Something Borrowed, Someone Dead: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, 24) Mass Market Paperback – July 1, 2014

A reviewer claims that Agatha Raisin is "petty, jealous, manipulative, vain and, in some cases, very, very stupid." My, my, such harsh words.In the character of Agatha Raisin, M. C. Beaton has created a less than perfect protagonist, a perfectly imperfect literary character, whom we dearly love.Agatha was raised in the slums of Birmingham and escaped this miserable poverty in her late teens, securing a position in the business world in a public relations agency. Through the years, she worked her way up to the top of this agency until she was able to buy the agency. She navigated successfully in a man's world, and eventually amassed a small fortune. She sold her agency, retired early, and moved to the Village of Carsely where she purchased a lovely Cotswold Cottage. A few years later, she was prevailed upon to return to the public relations agency to conduct a campaign for the agency's owner, who well knew that she was most competent and clever in running a brilliant campaign. She also ran charitable campaigns in Carsley, and raised a lot of money for the village church, much to the delight of Mrs. Bloxby, the vicar's wife. The vicar who dislikes Agatha begrudgingly had to acknowledge Agatha's good work. After about four months, she returned to her beloved Village where she later established a successful detective agency, employing five people. I argue that Agatha is far more often a smart, clever, intelligent woman than she is "in some cases very, very stupid." She is most undeserving of these meanspirited words. Granted, she has been involved in foolish escapades. But while we laugh at her antics, we never scorn her, or call her "petty, or very very stupid." In fact, one critic, says of Agatha that she is a "cross between Miss Marple and Lucille Ball." Now, that's quite a testimony, especially since Miss Marple, Dame Agatha's octogenarian sleuth, who has a fine eye for detail, always solves the murders in St. Mary Meade, or wherever else she may happen to be. Like Miss Marple, Agatha, too, always solves the murders in the end.That Agatha is vain is quite true. Each time she glances in the mirror, she quickly grabs for her makeup to conceal real or imagined blemishes, trying to blot over the passage of time, her enemy, the enemy of so many mature, female readers who are so in touch with Agatha's chagrin at the loss of her youth. Ms. Beaton indeed understands the female psyche! . And those bedroom scenes wherein Agatha pulls out outfit after outfit from her closet, throwing them on her bed, some hanging partly on the floor, undecided what she will wear, declaring that nothing fits, or that she hates her clothes. How many women have been through this, the I have nothing to wear bit. Ms. Beaton succinctly captures it in these comic relief scenes. "Vanity, thy name is vanity" (Shakespeare). And Agatha's middle age vanity is a special appeal to many of her readers.Jealousy! Yes, Agatha is jealous. She is especially jealous of Toni Gilmour, the young detective in her agency. In "Something Borrowed, Someone Dead," she envies Toni when she eats three scones, knowing full well that Toni will not gain a single ounce of fat. But when Agatha eats two scones, against her better judgment, she can feel the waistband on her skirt actually tighten. Here, we sympathize with Agatha, even empathize. Agatha passionately envies Toni's youth, her beauty, her trim body. And yet, Agatha rescued Toni from an abusive home when she first came to work for her; she gave Toni money to start anew; she found an apartment for her and bought her a car. She also helped her get out of two inappropriate relationships with older men. Our Agatha is certainly a complex character, "An infinite variety of woman" (Virgil).Finally, I raise my glass on high in celebration of the many enjoyable hours of reading about the adventures of Agatha Raisin, and I raise my glass even higher in the hope that, in future, there will be many more adventures about Agatha to read. And thanks ever so to M. C. Beaton for the likes of Agatha Raisin. Amazon Verified Purchase.

I am a big fan of the cozy mystery genre, and I do enjoy the Agatha Raisin series of cozy village mysteries, which take place in one of the villages in the Cotswold hills in England. This time the village in question is Piddlebury, and our irrepressible Agatha is called in to determine who murdered Gloria French, a newcomer to the area who was widely disliked for her penchant for borrowing other people's things and not returning them.As with all cozy mysteries, it is not the mystery itself that is paramount but, rather, the characters' interactions with each other and their journey in determining the resolution of the mystery This one is no exception. Agatha is her usual bossy, irrepressible, man hungry self, whose patience is tried when her ex-husband reenters the picture, acting the fool. Moreover, her investigatory efforts seem to draw the ire of the killer. Still, our Agatha stays the course.That being said, this book could have used better editing, as it was fraught with repetitive errors throughout. For fans of this series, however, this is just a bump in the road. Fans of Agatha Raisin will not be deterred or dissuaded by poor editing, just disappointed and will, nonetheless, still enjoy this latest addition to the Agatha Raisin series of cozy mysteries.

I have now changed my description of these books from Light-Hearted to Dark as they are tending to be that way. This is sick dark characters in a sick dark village but it is an interesting read and I, frankly, was surprised at "who done it". I was wrong in a previous review that Agatha was beginning to have some "human kindness". I thought that when she took Toni in to work for her rescuing her from a terrible situation. But, she has never developed one drop of affection for Toni. She continues to be sickeningly jealous of her youth and beauty. She keeps her on because she needs her detecting abilities. I now see that Toni is becoming like Agatha, going down that same road of obsessive attraction to the wrong man with terrible results but never really softening toward anyone. And, Toni has never developed one drop of affection for Agatha. To me this is the tragedy of these books. And, it is what makes them so interesting, so much better than a normal "cozy" mystery which these certainly are not. I guess, like most readers, we had hoped for changes for the good in Agatha and a happy ending for her but I see now that Agatha will never change and she will never be happy. She is her own worst enemy. I continue to be fascinated by these stories and hope they will continue. The continuing characters show one thing - people do not change. Charles never changes, Roy never changes, James never changer, etc. But, it's been a fascinating trip reading these books.

Imagine how you feel when you're doing something that you really like and then afterwards eat a chocolate sundae. That is how amazing this book was for me!

I think I have become slightly addicted to Agatha Raisin and her world of small, secretive villages scattered around the Cotswolds.Something Borrowed Someone Dead is yet another foray into one of such village, called Piddlebury. The name alone tells a story! One of its residents, the universally loathed Gloria French is poisoned. Her claim to fame was her knack for borrowing and never returning whatever tickled her fancy. Such bad habit on its own doesn't seem like a good enough reason to murder someone, but then this is Piddlebury. The locals are a bit tetchy.Agatha is engaged by one of the residents, Mr Tarrant to find the murderer so that people stop suspecting each other. The atmosphere in the village is tense. Agatha wades on it with her big personality and makes a few enemies. Soon, the murderer is after her. Her investigating antics follow, peppered with her personal dramas involving James Lacey and the beautiful Toni...The plot of this instalment isn't the most elaborate or credible, but this is after all Agatha Raisin, not John Rebus, so a touch of suspended belief is perfectly in order.Good fun, as always!

I loved Agatha Raisin when I first discovered her. The first few books are really addictive. The later storylines got even more ridiculous and even more silly. In the same vein as Hamish Macbeth, M C Beaton gets away with it because you, as a reader, become fond of the characters and so when another book is churned out, you instinctively hope that maybe something good has at long last happened to the main character and so your loyalty hasn't been in vain, unfortunately as with Hamish Macbeth this never happens and you get to the end of another book saddened that you cannot get that time you have just invested, back again.I love Agatha Raisin and some of the main characters but my advice is the same as I would give about smoking, don't start because its really hard to quit.

Agatha Raisin books are addictive! Once my friend recommended them to me as perfect for someone who likes amateur sleuthing adventures, I bought 'The Quiche of Death' and I have been hooked ever since! This is another fun yarn from MC Beaton which doesn't disappoint. You don't have to have ever read another Agatha Raisin book to pick up any in the series and get into the stories - highly recommended!

So disappointed with this latest offering of Agatha. The last few books, to be honest, have disappointed - to the point where I wondered if it was actually MC Beaton who had written them, or if she had handed over the characters to a rather talentless ghost writer :(Skimmed the book from halfway in, didn't care about the outcome, dreadfully disappointed :(

Ok plot but patchy writing and some continuity glitches. I keep reading these because I like the characters but why doesn’t anyone proffread them? It’s a shame