Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
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Product Description
Product Description
Agatha goes digging where she shouldn't...Agatha is taken aback when she finds a new woman ensconced in the affections of her attractive bachelor neighbour, James Lacey. The beautiful Mary Fortune is superior in every way, especially when it comes to gardening - and with Carsely Garden Open Day looming, Agatha feels this deficiency acutely. So when Mary is discovered murdered, buried upside down in a pot, Agatha seizes the moment and immediately starts yanking up village secrets by their roots and digging the dirt on the hapless victim. But Agatha has an awkward secret too ...Praise for the Agatha Raisin series: 'Sharp, witty, hugely intelligent, unfailingly entertaining ...M. C. Beaton has created a national treasure' - Anne Robinson, The Times. 'The Miss Marple-like Raisin is a refreshingly sensible, wonderfully eccentric, thoroughly likeable heroine' - Booklist.
About the Author
M C Beaton worked as a Fleet Street journalist. She is the author of now 20 Agatha Raisin novels, the Hamish Macbeth series, which Constable & Robinson also publish, and an Edwardian murder-mystery series. She divides her time between Paris and the Cotswolds, where she lives in a village very much like Agatha's beloved Carsely.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Agatha Raisin books are warm, witty and entertaining books about the abrasive yet lovable 50-something Agatha who has moved from London to a little cottage in the Cotswolds and got herself involved in solving a series of murder mysteries - and in my opinion this is the best so far. An almost-pastiche of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries, Agatha is rude yet refreshing and chases her handsome neighbour James Lacey in a way that would leave the lady-like Miss Marple distraught! The characters of not just Agatha and James but all the minor bit-players from the village are well-drawn and if a bit cliched then that just adds to the cosy, comfortable atmosphere.
This isn't a work of great literary pretensions but is a wonderful, eccentric page-turner that is perfect to read in one sitting when the weather's bad.
This isn't a work of great literary pretensions but is a wonderful, eccentric page-turner that is perfect to read in one sitting when the weather's bad.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first M C Beaton novel I read. A short 180 pages or so, I read it in a couple of hours and found it very enjoyable. Agatha Raisin, the middle-aged detective heroine, is an intriguing character - very human and believable, with her on-off schoolgirl crush on her neighbour, her fears for how she is seen in the small Cotswold village where she has moved from London, and her forays into diets and quick-fix improvements to her garden.
The plot is acceptable, but not one for afficianados of complex, logical mysteries - this is not for those looking for the intricacies of a P D James, or the trickery of an Agatha Christie. But the plot seems more a necessary backdrop for the picture of English village life, and the novel has all the charm and beauty of afternoon tea in a Cotswold village - rather like a beautiful watercolour that happens to have a dead body upended in a flower pot in one corner. Charming, very easily readable; I will be reading more of this series, but for me it isn't up there with the giants of the genre.
The plot is acceptable, but not one for afficianados of complex, logical mysteries - this is not for those looking for the intricacies of a P D James, or the trickery of an Agatha Christie. But the plot seems more a necessary backdrop for the picture of English village life, and the novel has all the charm and beauty of afternoon tea in a Cotswold village - rather like a beautiful watercolour that happens to have a dead body upended in a flower pot in one corner. Charming, very easily readable; I will be reading more of this series, but for me it isn't up there with the giants of the genre.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this third entry of the Agatha Raisin series, Agatha returns to Carsely after what turned out to be a lonely world tour only to find that her nest door neighbor and heartthrob James Lacey has his eyes on someone new. Not that he ever had his eyes on Agatha mind you. It seems that a pretty young blonde has moved to town and not only has she captured James' attention but she also seems to be the new darling of the little village. Worse yet, Mary Fortune, this new arrival in Carsely is like James an avid gardener, a situation that causes Agatha to take up gardening for herself. Agatha fails to notice however that as soon as she returns home the people of the village begin to lose interest in Mary and turn their attentions back to their old friend Agatha. Mary does notice this however and begins to turn nasty, especially when many in the village begin to blame her for a series of attacks on local gardens.
Some how or another Mary and Agatha end up being great friends even as James begins to distance himself from the pretty blonde newcomer. Then one night when Mary fails to show up at the local pub James and Agatha make a grisly discovery when they go to check on the missing Ms. Fortune. Ironic name isn't it? The author has made no attempt at all to lead the reader away from her intended victim and so it is no surprise that Mary is murdered but the "potted" position of her body is at the very least a novel idea.
Agatha by this point considers herself quite the sleuth and immediately sets out in search of clues. As in the last book James assists in the snooping and the two once again begin to grow close. Slowly but surely the pair of amateur detectives find out that Mary had been extremely nasty to several people and that there were numerous citizens with apparent motives for murder. In the end the solution comes about more by Agatha's intuition than from clues and it was a solution that caught me completely off guard. Right up until Agatha figured out who the guilty party was I was looking in a completely different direction, a direction that would have spelled the end for one of the major characters in the series.
As in the previous books, Agatha's adventures make for a delightful read. The mess she gets herself into as she tries her hand at gardening makes for a hilarious secondary plot and the people of Carsely are just delightful. Amazingly though the mystery itself remains at the center of the story and drives the action, right down to the mixed up labels on Agatha's fake garden. It seems that the harder Agatha tries to fit in the more she gets embarrassed and the more she gets embarrassed the more the people of Carsely love her. Every town needs an eccentric or two after all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Shop around the corner
First heard about this book on you've got mail. Decided to read it to see what it's about and found it perfectly charming. Would recommend it to young teenage girls.
Published 1 month ago by Gemini_lady
Pure pleasure
This is the 3rd in the Agatha Raisin series and although the story does 'stand alone' I would recommend to anyone new to the series to read the books in order; certainly the first... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Caroline
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener review
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener is gripping. However, I do think it is important that any newcomer to Agatha needs to start with the Quiche of Death. Read more
Published 8 months ago by louisa
Fortune does not grow in pots.
Mary Fortune is new in the village of Carsely and she does everything to involve herself in village life. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Joanne D'Arcy
I'm an Agatha fan!
This is the third novel in the Agatha Raisin series. I enjoy these books, not just for the whodunnit element, but also for the cosy description on village life (if you can call... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Kew
Dangerous gardening
Agatha Raisin is not a gardener but in spite of this she decides to join the horticultural society. But there is a newcomer to the village who is trying to take over everything -... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Lady Sophia
DIGGING UP DIRT...
This series of British cozy mysteries is a sure fire winner. The central character, Agatha Raisin, is brought to life under the author's deft pen. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lawyeraau
A BETTER PLOT
Carsely in turmoil. Who is sabotaging their gardens? Who poisoned old Bernard Spott's goldfish? Most important of all, who planted glamorous newcomer Mary Fortune upside down in... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. D. L. Rees
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
I am a fan of Agatha Raisin and her bluntness.I like the way Beaton describes the different types in the village.The weak point in this novel is the plot.
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by H. Gerbig
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
The book is fine, but its always a bit of a bad surprise with this author just how "slight" a read it is. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by Anthony Klinger
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