Review by Booklist Review
Beaton's Agatha Raisin series (this is her twelfth) just about defines the British cozy: she gives us an individualistic sleuth working out of a thatched cottage in an achingly picturesque Cotswolds village. Agatha Raisin deviates from the sensible Miss Marple norm, however, in being thin-skinned, prickly, and annoying, but this difference spices up the formula. Agatha's latest adventures begin when her husband runs off to join a monastery in France. Agatha seeks solace in an island vacation. During her getaway, she notices a newlywed couple; within days, the groom drowns the bride. On her return home, during a dramatic flash flood, Agatha sees another dead bride, wearing a white gown and clutching a bridal bouquet, sweeping past on the river. Agatha swings into action, pestering the locals and enlisting the aid of her new neighbor, a mystery writer. Very improbable detective work, but a satisfying read nonetheless for cozy lovers. --Connie Fletcher
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Tetchy Agatha Raisin'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 vacationer was murdered. The real story in M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came takes place upon Agatha's return to her Cotswold home, when she learns of a young woman's apparent suicide and decides to investigate with the aid of her new neighbor, the dashing, cultured and vaguely lascivious writer John Armitage, and her own surprising flair for deceit and disguise. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Poor Agatha is still ensconced in her Carsely village cottage, but now at the end of her short-lived marriage to next-door neighbor James Lacey (Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell, 2001), who's left her to take holy orders at a French monastery. Her longtime friend and confidant Charles Fraith is also living in France following his marriage to a young Frenchwoman. Even after a trip to an island off the coast of Chile and the arrival of novelist John Armitage at the cottage once occupied by Lacey, Agatha finds her spirits low. Luckily, there's the tonic murder of young Kylie Stokes, whose body, found floating in the river at nearby Evesham, rouses Agatha's interest, especially after her detective friend Bill Wong informs her that Kylie had died of a drug overdose but that her body had been frozen after death. Kylie's fiance, Zak Jensen, whose father owns the local disco, claims that Kylie had been addicted but had quit. Decked out in blond wig and glasses, supposedly gathering material for a TV program on youth in the provinces, Agatha proceeds to nose around Kylie's co-workers, friends, and family. She's joined intermittently by neighbor Armitage, now her buddy, and manages to irritate Police Chief John Brudge thoroughly before another death and her own narrow escape lead to the killer. The latest installment in this long-running series is as flaccid and downbeat as its heroine, with a puzzle barely intriguing enough to pull the reader to the finish. Lighten up, Agatha.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
