Customer Reviews

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

Stop reading right now if you haven't yet read Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembly and Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage. You should read those books before beginning this one. Otherwise the interactions between Agatha Raisin, James Lacey, and Sir Charles Fraith won't make as much sense as they should.

Better yet, go back to the beginning of the series and start with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death which is followed by Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet, Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener before you get to Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembly.

Agatha Raisin experienced a marital setback the likes of which I don't recall in fiction during Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage: Her husband showed up as she was about to say "I do" with James Lacey. Outraged, James Lacey decided he'd had enough of Agatha . . . except when she can help him clear his name. As soon as her husband's murderer is identified, James is off to Cyprus alone, the planned site of their honeymoon.

Dauntless, our Agatha finds out that James is on Cyprus and heads off to find him . . . which is no easy matter. Before she can locate James, she finds herself drawn into meeting two trios of English tourists. Each group contains a married couple and a single older man. It's most unusual. Since one group sees itself as higher class, Agatha is surprised when the two groups merge. Despite her best intentions, Agatha finds herself drawn into the merged group's activities.

James, when located, is about as warm to Agatha as an iceberg in winter. Despite this, they are soon sharing a villa . . . in separate rooms. Their privacy is at risk, however, when members of the merged group start to meet murderers. Agatha, herself, experiences to murder attempts against her life.

Much of the appeal of this story comes in Agatha attracting other men without any intent to do so. The effect of this is to complicate her life in ways she doesn't want . . . and to infuriate James Lacey. In the process of again sharing a roof with James Lacey, Agatha discovers even more reasons why this man may not be such good marriage material.

I commend M. C. Beaton for moving this story away from Carsely. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any people left in the village if murder keeps whittling away at the local population.

The murder mysteries aren't really up-to-snuff. You'll figure out who did it long before the characters do.

I also found much of the Agatha-James interaction to be painful to read rather than funny.

But if you are like me, you'll be rooting harder than ever for Agatha to make her way more positively into her new life as this entertaining series continues in Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death.

Having read all of the Agatha Raisin series ,in my humble opinion, this is the most awful episode of them all ..

It is slow,boring and frustrating beyond belief ...

It failed to entertain me throughout and when i finally finished it ,it left me feeling ARGHHHHHH !!!!!What was the point in all that ....

The story seems rushed and not very well thought out and one of those quick pen to paper jobs ...a filler in otherwords ...not good

Quick update ...sorry this isnt the worse one ive read "there goes the bride " is by far the worse of them all this one is second now ..is Mrs Beaton losing her touch ?

This is the sixth book in the Agatha Raisin series and having read them all so far I believe it to be the best.
At the end of book five Agatha had been left standing at the alter by James Lacey after Agatha's husband had turned up. James flees to North Cyprus (which was going to be their honeymoon destination) and is eventually followed by Agatha who cannot bear not to have contact with James.
Of course a murder of a tourist takes place at a disco and Agatha and James investigate. James is feeling agrieved at being mistreated by the people he has rented his accomodation off and disappears to Turkey in search of him. Agatha is left to solve the murder herself which she does admirably.
On arriving back in Carsley Agatha finds that James as not arrived back and is extremely disappointed. This of course is the end of the book and we are, sadly,left waiting to see what will happen between Agatha and James.
I loved this book and thought there was much more humour to be found than in the others.
To understand the ongoing relationship between Agatha and James I do think it is necessary to read the series from the start, beginning with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death.

After the wedding that never was, James Lacey has fled to north Cyprus, craving time to think. Agatha, in hot pursuit, determines to track him down and seek to repair their fractured relationship. Both become embroiled with a group of ill matched tourists, all to become suspects when one of them is murdered....

It is hard to sympathize with the Agatha of this book. Some might even regard her a stalker, in need of therapy. She does not exactly help the attempts for reconciliation with James by going to bed with the randy baronet from an earlier novel.

Extensive quotes from guidebooks prove a bit irksome, but appealing descriptions of the region and its inhabitants may tempt some readers to visit. (It should be safe with Agatha now back in Carsely.)

A controversial addition to the series.

I've read the previous five Agatha Raisin books and thoroughly enjoyed them. I am now just over half way through this book and I am finding it alot more hard going that the previous ones.

Whilst this is an okay read, I just feel that the length of this story could be halved.

Am about half way through this book, normally would have completed it by now.

The basic story of Agatha following James to Cyprus and the death of a new 'friend' is fine. You can only kill so many people off in 1 little village!

But the pages of tourist information was for me just 'filler'. Do not need a history lesson, I am more than capapble of finding out about the history of other countries and their buildings for myself. Have actually skipped all those pages.

Hope number 7 gets back on track.

So all in all not too bad, but not up to the last 5. And still looking forward to the rest.

Here she is again, the formidable and brash Agatha Raisin in an adventure that is remarkable as it is the first that takes her from her quaint Cotswold village to exotic northern Cyprus. This change of locale, however, is the only breath of truly fresh air in this current installment in the Agatha series. Having discovered both of M C Beaton's detective characters, it remains a suspicion of mine that the Hamish Macbeth character is more developed than dear Agatha. Though I am predisposed to enjoy Agatha's exploits, she remains unfortunately flat, two-dimensional.

The current novel is stock, the usual two or three bodies littering the narrative landscape and tidied up in the last 10 or 20 pages.

But I wonder if other fans like myself are aware of what may be the real unsolved mystery of the Agatha Raisin series: why on earth does Agatha (who, in agonizingly brief flashes of insight and personal honesty, knows Lacey is no good for her and that life with him would be hellish) persist in a predilection for James Lacey?

Though the Agatha series will undoubtedly remain disappointing in certain aspects, I will always anticipate the next novel of her exploits.

The other reviews of this book have pretty much covered the story line. M C Beaton is struggling to make a story out of this murder, and she labors too long over it. Agatha has too many close calls that are not believable and a story line that is full of holes--any detective in real life would have solved this murder in 24 hours. M C Beaton, like so many other popular authors (e.g., the old Robert Parker), is being forced to write books at too rapid a pace without time to properly think out the story line or do the necessary rewriting. I will miss Macbeth and Raisin if they blunder off into stupidity.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Don't know what else you want me to say. Jolly good book.4 more words required? Stupid

If I hadn't have read a later Agatha Raisin story (The Pig that Turned) this book would have put me off purchasing any more. I found it rather long-winded and repetitive and the lengthy descriptions of tourist sites in Cyprus added to this. Some of the other Agatha Raisin titles are much better.