Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came
Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2003-10-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312985868

Tetchy Agatha Raisn's attempt at a little R&R in the wake of her beloved husband's defection to a French monastery gets her revved up for another mystery when she hears that a fellow vactioner was murdered.

The Perfect Paragon

The Perfect Paragon
Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2005-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312304485

Agatha is hired to prove that a man's wife is cheating and then hired by the wife to prove that she did not poison her husband.

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came
Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429901608

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series—now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television. Marital bliss was short-lived for Agatha Raisin. Her marriage to James Lacey was a disaster from the beginning, and in the end, he left her-not for another woman, but for God. After having been miraculously cured of a brain tumor, James has decided to join a monastery in France. Agatha can usually depend on her old friend, Sir Charles Fraith, to be there when times are tough, but even Charles has abandoned her, dashing off to Paris to marry a young French tart. Miserable and alone, Agatha hops on a plane and heads for a remote island in the South Pacific. To Agatha's surprise, she makes friends with her fellow travelers easily, and keeps herself out of mischief, despite the odd feeling she gets from one particularly attractive honeymooning couple. But when she later finds that the pretty bride has drowned under suspicious circumstances, Agatha wishes she had found a way to intervene. Returning home to the Cotswolds, Agatha is grimly determined to move on with her life and to forget about James and Charles. They have, after all, forgotten about her. And what better way than to throw herself into another murder investigation? A woman, dressed in a wedding gown and still clutching her bouquet, has just been found floating in a river. The police say it's suicide, but Agatha suspects the girl's flashy young fiancé. With the help of her handsome, and single, new neighbor, Agatha sets off to prove the police wrong.

Reading the Cozy Mystery

Reading the Cozy Mystery
Author: Phyllis M. Betz
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2021-02-23
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1476677271

With their intimate settings, subdued action and likeable characters, cozy mysteries are rarely seen as anything more than light entertainment. The cozy, a subgenre of crime fiction, has been historically misunderstood and often overlooked as the subject of serious study. This anthology brings together a groundbreaking collection of essays that examine the cozy mystery from a range of critical viewpoints. The authors engage with the standard classification of a cozy, the characters who appear in its pages, the environment where the crime occurs and how these elements reveal the cozy story's complexity in surprising ways. Essays analyze cozy mysteries to argue that Agatha Christie is actually not a cozy writer; that Columbo fits the mold of the cozy detective; and that the stories' portrayals of settings like the quaint English village reveal a more complicated society than meets the eye.

Agatha's First Case

Agatha's First Case
Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2015-08-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250084318

New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin—now the star of a hit show on Acorn TV and public television—is beloved by millions and this short story takes readers back to where it all began with Agatha's first case. At age twenty six, Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the Birmingham slum where she was born. She's lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her drunken husband, and found a job at a public relations office as a secretary. Then her boss asks Agatha to go to the home of Brian Devese to tell him that he is soon going to be arrested for the murder of his wife and that the agency no longer wants to represent him. Brian, impressed with the pugnacious Agatha, asks her to handle PR for him and even offers her an office and tells her she can hire a staff. Certainly the best thing Agatha can do for her first client is to find out who really murdered his wife and clear his name. And with her wits and gumption, Agatha sets out to do just that.

Cozy Case Files, Volume 16

Cozy Case Files, Volume 16
Author: Donna Andrews
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2022-08-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250881870

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of seven charming cozy mysteries publishing in Fall 2022 for free for easy sampling. The sixteenth edition of Cozy Case Files features cozies by the following authors: Diane Kelly, Mindy Quigley, Korina Moss, Elizabeth Penney, M. C. Beaton with R. W. Green, Carolyn Haines, and Donna Andrews. Ready for your cozy-themed Fall vacation? Hit the road and head to the Blue Ridge Mountains in A Trip with Trouble, where life in the fast lane could end in a crash. Forgot your snacks? Check out Six Feet Deep Dish and the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry to a series: Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and murder. Double down on the cheese in Gone for Gouda, where things are going from gouda to bad to ugly for the local cheesemonger. Fancy a trip across the pond? In A Treacherous Tale, visit an English bookshop with a habit of bookmarking trouble. Or tag along in Devil’s Delight, where there’s a dead body... if Agatha Raisin can find it before she’s the next one to disappear. Love Christmas? In Bones of Holly, a library decorating contest leads to a deep dive into the history of Bay St. Louis and Al Capone. Finish the season in Dashing Through the Snowbirds. Can Meg Langslow crack the case in time to keep the Yuletide bright?

Cozy Case Files, A Cozy Mystery Sampler, Volume 13

Cozy Case Files, A Cozy Mystery Sampler, Volume 13
Author: Donna Andrews
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250840945

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of seven charming cozy mysteries publishing in Fall 2021 for free for easy sampling. The thirteenth edition of Cozy Case Files features the latest cozies by the following authors: Ellie Alexander, Donna Andrews, M. C. Beaton with R. W. Green, Jane K. Cleland, Jess Dylan, Elizabeth Penney, and Diane Kelly. Dip into two series debuts! In Chapter and Curse, follow Molly Kimball as she heads to Cambridge, England to help run the family bookshop. In Getaway with Murder, Misty Murphy celebrates her fiftieth birthday by ending her marriage, emptying both her nest and her bank account, and purchasing a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Spring has arrived in Leavenworth, Washington in The Cure for What Ales You, and despite the festive spirit Slone Krause is brewing over her past. And speaking of things in bloom, Petals and Poison returns readers to a flower shop with a knack for attracting trouble as well as customers. Beloved heroine Agatha Raisin is back in Down the Hatch, where a newfound hobby, power-walking, leads Agatha to a dead body and right into her newest case. In Jane Austen’s Lost Letters, Josie Prescott comes across two undiscovered letters, under mysterious circumstances, written by the beloved novelist. Finish by getting in the holiday spirit in The Twelve Jays of Christmas, where a snowstorm brings to light not only a murder, but an elopement within the Langslow family.

Cozy Case Files, Volume 19

Cozy Case Files, Volume 19
Author: Ellie Alexander
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2023-08-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 125033098X

Looking for a new cozy series? In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of eight charming cozy mysteries publishing in Fall 2023 for free for easy sampling. The nineteenth edition of Cozy Case Files features cozies from the following authors: Ellie Alexander, Donna Andrews, M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green, Cate Conte, Celeste Connally, Diane Kelly, Korina Moss, and Elizabeth Penney. Check out the historical series debut Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, it’s Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie. Find out what in the bleu blazes is happening in Case of the Bleus. Or discover if an arrow really did go astray in Dead on Target. Who doesn’t love a good holiday? Don’t be a scaredy cat around Halloween and read Nine Lives and Alibis. Or double, double, toil and truffle in Catch Me if You Candy. Celebrate Guy Fawkes Night across the pond in The Fatal Folio. A fire and a hot beverage make the perfect pairing for these Christmas mysteries: Snow Place for Murder and Let it Crow! Let it Crow! Let it Crow!

Hasty Death

Hasty Death
Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429902736

Eager to join the working classes, Lady Rose Summer has abandoned the comforts of her parents' home to become self-supporting. But life as a working woman isn't quite what Rose had imagined---long hours as a typist and nights spent in a dreary women's hostel are not very empowering when you're poor, cold, and tired. Luckily for Rose, her drudgery comes to a merciful end when she learns of the untimely death of an acquaintance. Freddy Pomfret, a silly and vacuous young man, was almost certainly up to no good before he was shot dead in his London flat. When Rose discovers incriminating evidence pointing to several members of her class, she returns to London high society in order to investigate properly. With the help of Captain Harry Cathcart and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, Rose prepares to do the social rounds—uncovering a devious blackmail plot and an unexpected killer. Set in Britain during the Edwardian world of parties, servants, and scandal, M. C. Beaton's Hasty Death is a delightful combination of murderous intrigue and high society.