Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Signed First Edition)

M.C. Beaton

ISBN 10: 0312081537 / ISBN 13: 9780312081539

Published by St. Martin's [Martin] Press, New York, 1992

About this Item

First Edition. SIGNED by the author on the title page. The first Agatha Raisin mystery. About Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket with a hint of rubbing to the rear panel and spine ends.

Seller Inventory # 170818

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (Signed First Edition)
• Publisher: St. Martin's [Martin] Press, New York
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312081537
• ISBN 13: 9780312081539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: dj
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Mystery and Crime

About this title

Synopsis

In order to introduce herself to the picturesque English village where she has just retired, Mrs. Agatha Raisin enters a quiche in a local competition and promptly finds herself a murder suspect when the judge dies from her poisonous pie.

Reviews

In this highly promising launch to a new mystery series, Beaton turns from the adventures of her Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth to introduce the redoubtable Agatha Raisin. At 53, Agatha, whose personality is a piquant combination of brusque competence and fallibility, sells her London public relations firm to retire to the picturesque Cotswold village of Carsely. Determined to gain acceptance among the villagers, the undomestic Agatha enters a local bake-off. The judge, Reg Cummings-Brown, not only snubs her entry but later dies, poisoned by cowbane in Agatha's killer quiche. Of course Agatha is innocent: her "homemade" entry came from a Chelsea delicatessen. Knowing news of her cheating will light up the village, Agatha hopes to save face by proving Reg was murdered, even though the police think it was all a ghastly accident. But was Reg or Agatha the target? And why would anyone want to kill the popular Reg, whose wife was only one of "quite a lot of ladies . . . sobbing into their handkerchiefs" at the inquest? While the murder is occasionally overshadowed by Agatha's settling-in problems, Beaton's ( Death of a Snob ) playful depiction of village life makes it all a delicious romp.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.