Very enjoyable cozy mystery. I can see why it was turned into a show! Definitely would recommend to other mystery fans.

For the most part I enjoyed the story. Some parts, I got lost and it didn’t make sense where it fit in. Like the beginning of the novel, it look too long to get to the point. Moreover, towards the end of the story, there seemed to be extra “stuff” that could have been wrapped up sooner. With all of that being said I did enjoy the entirety of the novel.

Love this! M. C. Beaton is amazing - she gives what you expect, but it’s always what you want. It’s very entertaining and a good addition to the cozy mystery genre.

I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Agatha Raisin is a middle-aged PR exec turned PI, who is tired of missing cat and divorce cases, and is excited when an elderly woman is hung in the witches tree. Now Agatha is wrapped up in three murders. Soon a police officer ends up dead plus another elderly woman, and a coven of witches has targeted Agatha.

However, more time is spent on Agatha's morose whining about not having someone to love and trying to figure out who she might want to stay with. This is my second Agatha Raisin book, and I really had high hopes that maybe I would like this one more, but I think maybe this just isn't the series for me.

The witches tree by MC Beaton.
After two people are found hanging from the witches tree Charles brings in Agatha Raisin hoping she will solve who murdered these two people then he will say it was him. But will there be more? Who is it?
This was a good read although I read it I couldn't get into it like I normally do. I did like Agatha character. But that's about it. 3*.

"The Witches’ Tree continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin mystery series―now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television.

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead―and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster, has been murdered―and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion (a little glad for the excitement, to tell the truth, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books). But Sumpton Harcourt is a small and private village, she finds―a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation―and even her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better..."

Wait, the show is still on? I ask because most fans of the books I know don't like the show...

. .

The Witches Tree by M.C. Beaton is the latest Agatha Raisin mystery. I have read and enjoyed many of the books in this series and I was excited to read this latest book. In this book, Agatha encounters a dead body hanging from a tree. She also deals with personal issues regarding romance in her life. I really had difficulty getting into this book. It seemed so unlike the other books in this series. Agatha was a very different character and the plot lagged quite a bit in places. The earlier books in this series are wonderful and I would recommend them. This book, I would not recommend. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher. These opinions are entirely my own.

Thanks to the publisher, via Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Agatha Raisin returns and is up to her old tricks. Unfortunately it seems to be the same tricks that she's always up to. I think Agatha needs some new characters to interact with, perhaps even a move to another village or at least house sitting for a friend in another local. For me, this was a disappointing read.

Great entry in the long running Agatha Raisin cozy series. This sinister story of murder and possible witchcraft in a small village welcomes back Agatha to her old self (she was acting weird for a few books) and with a truly interesting mystery. Murders were a little more creepy than usual. Great addition.

M.C. Beaton submerses detective Agatha Raisin in multiple murders, witches, and village intrigue in The Witches' Tree. Agatha is between relationships but investigates these murders with both her ex-husband and old friend Charles. Then a coven of witches takes against her. Good cosy village mystery.

I've read a couple Agatha Raisin books, but it's been a while- I was shocked to see that this is book 28 in the series! I remembered them being darkly funny.

Unfortunately, for me it has been too long. The take-down of the placid English country village lifestyle was kind of fun, and Agatha is very much herself. But I had no idea who her co-workers were, how the complicated past with her roommate/sometime lover worked, and Agatha was sad and lonely a lot. This isn't a good place to dip into the series.

The Witches Tree is the "28th" book in the fabulous Agatha Raisin Series by beloved author M.C. Beaton. This is one of my favorite all time series and I love every book this wonderful author writes. This is the quintessential cozy mystery with all the elements done to perfection. The setting is a small village in the Cotswold's, , the characters. are all done to perfection and the sleuth is superbly crafted for maximum enjoyment of the reader.
To me this is one of the best cozy series I have read and my top number one series. M.C. Beaton is a brilliant author, she weaves a excellent mystery that always surprises me and her setting, events and suspects are a delight to encounter in the pages. Each book places the reader in the Cotswold village it is so deftly designed by the author. You cannot help but adore Agatha as she is every woman struggling with all the issues of growing older while maintaining appearances and a career. Agatha is a delight . She is sarcastic, funny and far from perfect but brilliantly played as she always solves her case. Her detective skills are unmatched.
M. C. Beaton is a treasure and we readers are so grateful to her for continuing to write this wonderful series when she could be retiring . Thank you with gratitude to the publisher for the gift of the ARC which did not influence my review.
This series is a treasure not to missed. I highly recommend this next in series for every mystery reader to enjoy. Well Done !

This was my first Agatha Raisin book, so perhaps I came into this at a disadvantage. There isn't a whole lot of character development here. Getting to know the characters comes mainly through their interactions and dialogue.

My main problem with this book was that I didn't like Agatha at all. She is bitter and envious of her friends; of everyone, really. She desperately wants a man, and it seems just about any man will do. She chases them about like a teenager with out of control hormones. She's rude and demanding to her coworkers and her friends, expecting to snap her fingers and have things done for her. I was hard-pressed to find something likable about her so that I could care what happened in her life.

I did enjoy the eclectic cast of characters. While some are stereotypical, their outrageous and flamboyant personalities brought the story to life.

The plot is a good, old-fashioned English mystery. I wondered where the police were during most of this investigation, though that's often true of cozy mysteries. Spending time in the village while the mystery unravels was enjoyable.

*I received an advance ebook copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*

This was my second Agatha Raisin book and while the first one I read was okay for me, this one, not so much.

It was a good story but Agatha Raisin just really got on my nerves in this one. She's always pining for a man and looks at every man like a dog in heat and wonders what he could do for her.

While I thought it was funny in the first book, not so in this second book that I read.

There were lots of other interesting characters and the story was good, Agatha's narcissist personality overwhelmed everything else for me.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I am a huge Agatha fan. While this book was not my very favorite I always like to check in and see what she is up to. Fortunately she never changes too much. It's like comfort food. You absolutely want it to change up a little, but not much! A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a preview copy of this book. It's been a while since I read an Agatha Raisin book and this one was worth waiting for. A mixture of mystery, comedy and romance made this an absolute delight to rerad. If anything, Agatha and the other characters become more amusing as the series progresses. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and an interesting storyline once again. Already looking forwards to the next in the series.

The newly appointed vicar of Sumpton Harcourt and his new wife discover a body hanging in a tree on their way home from a dinner party. The victim is an elderly woman with no known enemies. Private detective Agatha Raisin gets involved in the case, but finds it’s hard to get answers from anyone who may have useful information regarding the woman’s death. As the case goes on and more deaths occur, Agatha starts to doubt her own abilities and begins to wonder if local gossip could be true. Could a coven of witches really be behind the crimes? Agatha just can’t give up though and is determined to save her reputation and prevent a murderer from striking again.

The latest installment in the popular Agatha Raisin series has a good plot and includes all of the important characters from the series. The investigation has plenty of suspects to keep the reading guessing, even as the body count continues to increase. The inclusion of witches makes it a fitting story for October. I enjoy the atypical main character, Agatha, who is intelligent, outspoken sometimes to the point of being rude, extremely loyal to her friends, but unexpectedly vulnerable. Agatha’s weakness is she wants to find love and has a knack for going after the wrong men, in part because of insecurities going back to her childhood. The longer this series continues, the harder it gets to see Agatha set herself up for heartache, and it would be nice if she and Charles either finally admitted their feelings for each other or allowed each other to move on to find real love. It seems as if something more might be developing between the two in this book, but then things end up as usual with misunderstandings, assumptions, and unspoken feelings between the two.

The mystery itself is interesting, although Agatha does have to go in circles for a while in the investigation. The other members of her agency assist, but if you hadn’t read prior books in the series, you will not feel you get to know the other characters. I love Agatha and love the series, but something is lacking in this book. The narrative is often choppy and the dialogue is lacking depth. Although I enjoy spending time with Agatha and her friends, I was left disappointed by The Witches’ Tree and can only recommend it to those who have been following the series and want to keep up with what’s going on in Agatha’s life. New readers would be better off seeking out older books in the series to truly appreciate Agatha Raisin.

~ Christine

M. C. Beaton is known for two series of books, one featuring Hamish Macbeth (whom I adore), and one featuring Agatha Raisin. Agatha is a character that the other characters in Beaton's books tend to dislike so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I don't care much for her myself. I feel rather bad about this given that she is a woman of a certain age (mine) who has bad a name for herself and runs her own business. But to call Agatha "independent" would be wrong. She is forever trying to find the love of her life; she wants the full on romance. I tend to come away from books featuring her feeling that we've dwelt entirely too much on Agatha's problems with men. Which isn't fair, I suppose, when I consider how much time is devoted to Hamish's love life in his series. Nevertheless.

This time it really did feel a bit like Beaton forgot all about the murders as the book went on. Even when we got to the end, it felt like Beaton had forgotten to tie up some of the loose ends. In some books, that would be alright. But this is a cozy mystery and cozy mysteries are meant to finish all neat and tidy. In fact, there was a lot about the book that felt as though it hadn't been thoroughly thought out, from the fact that the coven so much is made of that ends up featuring almost not at all to conversations that don't seem to flow properly. My copy is, as I note above, a egalley. Perhaps before the book went to press, some of those concerns were cleaned up.

In the end, it's a fun enough book (if one can say a book in which four people are murdered is "fun"). It just wasn't up to the standards of Beaton's previous books.

If I was making a list of series that I really enjoy but sadly neglect Agatha Raisin would be high on my list. This is a series that I'd love to go back and start at the beginning. The mystery is good and Agatha herself is flawed, at times annoying, but always herself and I can't help really liking her. I loved how she was brought into the mystery in this one. There's quite a lot of curiosity, a little bit of deception and a surplus of vicar's wives.

This book starts out with a mention of Agatha Christie which is always a good sign and the mystery didn't let me down. Just who was Margaret Darby and how did she get herself in the Witches' Tree? Agatha gets involved in what seems like a fairly tame but bizarre village mystery which quickly turns sideways when the body count starts rising and the threats start appearing. The mystery starts with a humorous note (never base a dinner party on a dinner party held in a Miss Marple mystery) and quickly turns intriguing. I was immediately pulled in and flew through this one all the way to the end.

Agatha Raisin has a LOT of back story - 27 books worth at this point. However, I've never had a problem jumping in at random places in the series and this book proved no different. While I don't know all of the history between Agatha and Charles or Agatha and many of the other characters I had no problem getting the general idea very quickly. Beaton makes Agatha so real that I don't feel like I need to know all the ins and outs to understand her as a character.

If you enjoy a solid mystery with a character you love but sometimes want to reach into the book and give a Gibbs-style head slap this is a mystery for you. This mystery is quirky, page turning, and lots of fun!