing things with her,yet this author tells us about situations instead of walking through them. Which makes it hard for the fan/reader to miss that all of the scenes here have been covered in previous M.C. Beaton tales. (Hmm, where have we seen Agatha stalk a smuggler through the brush? Or confront someone mistreating animals? Or ... ) She lives in the village of Carsely, but her detective agency Raisin Investigations and the police headquarters where Bill Wong is based are in the nearby town of Mircester. Even though Carsely and Mircester are fictional, they are based on true places; she does, however frequent Evesham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden and other nearby villages quite often. Agatha's first case came when she first moved to Carsely and heard about a quiche competition. She promptly bought a spinach quiche in London from a famous quiche shop and entered it as her own. She was outraged she did not win but later the judge, Reg Cummings-Browne, took another slice and died from cowbane poisoning. Frustrated, Agatha set out to find the poisoner and clear her own name. As usual Agatha’s love life is a mess. Still contending with her feelings for Sir Charles Fraith and next-door neighbor James Lacey, she must also fend off the unwanted advances of the new coroner.Raisin has been played by Penelope Keith on BBC Radio 4, and by Ashley Jensen in the television series Agatha Raisin. The pilot aired on Sky 1 in December 2014. [1] A full 8-part series, filmed during 2015, began airing on Sky 1 in June 2016. For series 2, the format was changed from 45-minute episodes to two 90-minute TV movies. Series 3 premiered on 28 October 2019 and the four stories retained the 90-minute format. [2] Character [ edit ] Neatly done, Bill, Agatha thought to herself, glowering at Wilkes before walking over to talk to Alice.

We can’t rule out anything, Agatha, but it doesn’t look like murder.” He waved her away and headed towards the pavilion. “I don’t know how many times I’ve said this in the past, but I’m saying it again now. You have to leave this to the police. You really mustn’t get involved. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. You’ve given your statement. If we need anything else from you, either Alice or I will be in touch.” Well.” Agatha noted the venom in the man’s voice. “He doesn’t have much to say for himself any more, does he?”

Find a Book

Green...ably continues the adventures of private detective Agatha Raisin, thorn in the side of conservative Cotswold society, in the diverting 32nd installment of this bestselling series...The prose sparkles as usual." A handful of other white-clad figures now appeared, drifting hesitantly across the grass like ghosts come to claim one of their own. There were gasps of horror and some quiet offers of help. Agatha's character in the TV series, as played by Ashley Jensen, is notably different to her depiction in the novels: she is less bitter and more vulnerable than the version in the books. [5] Other characters from the novels and some of the relationships between them are also notably different in the TV series, making the cast more of an ensemble. [5] Novels [ edit ] The tale comes closer to classic Agatha in the middle, pushing the rating closer to 3 stars, but rushes through multiple story lines at the end, delivering outcomes as faits accompli rather than developing the events or bringing the reader along through the investigation. Charles knows how to sweet-talk and how to get around Agatha, he would not ambush her, with Gustav and Charles' Aunt playing support staff in tandem. Both would prime Agatha in advance if they wanted to support Charles' schemes.

My wife collapsed,” he explained, then nodded towards the figure lying on the grass, “when she saw him.”

M. C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin is a fictional detective in a series of humorous mystery novels, originally written by Marion Chesney using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton. Chesney's friend Rod W. Green took over as writer with Hot to Trot. The books are published in the U.K. by Constable & Robinson and in the US by St. Martin's Press. Roy Silver - former co-worker from the public relations firm Agatha previously owned, he regularly visits and helps with some of the investigations. I’ve really no idea, Alice,” Agatha admitted. “I heard that lady scream and rushed in here to find her in a swoon and a corpse on the bowling green.” Un grido spezza la quiete di Mircester e la camminata di salute che Agatha Raisin sta facendo nella pausa pranzo. Sono stati i signori Swinburn a gridare e ne avevano ben davanti a loro, disteso sull’erba, c’è infatti il cadavere di un uomo. Si chiamava Harold Nelson, però tutti lo conoscevano come l’Ammiraglio, ed era noto non soltanto per la sua passione per le bocce, ma soprattutto per la sua spiccata tendenza ad alzare il gomito in ogni occasione, pubblica e privata.

I loved everything about the book - the story, the characters, the setting, the book cover and the audiobook narrator. The whole book is a huge delight and R W Green has done a wonderful job in continuing and expanding on the work of our beloved M C Beaton. I read the very first in this series, The Quiche of Death, many years ago and didn't like it at all. Then a few years ago I came across another Agatha Raisin, I can't remember what it was called, but I quite enjoyed it and have been dipping in and out of this series ever since. As with the last one, it’s a perfectly fine book with perfectly fine characters. If I wasn’t looking for Agatha Raisin (and seriously you can just pretend it’s not an Agatha book), I would have likely been satisfied with a perfectly kind and benign little cozy.

I didn’t actually find the body,” Agatha began, “but I was walking through the park—I’ve been going for midday walks to help me stay trim—when I heard a horrible scream. At first I thought…” Rev. Alf Bloxby - Vicar of Carsely with a unique disdain towards Agatha. Hates Agatha, even though she has helped him when he had a crisis of faith and also when he was accused of murder. Also dislikes many of his own parishioners. One enjoyable surprise was the scene between Agatha and Detective Wilkes' mother. That's worth the price of admission, as is Agatha's confrontation of Bill's parents. In all, it is a promising continuation of the series and I look forward to reading the next installment.