Rating: 
Summary: Woe is Agatha!
Review: This entry opens with our Agatha newly married at long last to her handsome neighbor James Lacey. Agatha's fans will not be suprised that James's explosive temper and fault-finding only increase after the marriage, and that Agatha's low self-esteem will only allow her to take so much verbal abuse before she explodes in defense and starts breaking dishes. Of course, some Carsely villagers overhear their rows, and see Agatha shriek at James when she finds him canoodling sexy new villager Melissa Sheppard in the pub. So Agatha is the natural suspect when James disappears suddenly and Melissa is found murdered shortly thereafter. Lightweight baronet Sir Charles Fraith returns here, and is unexpectedly attentive and thoughtful (could he actually be growing up?), and helps Agatha investigate. Greed and madness prevail in the solution. Of course, the main point is not the mystery (although it's a rattling good plot, and could stand alone without the added delight of Agatha's personal misadventures). Regular readers will want to know that James is NOT dead, but was suffering from a brain tumor (is this supposed to excuse his swinish behavior?), which is miraculously cured when he stumbles into a French monastery. Even the brain tumor isn't enough for me to develop any affection for the chilly James, who over the past books in the series has developed into just another sexy jerk. Personally, I'm delighted Agatha may get out of this disastrous marriage, and I'm eager to see if younger man Charles develops enough as a mensch to qualify as a legitimate future love interest for my favorite affection-starved heroine. As with each previous entry, I simply could not wait for the next installment in Agatha's adventures! Keep 'em coming fast, dear Ms. Beaton!
Rating: 
Summary: Time flies when you're having fun...
Review: This is a wonderful Agatha Raisin tale, and my personal favourite. It's funny and poignant, and oh so Agatha! We are treated to a whole potpouri of personalities in this book - psycopaths, bikers, drugs and anything else you can imagine. Agatha is finally married to her heart's desire James Lacey, but things are not going well. And then James disappears and all that is left is blood in his cottage and everything smashed! Before Agatha can take that in, she finds that the police think she's responsible for his disappearance since her and James had had a huge fight in front of everyone in the Red Lion before James disappeared. Then a woman is found dead in her home, and the police think James is responsible for that. Determined to clear her name and James', Agatha sets out to find the real killer. And oh what her and Charles find when they start searching into the murder victim's lurid past! This is a wonderful story, and a true depiction of what a cozy should be like.
Rating:
Summary: I too Think this the best of the series.
Review: This is a wonderful Agatha Raisin tale, and my personal favourite. It's funny and poignant, and oh so Agatha! We are treated to a whole potpouri of personalities in this book - psycopaths, bikers, drugs and anything else you can imagine. Agatha is finally married to her heart's desire James Lacey, but things are not going well. And then James disappears and all that is left is blood in his cottage and everything smashed! Before Agatha can take that in, she finds that the police think she's responsible for his disappearance since her and James had had a huge fight in front of everyone in the Red Lion before James disappeared. Then a woman is found dead in her home, and the police think James is responsible for that. Determined to clear her name and James', Agatha sets out to find the real killer. And oh what her and Charles find when they start searching into the murder victim's lurid past! This is a wonderful story, and a true depiction of what a cozy should be like.
Rating:
Summary: For Agatha, Love is Hell!
Review: This is not a marriage made in heaven, in fact heaven tried time after time to stop it before it got started. Agatha just wouldn't be put off. To bad that even into her fifties Agatha hasn't learned that she is a good person deserving of being treated with respect and affection. All the good advice of real friends just won't stop her. Unfortunately Beaton's love-starved sleuth discovers that married, James is just as distrustful, cold and unforgiving a clod as he was single. The bodies add up again, the police slow in solving the crimes and the usual friends show up to sniff out the real lady killer. All the gods of good will and romance can't make a silk purse out of this unromantic pair. Good fun to read anyway.
Rating:
Summary: For Agatha, Love is Hell!
Review: This is not a marriage made in heaven, in fact heaven tried time after time to stop it before it got started. Agatha just wouldn't be put off. To bad that even into her fifties Agatha hasn't learned that she is a good person deserving of being treated with respect and affection. All the good advice of real friends just won't stop her. Unfortunately Beaton's love-starved sleuth discovers that married, James is just as distrustful, cold and unforgiving a clod as he was single. The bodies add up again, the police slow in solving the crimes and the usual friends show up to sniff out the real lady killer. All the gods of good will and romance can't make a silk purse out of this unromantic pair. Good fun to read anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell
Review: This is the 11th book in the delightful Agatha Raisin series. Ideally, the books should be read in sequence, starting with the first and my favorite, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death. These books are light reading and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon or evening. At the title implies, Agatha and her new husband, James, discover that their marriage was a mistake. James then disappears after being attacked and is also suspected of murdering his rumored mistress, Melissa. Agatha, ever the amateur sleuth, is anxious to solve the crime and also clear her husband's name. She sets off with her old friend, Sir Charles, to do both. In addition to amateur sleuthing in the quaint villages around the Cotswolds, Agatha is grappling with getting older and feels "the autumn of her life stretching in front of her." We will have to wait for book #12 to find out how Agatha is coping with being single again.
Rating: 
Summary: Another mystery series in decline
Review: This will be my last M.C. Beaton mystery. Maybe the author is burned out and no longer has the energy to set up a scene (description of how the character got to that scene, what was the weather like, the set up that makes the reader feel he's right there with that character). This lack of atmosphere/setting seems to be very similar to Lilian Jackson Braun's latest books. I can deal with sloppy proofreading (not too happily) but I'd sure like to have some help in mentally picturing the characters moving about instead of reading mostly dialogue. I agree with many of the other reviews in that it's also a shame that Agatha has not developed one bit and that a lot of the humor has been replaced with nastiness. My suggestion to anyone who has not read an M.C. Beaton book (either the Hamish or Agatha series) is to start at the beginning and enjoy her earlier works.
Rating:
Summary: If you're a staunch fan, this book will entertain, if not...
Review: Whether or not you enjoy this latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel is going to depend on just how much affection you have for Agatha, and how much of a fan you are of this series and M. C. Beaton's style of writing. I'll admit to be a staunch Agatha Raisin fan, so my feelings about the latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel are probably a little biased. If you're curious about how Agatha and James' relationship will pan out, then this latest novel, "Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell" will probably entertain; however if you're looking for a really good 'cozy' murder mystery set in the country, this book may be a bit of a disappointment. Agatha and James are finally married. But it's turning out to be the marriage from hell, as James constant criticism wears away at Agatha's self assurance and leaves her miserable. Their fights are grist mill for the village, and matters go from bad to worse when James suddenly sets up a flirtation with one of his old flames, Melissa Shepherd. And then James disappears, his house is in a mess, and there is a blood stain at the doorstep. And Agatha finds herself to be the chief suspect in her husband's disappearance. Worried about James and determined to clear her name, Agatha sets out to find James, but stumbles across Melissa's dead body instead. And now Agatha has find James and prove that he had nothing whatsoever to do with Melissa's murder. Has James's disappearance anything to do with Melissa's murder? Where can James have got to? And is he still alive? Grimly, Agatha clings to the hope of finding James alive as she begins one of the most important investigations of her life. Mystery wise, this latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel is a little frustrating. The plot does not unfold smoothly, but in a rather circuitous manner instead, that almost mirrors Agatha's depressed and numb frame of mind. Agatha and her sleuthing friend, Sir Charles Fraith, move to and fro between suspects, uncovering bits of information that paint a rather alarming picture of Melissa, but which land them no closer to a solution to the problem at hand, until the last few chapters where Agatha makes an intuitive guess and hits the jackpot. Entertaining perhaps, but the solution blindsided me -- perhaps I should have read the book more carefully. On the other hand, I've been dying to see how the marriage between James and Agatha would pan out, and how long it would take before Agatha admitted to herself that James did not have what it took to make an ideal husband. Some fans have complained that Beaton had changed James from a charming and distinguished man to a short tempered fiend. However, James has never really treated Agatha well, even in the first few books. So that his descent into husband from hell did not really surprise me. I just kept waiting for Agatha to wake up before it was too late. What makes "Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell" so very, very readable, is of course its heroine. Fractious, yet endearing, one cannot help but hope that Agatha will find the happiness and companionship she so desperately craves. And Beaton's ironic prose style frames Agatha's quest for happiness brilliantly. And this is what will definitely propel me into reading the next Agatha Raisin mystery novel.
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