Agatha Raisin’s detective agency is humming along nicely after her success in crime solving has made headlines, largely because of the peculiarity of the cases. This time around, the complications surrounding disposing of feudal allotments handed down through families for decades create an uproar when Lord Bellington, who holds the leases on dozens of the half-acre plots, threatens to cancel them in order to make millions from a housing estate. The lots are popular as gardens for the leaseholders, and the villagers are irate at being pushed out.

When Lord Bellington is found dead, supposedly of a heart attack, Agatha suspects that he was poisoned. Relieved to find a crime that doesn’t involve missing cats and dogs or spying on philandering spouses, she gladly takes on the case when approached by the sole heir of Lord Bellington’s estate --- his spoiled son, Damian.

"Agatha’s snippy retorts are one of the amusing yet endearing traits that make M. C. Beaton’s mysteries so entertaining."

When last I visited Agatha Raisin, she was the prime suspect in the murder of a local constable who had been harassing her for minor traffic offenses. Half of the Cotswold village residents were griping about the copper’s over-enthusiastic law and order frenzy. Agatha, who does not suffer fools gladly, marched into a local shop and spouted off that she would love to see him roast on a spit in hell. You can guess who turned up as the man who came to dinner when his body was found rotating on a barbecue spit at a public picnic event. Few tears were shed, but Agatha, almost literally hoisted on her own petard, found herself hog-tied in finding the culprit.

Agatha’s snippy retorts are one of the amusing yet endearing traits that make M. C. Beaton’s mysteries so entertaining. Sometimes one might wish they had the nerve to let their inside voice out and just blurt “shove off” when you’re through listening to someone prattle on. But Agatha’s eye-rolling comments accompany her shrewd ability to cut to the chase, whether solving a crime or jousting with the various men who come and go in her life. They mostly go, except for her friend with benefits, Sir Charles Fraith, who comes in handy when she’s dealing with the upper crust. It doesn’t hurt that he knows all maître’ d’s at the best restaurants. As much as she would like for him to become a more permanent part of her life, he remains the man who lets himself in to sleep in front of her TV far more often than in her bed.

Agatha Raisin is one of a kind. Regular readers of Beaton’s detective series are perhaps familiar with the Hamish Macbeth series, which enjoyed a couple of seasons on BBC. Speaking of British television series, Agatha now headlines a new TV series via Amazon.com/Acorn, which begins with the first Agatha Raisin novel, AGATHA RAISIN AND THE QUICHE OF DEATH.