Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #578173 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-26
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
"She was a stocky middle-aged woman with good legs, a round face and small bearlike eyes which looked suspiciously out at the world. Her hair had always been her pride, thick and brown and glossy."

That description, which could also fit Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, tells us almost everything we need to know about Agatha Raisin, M.C. Beaton's smartly updated Miss Marple, who does most of her amateur sleuthing amidst the glowing stone villages of England's Cotswold district. Cozy without being the least bit cute, Beaton's books about this tough little Raisin cookie are well-made and smoothly oiled entertainment machines, working unexpected changes on familiar turf.

It is indeed her prideful hair that leads Agatha onto the trail of murder in her eighth adventure, when a charming hairdresser called Mr. John repairs her disastrous home dye job, then makes what appear to be romantic overtures. Love will not blossom here though, as some time later Mr. John is discovered dead in his chair, the victim of a Christie-like rare poison. Was the hairdresser also a collector of dirty secrets? Or was his killer just having a bad hair day? Trust Agatha and Beaton to solve it all in style, complaining all the way of course.

Previous Agatha Raisin outings include Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage, and Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly
It doesn't take long for Agatha Raisin, the touchy heroine of the series of catty English cozies by the prolific Beaton (see Death of an Addict, above), to turn a bad hair day into a mini-crime wave. In an attempt to get rid of the gray, Agatha accidentally colors her hair purple. Soon she finds herself in the capable hands of Mr. John, a hairdresser with a devoted following in nearby Evesham. Tinting and styling aren't his only tricksAwith his deep blue eyes and sympathetic nature, he coaxes all sorts of confidences out of his clients. Even the tough Agatha half falls under his spell, although she has an excuse since she's heartsick over neighbor James Lacey, who's left her alone while he goes on holiday. But when several of Agatha's neighbors appear terrified of Mr. John, her fellow amateur sleuth Sir Charles suggestsAalmost hopefully, in his summer doldrumsAthat the hairdresser might be a blackmailer. Agatha agrees to set herself up to catch Mr. John in the act, but the suspect dies of poisoning before he can take the bait. Fearing she might be on a killer's shortlist herself, Agatha sets out to find the murderer. Beaton masterfully describes the annoyances and ego deflations suffered by the middle-aged Agatha, as well as the summertime blues caused by unusually hot weather. But the plot, which itself seems to suffer from heat exhaustion, isn't terribly plausible, and could have used a dose of the wide-eyed Detective Sergeant Bill Wong, who barely shows up here. Agatha's fans will take her any way they can get her, but they won't leave this one feeling fully satisfied.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
While her neighbor and sometime love interest James Lacey gallivants on the continent, Agatha (Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist, LJ 9/1/97) grows bored in the English village of Carsely. After witnessing the fearful reactions of several women to her choice of a talented and charismatic new hairdresser in nearby Evesham, she's ready to attach some nefarious plot to the man. With the help of friend Sir Charles, she begins nosing about, purposely leaving herself open to possible blackmail and economic exploitation. Her plans backfire when someone kills the hairdresser and torches his home. Another delightful cozy featuring Cotswolds surroundings, a bit of history, and buoyant characters, this will fit well in any collection.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable, Not Terrible
I enjoyed this installment of Agatha. If nothing else, we were spared the odious James this time round. I think Charles is better than him - at least he's true to a type! Agatha gets involved with a handsome hairdresser from a neighbouring village in this story. Then she finds out that he is not as he seems. She pieces together that he has been blackmailing middle-aged women. Agatha tries to prove the blackmail, but in the meantime Mr. John is poisoned. Agatha and Charles set out to find the killer. Agatha is really very appealing in this story. Her vulnerability is charming to me, as she tries to hide it in her usual bluster.

One-note Agatha Raisin
Though I remain a staunch supporter of the Agatha Raisin series, its plot staples (Agatha's unrequited love for James, her feeling displaced in the Cotswolds, her battles with weight and the signs of old age) are wearing thin. In the Wizard of Evesham, there is not even the tinge of humor that marked the first few entries in the Agatha series. I read this novel in the dashed hope that M C Beaton would finally make Agatha fuller character. Yet Agatha persists in coming across as two-dimensional, a cardboard cutout.

As for the "mystery," it fell flat. Rather than taking a truly active role in the storyline, Agatha blunders through the story. It hardly seems in character that a tough businesswoman would be such a victim in any aspect of her life. Elements from past novels were recycled (Agatha buying catered food, passing it off as her own. Agatha "solving" a crime by placing herself in the killer's hands.)

If Agatha must remain a cardboard figure, why not explore the lives of the others in the village of Carsley? Though the vicar's wife, Mrs. Bloxby, is made to seem a paragon of Christian charity and humility, I sense each time she appears a more sinister side could be lurking just beneath the surface. It is the mark of a truly poor book when a secondary character draws a reader's interest more than the titular main character.

Let's have more and BETTER Agatha Raisin.

Long suffering Agatha and Dear Reader
Although this book was a tad more cohesively written than the "wellspring of death", and the reappearance of Charles is less numbing than James, I, too am eager for Agatha to grow into a more self-aware and self-possessed woman. As a successful business-woman, she is entitled to more confidance about her own qualities and abilities, and if feels out-of-character for her to be so insecure about her person and her worth.