See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Hardcover)

by M.C. Beaton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


8 used from £2.17
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 5 used & new from £12.25
Paperback (New Ed) £5.99 £5.39 184 used & new from £0.01
Mass Market Paperback (1st Ballantine Books Ed) 36 used & new from £0.01
Paperback (Large Print) 2 used & new from £39.37
Poster Order it used

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

by M.C. Beaton
3.6 out of 5 stars (10)  £3.99
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

by M.C. Beaton
3.8 out of 5 stars (10)  £4.79
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

by M.C. Beaton
4.0 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.39
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (Agatha Raisin 05)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (Agatha Raisin 05)

by M.C. Beaton
4.2 out of 5 stars (9)  £5.39
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (Agatha Raisin 06)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (Agatha Raisin 06)

by M.C. Beaton
3.0 out of 5 stars (11)  £4.99
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Constable (27 Jun 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841195235
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841195230
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,169,636 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #80 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > B > Beaton, M.C.

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review
"- 'Beaton's dry sense of humour and her unflattering but affectionate portrait of gruff, often adolescent acting Agatha make this... tale a bloom worth picking.' - Publishers Weekly - 'Engaging' - Booklist

Product Description
Meet Agatha Raisin, high-flying public relations boss turned village sleuth. After Agatha's many stressful years of bullying and cajoling others her early retirement to a picture-perfect village in the Costwolds is a dream come true. And how better to start making friends than by entering the village quiche-making competition? However, Agatha is not used to being an also-ran, so to ensure first prize, she buys her entry from a London delicatessen. Alas, Agatha's perfect product is soon exposed - as not only store-bought but poisoned! The contest judge, rumoured to be connoisseur of women as well as food, succumbs soon after eating it, and with him go Agatha's chances of rural bliss - unless she can expose the real murderer...

See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
(4)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
86% buy the item featured on this page:
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death 4.0 out of 5 stars (25)
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet
5% buy
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet 3.6 out of 5 stars (10)
£3.99
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
3% buy
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener 3.8 out of 5 stars (10)
£4.79
Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye (Agatha Raisin)
3% buy
Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye (Agatha Raisin) 2.8 out of 5 stars (12)
£5.49
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and very funny, 1 Sep 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a entertaining and very funny "whodunnit". The characters are very well drawn for a crime novel. The "detective", Agatha Raisin, is someone you can both like and dislike at the same time, and the other characters cover a good range from the normal to the farcical. There are some very funny, moments, and some observant swipes at small-town life. The "whodunnit" element of the story is almost incidental: it serves to carry the story forward and introduce us to the characters, but at times it verges on getting in the way of the good fun!

If you like hard-boiled, mean streets, police-procedurals, you'll hate this. If you just want a good, easy, comfortable read, you'll love it.

This is the first book in the Agatha Raisin series.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Miss Marple - on steroids!, 13 Feb 2006
By Karl (England, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Paperback)
Agatha Raisin couldn't be more different from the author's other well-known leading character - Hamish McBeth - if she tried.

Descending on a Cotswold village in seach of some kind of idealised retirement, after selling off her London PR agency for a substantial sum, Agatha quite quickly finds that the scenario she has dreamed up is just that - a dream - and village life is far more prosaic and easy going than anything she had prepared herself for.
Right up to the moment when she unwittingly becomes the instrument of a murderer's malicious plans.

As previous reviewers have mentioned, quite a lot of the book is spent familiarising us with Agatha, her past history, the village and so on. Given that the series now runs to more than a dozen books, is looks like the author could have spent a little less time on the background details, and a little more on the plot. Still, this book is completely representative of the series, and if you like this one you'll almost certainly like the rest.

To be frank, this isn't great literature, in fact it isn't really even comparable with Agatha Christie's stories. The village setting is there, and a bunch of village "characters", but Agatha has little of the insight into how other people tick than does Miss Marple, and her successes usually owe a lot more to brute force than skilful sleuthing. Though Agatha (Raisin, that is) does have her moments.

I get the feeling that these books are more about providing an easy, entertaining read than trying to join the band of detective fiction "immortals". And as such they work very well, indeed better than most of the current crop of "cozys", in my opinion.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars You won't be able to take your face out of it, 6 April 2006
This review is from: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Paperback)
Agatha Raisin is an awful woman but I promise that by the time you finish this book you will love her, warts and all.

A self-made woman who sells her business and retires early to her dream-cottage in the Cotswolds (furnished by an expensive interior decortator, naturally).

Agatha suddenly finds herself in a completely alien environment.

In a effort to make her mark on the village and announce her arrival, she plots to win the village Quiche baking contest. Her plan is simple - she will enter, as her own work, a quiche bought from a top-class delicatessan in London. Unfortunatly for Agatha, the judge dies after eating it and her deception is uncovered. Worse she finds herself being held responsible for his death.

And this is when you start finding your self falling for her.
From the moment the plot is hatched the reader can't fail to know the outcome, but rather than feeling righteous indignation on the part of the other contestants you can only feel sympathetic embarrasment for the situation you know Agatha is going to find herself in.

Convinced that she can redeem herself in the eyes of those around her Agatha sets off to solve a crime the police insist hasn't happened.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The first in a long and exciting series
The first Agatha Raisin novel is one of my favourites. MC Beaton does well in building and establishing the character of Agatha Raisin, something which she continues to do in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robbie Reid

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiche of Death
I was recommended this series of books by a friend. It is a very easy book to read with a good story line, some humour but quite predictable stories once you have read one of the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. C. T. Singleton

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst books I have ever read
Packed with stereotypes, cliches and generalisations that were stale and old-fashioned when I was a child in the sixties, this book stinks of cheap pokes at outdated notions of a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Book Worm

2.0 out of 5 stars Undemanding nonsense
I picked up this book after having read a number of quite heavy tomes, so in a way this came as quite a pleasant escapist read. Read more
Published 7 months ago by hiljean

4.0 out of 5 stars Baked to Kill
The humble detective comes in all shapes and sizes and in the case of Agatha Raisin we have something a bit different from the norm. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sam

5.0 out of 5 stars I am addicted!
Having listened to the radio 4 production starring Penelope Keith (absolutely fantastic in its own right) I just had to give the written version a go. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. M. Widdowson

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother
To be fair to this book, the story is nice and interesting. But it is a shame that it is spoiled by the poor writing style. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Roger Harisson

3.0 out of 5 stars Sunday Night tv in book form.
This is the first of the series and sets the tone pretty well for the other books I have read so far. This is the sort of book you can whip through in a day or so. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Lady of Leisure

3.0 out of 5 stars An undemanding but enjoyable read
Nothing much in the way of real 'whodunnit' territory here - as another reviewer has already commented, much of the book just sets the scene and fills in the background. Read more
Published 17 months ago by MIddlestitch

4.0 out of 5 stars THE PERFECT RECIPIE!
If you haven`t read any Agatha Raisin your`e in for a treat - this is the first in the ever expanding series that celebrates the life and times of one of the rudest and most... Read more
Published 18 months ago by M. Drake

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of...

Agatha Raisin and...

"She's ratty and rude...a far cry from Chritie's detectives but she's... Read more
£5.99 £5.39

›Find similar items

 

More From M. C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin and...

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

After nearly being killed by both a hired hit man and her former... Read more
£6.99 £4.99

 

Boys Smell

Lynx Africa Body Spray and After Shave Gift set
But we make sure they smell good...

›Discover male grooming at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates