Love, Lies and Liquor (Agatha Raisin Series #17) » (Reprint)

M. C. Beaton has been hailed as "the new Queen of Crime" (The Globe and Mail). Born in Scotland, she currently divides her time between Paris and a village in the English Cotswolds, where she writes mysteries featuring Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth, as well as an Edwardian detective series published under the name Marion Chesney. Her novel Death of a Dreamer was a New York Times bestseller, and she was chosen as the British Guest of Honor for Bouchercon 2006.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society, she still misses her ex-husband, James Lacey. So when he suddenly resurfaces and invites her on holiday at a surprise location, she's ready to go yesterday. With visions of a romantic hideaway in Italy or the Pacific dancing in her head, Agatha sets off with James to...Snoth-on-Sea, in Sussex. While James may have fond memories of boyhood holidays there, the once-grand Palace Hotel is in shambles and freezing cold—as are fellow guests and newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Jankers, who pick a fight with Agatha one night. Just as she and James prepare to flee to warmer climes, Geraldine Jankers is found dead on the beach…strangled with Agatha's scarf. So much for holiday fantasies: For Agatha, trouble has a way of following her even when romance does not…

"Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha."

—Chicago Sun-Times

Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Beaton's mildly entertaining 17th Agatha Raisin mystery (after 2005's The Perfect Paragon), Agatha still carries a torch for her ex-husband, James Lacey, who invites her on holiday after moving back to the cottage next door to hers in the small English village of Carsely. Unfortunately, the surprise destination is a rundown British seaside town, Snoth-on-Sea, where a fellow guest at their hotel is murdered, strangled with Agatha's scarf. Before Agatha can make much headway in her investigation, two more guests are killed. More engaging than the crime solving-the underdeveloped victims and suspects are hard to tell apart, let alone care about-is the back-and-forth between Agatha and James. Driven by Agatha's strong personality, this predictable cozy will please devoted fans, but is unlikely to win new readers. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.