Agatha Raisin Series by M. C. Beaton

[Jonetta]

***Note: This series group read began as a buddy read between two members that grew to more than five. So, it was moved to our series group read folder.***

This series read will begin in August 2018 and will continue with one book a month until completion unless otherwise noted.

Agatha Raisin Series List

About the series
Agatha Raisin is a frustrated, yet endearing, PR agent who retires from London to Carsley village in the Cotswolds, English Midlands and solves murders. In the first book, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992), Agatha is 53, and ages slowly, setting up her own detective agency in Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (2004). Police, even her friend Bill Wong, see more bumbling luck than skill.

About the author
M.C. Beaton was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department at John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she received an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to become their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing experience, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter.

After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion moved to the United States where Harry had been offered the position of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. They subsequently moved to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs at Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York. Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, supported by her husband, started to write Regency romances. After she had written close to 100, and had gotten fed up with the 1811 to 1820 period, she began to write detective stories under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Hamish Macbeth story. Marion and Harry returned to Britain and bought a croft house in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. When her son graduated, and both of his parents tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds, where Agatha Raisin was created.

While Marion wrote her historical romances under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, as well as several pseudonyms (Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward), because of her great success with mystery novels as M. C. Beaton, most of her publishers both in the U.S. and abroad use the M. C. Beaton pseudonym for all of her novels.

Reading Order
1. The Quiche of Death - August 2018 Book Discussion
2. The Vicious Vet - September 2018 Book Discussion
3. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener - October 2018
4. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley - November 2018
5. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage - December 2018
6. Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist - January 2019
7. Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death - February 2019
8. Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham - March 2019
9. Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden - April 2019
10. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam - May 2019
11. Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell - June 2019
12. Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came - July 2019
13. Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate - August 2019
14. Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House - September 2019
15. The Deadly Dance - October 2019
16. The Perfect Paragon - November 2019
17. Love, Lies and Liquor - December 2019
18. Kissing Christmas Goodbye - January 2020
19. A Spoonful of Poison - February 2020
20. There Goes the Bride - March 2020
21. Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body - April 2020
22. As the Pig Turns - May 2020
23. Hiss and Hers - June 2020
24. Something Borrowed, Someone Dead - July 2020
25. The Blood of an Englishman - August 2020
26. Dishing the Dirt - September 2020
27. Pushing up Daisies - October 2020
28. Agatha Raisin and the Witches' Tree - November 2020
29. Agatha Raisin and the Dead Ringer - December 2020

[Anita]

I didn't realize there were that many books in this series.

[Christina T]

Lol it's going to be a long process to read them all won't it? If I could commit to 2 a month I would but unfortunately my reading can be pretty sporadic and I would hate to let anyone down. So by early 2021 we should finish this series lol.

[Jonetta]

Lol!

[Sharmon]

I won't be able to commit to all of them but I may try and jump in once and a while. I have read some but it was before I was tracking my reading so I am not sure which I have read.

[Christina T]

Welcome Sharmon!

[Jonetta]

I’ll set up a separate thread for each book as you’re ready to read them.

Let me know if the discussion group would be okay since this is such a big series. I’d post the link above. Dlyn, here’s a link to the group for your reference.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Christina T]

I love the discussion group. It keeps our group and buddy reads all together and doesn't clutter this group up.

[Jonetta]

Great! We use that for our series group reads. I’ll set up your book threads the same time I create those each month. I’ll also monitor your planning here to follow if you ever make changes to your schedule.

Up to you guys if you want an informal discussion (like that Laura and I did for Love and Other Words) or if one of you wants to create discussion questions. It will be your thread to manage as you see fit.

[Charlene]

I have friends (a husband and wife) who recommended this series to me a few years ago. I have needed a kick in the pants, I guess, to get started on these books. I'll join the group/buddy reads, assuming most of them can be borrowed from the local library. I expect they will be available. Great idea!

[Christina T]

Yay! Welcome Charlene.

[Karen ♐]

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read a "cozy mystery". I'm going to try the first book and see if I like it.

[Christina T]

If you wouldn't mind, Dlyn, that would be amazing. If it is too much we can always have an open forum type discussion.

[Anita]

Karen ♐ wrote: "I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read a "cozy mystery". I'm going to try the first book and see if I like it."

They are great fun and focus on the mystery rather than romance.

[Charlene]

Just requested first book from library.

[Christina T]

I've found my copy as well. Looking forward to reading it!

[Tammy]

I would also like to commit to the first book and join this group. If I like the series, I will stick with it. :) Sounds like it will be a good read.

[Jonetta]

Your links to the discussion group for the first book are now set up (above and on the topic set up here).

[Jonetta]

By my count, it looks like there are five of you committing to participate in this buddy read:

1. Dlyn
2. Christina
3. Anita
4. Charlene
5. Tammy

Sharmon, I have you as a “maybe?”

If the above is correct, I recommend we move this from buddy read status into the series group read folder. Though this wasn’t through the voting process, you organized this informally, which I find fantastic.

Let me know what you think.

[Christina T]

I would be a-ok Fire that switch.

[Jonetta]

Done! You’ve been relocated.

[Charlene]

...just so I can find you, I'm happy!

[Jonetta]

Lol!

[Jonetta]

Dlyn wrote: "I am willing to make discussion questions if anyone wants me to. :)"

Let me know if you’d like help setting up the questions in the book discussion group. If you’d like, you can PM the questions and I’ll set them up.

[Tammy]

Works for me! Thanks!!

[Sharmon]

Yes, I will be joining in when possible!

[Jonetta]

Please let me know if any of you plan to read the third book.

[Christina T]

I'm just now finishing the first book and I'll plan on continuing but it will be a couple months before I get to the 3rd.

[Jonetta]

When you’re ready, let me know.