Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

M.C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin is a 50-ish woman who was very successful in business and now has retired to the Cotswolds. Her interests are finding a husband, her cat, and snooping around in local murders. All three come together when the new veternarian moves into town.

Paul Bladen is apparently a charming man. Agatha takes her cat to see him just so she can meet him. She is rewarded by being asked for a date. A snowstorm interrupted that date. They finally had their date a few weeks later. The next day he is found dead at one of the local horse farms.

Agatha and her neighbor, James Lacey, start their own investigation even when warned off by the local police. They discover Paul Bladen was not the successful, charming man he portrayed. In fact, a number of people were glad to hear he was dead, including his ex-wife. Was he murdered as Agatha and James suspected? Who would have had the knowledge and access?

Supposedly Agatha Raisin ran her own successful public relations business before she retired. I would have thought that made her a sharp cookie (to use an appropriate slang term). Instead she is a rather silly woman. I do not understand why she wants a husband so badly when she did well on her own. Since this theme predominates the book, the rest of it did not go together well. This is the second book in a series. While it is readable, I do not mind if I do not read another book with her in it.

Death of a Maid by M.C. Beaton