Book #44: Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance by M.C. Beaton
Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I remember this having one of the worst TV adaptations in the whole series, but this turned out to be one of the better novels in the series.
So, in this novel, Agatha has just started a detective agency; she finds herself imbued with cases, including one where she has to protect a woman who has been receiving death threats. Agatha is invited to a party where she thinks she spots a sniper, so ends up pushing her clients into a swimming pool in her attempt to save their lives.
The clients are furious, and decide to fire Agatha, until it is revealed that there really was a shooter. The plot develops into a murder mystery, but the victim ends up not being the person who the reader is likely to expect.
There is also a subplot that was dropped entirely from the TV adaptation, where Agatha hires a character called Emma as a secretary. Emma quickly becomes obsessed with the unwitting Charles, and decides to take extreme action when she thinks Agatha is a love rival. This plot leads to some of the darkest, and most farcical, humour in the series so far. This includes a couple of unexpected twists at the end, after the resolution to the main plot starts feeling a little rushed.
There's also an epilogue set around Christmas, with Agatha organising a Christmas dinner that goes very, very wrong; it is only loosely connected to the main plot, but I found it entertaining nonetheless.
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