Product Description

Left with bald patches thanks to the wicked doings of a murderer from a previous investigation, Agatha flees to the coastal resort of Wyckhadden to grow her tresses back in privacy. When a local witch provides her with hair tonic, Agatha's hair begins to flow - but the witch is found bludgeoned to death. The odd elderly residents who inhabit Agatha's elegantly faded hotel seem innocuous enough, but as she delves into the killing she turns up secrets best left undiscovered, and powerful motives for revenge. Balancing the amorous attentions of police inspector Jimmy Jessop with an ever-increasing treacherous search for the culprit, Agatha is at her wit's end - and ready to cast a spell of her own...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23325 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"* 'Agatha Raisin is sharp, witty, hugely intelligent, unfailingly entertaining, delightfully intolerant and oh so magnificently non PC. M C Beaton has created a new national treasure... the stories zing along and are irresistible, unputdownable, a joy. If you buy one book a year, let it be this. Agatha Raisin is The Strongest Link.' - Anne Robinson * 'Beaton's dry sense of humour and her unflattering but affectionate portrait of gruff, often adolescent acting Agatha make this... tale a bloom worth picking.' -Publishers Weekly"

About the Author
M C Beaton is the author of the highly acclaimed Hamish Macbeth mystery series. This novel begins a new series featuring sleuth Mrs Agatha Raisin. Born in Scotland, Beaton now lives in the Costwolds.

Customer Reviews

Agatha Explores Curses, Potions, Fortunes . . . and Romance as She Pines in Exile for James Lacey
If you haven't yet read Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham, you should read that book before starting this one. There's a continuity of story line that adds to the appeal of Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden.

At the end of Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham, Agatha is having the ultimate bad hair day as she has lost most of hers. Not wanting her former fiancé, James Lacey, to see her looking like that, Agatha flees Carsely for a spot on the south coast of England in Wyckhadden during winter. She soon finds that neither the weather nor the wintry attitudes of her fellow guests at the Garden Hotel suit her fancy. With her hair firmly covered by a wig and scarves, Agatha does venture out when a nice-looking man invites her dancing.

Concerned about her hair, Agatha is soon persuaded to visit the local witch, who offers many remedies that often seem to work. Having bought some hair potion, Agatha decides it won't hurt to buy a bottle of love potion while she's there.

Pretty soon, Agatha's hair is growing in again, she seems to be having success with the love potion, but Wyckhadden and its residents are getting on her nerves. Uncharacteristically erratic, Agatha gets into lots of trouble by lying to the police . . . which causes great problems when dead bodies start turning up. No one takes her very seriously as a sleuth, and even Agatha begins to suspect that she's no more than a pushy blunderer whose ineptness triggers violent solutions to crimes.

In this book, M. C. Beaton is determined to convince readers that Agatha's many fears (of aging, being alone, losing James Lacey, not being the center of attention, losing a friend, and not having something to do) are destroying her chances for happiness. I think you'll agree with M. C. Beaton.

But Agatha's self-sabotaging behavior gets to be more than a little annoying in this book, making Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden one of the weakest entries in this generally entertaining series. Unless you feel compelled to read all of the novels in this series, you could certainly skip this one. You probably won't find the plot to be all that interesting; the new characters among the suspects and victims aren't likely to enlist your sympathy; and the mysteries aren't particularly rewarding either.

Aggie's on form, as usual.
Another fantastic slice of life with Agatha and her gang of friends. How I love each new adventure we share with Agatha and the crew. There's nobody like Agatha for putting her foot in it, or for smart comebacks - ohhhhh, she's FAB!!

More About Agatha Than Murder...
I have to say, that i think the other two reviews are a little harsh on Agatha Raisin number 09.

If you look through the Amazon listings of the Agatha Raisin series you will see that any of the books that are set away from Carsley (and that don't feature James highly) get worse reviews than the ones that do, this is only natural i suppose as we miss the regular character like Mrs. Bloxby, James Lacey, Bill Wong, etc. But we shouldn't condemn the book just because of that, after all there are only so many murders that can happen in Carsley.

I think what maybe the other reviewers felt wrong about this book is that really the murder plays second fiddle plot wise, and that the main focus of the book is about Agatha. She isn't really all that interested in the crime, or goes at it like her normal bulldog self; she tends to spend more time with the residents of the Garden hotel or new love interest Jimmy Jessop. She learns some tough and lessons, as well as softening up and trying to help people more. In General the book shows her grow, something she must do before James comes back on the scene.

I really enjoyed learning about Agatha in this book, and enjoyed the characters (particularly the demanding friendship between Mary and Jennifer which I thought was well developed) and setting of a small sea side town out of season, and that the witch craft element of the story was kept minimal.

Deff deserves more praise !