Lost in a Good Book

Published: June 15th 2000 (print)/ 1st July 2012 (audio)
Publisher: Minotaur Books/Bolinda Audio
Pages: 196/5 hrs and 58 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season. Agatha Raisin, her hair falling out after a run-in with a hairdresser-cum-murderess from a previous investigation, travels to an old-fashioned hotel in order to repair the damage away from the neighbours in her all-too-cosy Cotswolds village. Unhappy about the slow results and prompted by the elderly residents of the resort, she consults the local witch for help. Agatha purchases a hair tonic (and a love potion, just in case!) and is soon sprouting hairs and capturing the fancy of the village police inspector. But the quiet town is stunned by the murder of the witch. Which one of the greying guests is capable of such a brutal crime? The brassy yet endearing Agatha won’t stop until she finds the culprit–and, of course, a little love, too.

This was a great story and I loved how Beaton plays with the events of the previous book, Agatha’s vanity and pride, as well as allowing readers to escape Carsley and the usual characters for a bit. Ironically, being away from Carsley has resulted in a decent story. I know in the Terrible Tourist being away from Carsley was its downfall, but this one works. The dynamics between characters is better, and having Agatha stop going on about James quite so much is a saviour. I enjoyed getting to know the new characters and seeing Agatha thrive on her own— she seems more sensible and less nosy than before. Honestly I wanted her to stay there and be free of James, she seemed a lot more contented.

Being away from home means when a murder occurs, as one always seems to do, Agatha is stuck there as a possible suspect until it’s solved. Beaton uses motives like this well because instead of Agatha just butting in, her incentive is to solve the murder so she can get home, meaning it makes slightly more sense.

Because Agatha is stuck we are introduced to the other residents of the resort with more detail. Aside from their peculiarities there is a nice relationship between her and Jimmy that could develop if we’d spent longer than a fortnight with them and rushed the relationship. This could have been a nice new direction for Agatha but Beaton rushes through and instead of being a sweet romance it ends up feeling sad and depressing because it’s so easy to see what could have been if Beaton had written it better.

There is a sweet storyline around Agatha and a cat and with the disaster of her hair as a focus there were a lot of smaller moments to engage with rather just a blanket overall plot. The small details filled the story a lot better and made it memorable and weaving each character organically into Agatha’s storyline was a great way to get to know everyone better.

You can purchase Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden via the following

 Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible