- "Queen of the village mystery"
- ―Tagline
Agatha Raisin is a mystery series written by Marion Chesney under her pseudonym M.C. Beaton.
The series follows Agatha Raisin, a frustrated, yet endearing, middle-aged public-relations executive who retires to the Cotswolds only to find that there is nothing cozy about village life.
Beginning with a poisoning at a village fête in Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, Agatha finds that she has a talent for getting herself into trouble. She solves murders in each of the earlier books, but in the fifteenth book Agatha sets up her own detective agency. The police, and even some of her acquaintances, insist that she solves crimes through accident and luck.
The series is primarily set in Carsely, a fictional village in the Cotswolds region of England. Various nearby towns and villages also appear throughout the series, including real life locations such as Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh.
In 2010 an accompaniment book was published, detailing the characters, locations and plots of the first twenty titles. The book also includes drawings by Alice Tait, the artist behind all new book covers at the time.
Books[]
#11 2001.
#13 2003.
#14 2003.
#15 2004.
#20 2009.
#21 2010.
#22 2011.
#23 2012.
#26 2015.
#27 2016.
#28 2017.
#29 2018.
#31 2020.
#32 2021.
Characters[]
- Agatha Raisin — a public relations guru who retired to the Cotswolds and finds herself solving crimes.
- James Lacey — Agatha's neighbour and on/off again love interest.
- Charles Fraith — Agatha's friend.
- Roy Silver — Agatha's former co-worker from the public relations firm she previously owned, he regularly visits and helps with some of the investigations.
- Bill Wong — a local policeman and the first friend Agatha made after moving to the Cotswolds.
- Doris Simpson — Agatha's ever-present cleaner and good friend.
- Denzel Wilkes — the police's Detective Chief Inspector.
- Sarah-Margaret Bloxby — the vicar's wife and a good friend of Agatha's.
- Alf Bloxby — the vicar of Carsely who has a unique disdain towards Agatha.
- Toni Gilmour — a young detective hired by Agatha after she starts up her own detective agency.