Devils Delight | Death of a Traitor by M.C. Beaton
M.C. Beaton, being written with R.W. Green, has recently released two fun-filled, thrilling cozies to keep readers warm during these cold winter months and to transport them to the quaint British Isles.
In M.C. Beaton’s thirty-third Agatha Raisin murder mystery, “The Devil’s Delight,” (Minotaur) Agatha Raisin proves she will do anything for her client. Literally. In the past, she has coddled wayward Donkeys, conspired with witches, and frolicked with the fairies, but in her most recent adventure, Agatha gives the case her all. Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are traveling to a friend’s wedding when a naked man runs across their path on a secluded country road. Immediately, readers can expect that mayhem and murder will reign as freely as the sunshine on this man’s bottom.
The plot is simple: a missing dead body, an ice cream company, and a nudist camp. Placing those non sequiturs together summons the premonition that wacky private investigator Agatha Raisin will have her hands full in solving the mystery of the now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t corpse and that she will strip off her clothing and strut her stuff somewhere along the line in pursuit of the killer. And of course, a parade of suitors are added into the mix of Agatha’s topsy-turvy life—horny Sir Charles Fraith, straight-laced copper John, sexy choirmaster Giovanni, and the love of her life, James Lacey—as Agatha faces down villains, outsmarts her nemesis DS Wilkes, and imperils her life in chilling form.
QUEEN OF CRIME COMEDY
Her loyal staff of Simon, Patrick and Toni are simultaneously on the trails of a high school drug ring and a brewery robbery investigation, but all paths lead to the funky naturist camp on Sir Charles’ Barfield Estates. Why was the body placed at the nudist camp? Where did it go? And who is the killer, are three burning questions that will keep readers in stitches as Agatha bumbles through the grounds in her birthday suit. Without a doubt, this book proves Agatha will do anything to catch her man, even it if means getting naked to do it.
“Death of a Traitor” (Grand Central Publishing) finds lovable, unambitious Sergeant Hamish Macbeth mourning the loss of his beloved fiancée, Dorothy, who was murdered by the mob on their wedding day in the last novel, “Death of a Green-Eyed Monster” (Grand Central Publishing). Hamish’s tiny Scottish Highlands precinct of Lochdubh is a magnet for crime, and when local busybody, Kate Hibbert, disappears, no one seems particularly upset, except her cousin. However, when Hibbert’s bound body rises to the surface of The Corloch along with a suitcase, her neighbors are not only bewildered, but become suspects in her murder.
The homicide investigation reacquaints Hamish with his old friend and supervisor Jimmy Anderson, Superintendent Daviot, and a string of former fiancées, the wealthy Priscilla and news reporter Elspeth. Hamish is also thrust onto a collision path with his nemesis, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who’s been reassigned from Glasgow to run the show. Blair orders Hamish to keep his investigation local, but after discovering a mysterious package hidden inside Hibbert’s suitcase, Hamish has other ideas. From the looks of it, Hibbert was hiding valuable materials and somebody wanted her dead. Hamish must decipher the clues hidden in those documents to unmask her killer. To do so, Hamish sneaks around, straying far afield from Lochdubh to track down the sinister motives for Hibbert’s death.
IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING
Even though his antics, and the situations, aren’t as outrageous or witty as Agatha’s, readers can rely on Hamish to apply his common sense, vast connections, and charming personality to disarm even the prickliest witness. In “Death of a Traitor,” his thirty-fifth outing, Hamish has developed into a character readers have grown to love, along with his dog, Lugs and his wildcat, Sonsie. Readers will root for Hamish to apprehend the perpetrator and obtain the happiness that always eludes him.
In Agatha and Hamish, Beaton has created a pair of outsiders who complement each other in their longing for acceptance in their adopted communities. However, while outgoing, abrasive, and insecure, Agatha seeks fame and glory. Reserved and confident Hamish is happy to allow his superiors to stand in the spotlight. Regarding love, Agatha is too stubborn to recognize when true love stands right in front of her, and Hamish falls in love too easily with the wrong women. Despite their differences, both sleuths are lawbreakers, animal lovers, and loyal friends to the end.
Readers can only wonder whether, if Agatha and Hamish met, would they live happily ever after together? We can only hope so, and it would be immensely entertaining. In the meantime, don’t miss out on this pair of winners from the queen of crime comedy, M.C. Beaton.
