This is the 32nd Agatha Raisin adventure and I've read 23 of them. MC Beaton chose a collaborator and her successor so the series continues after her passing. This is the first written under the name of R. W. Green. I actually like the mystery. Agatha has grown a little and changed through the years. She isn't the fish out of water in the Cotswolds. She has friends and employees that work with her and rely on her. This book follows the basic pattern of Agatha coming across a body. The coroner declares it accidental poisoning. But Agatha knows in her gut it is murder, especially when she can't find anyone who is sad he is deceased. Her private investigation agency also has a couple of other cases, one has Agatha crossing paths with exotic animal traffickers. Her ex-husband and another previous love interest make appearances. Honestly, I would be been fine with the series ending with Beaton's passing. But I'm willing to give the new author a chance to see where Agatha is heading. The book for me is three stars but I'm adding a star because of the delightful narration of Dame Penelope Keith on the audio book. She and Agatha are a winning combination. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

EXCERPT: The scream came again.

This time, there was no mistaking the direction. It had come from behind the tall hedge bordering the path along which Agatha was walking. She ran towards a black wrought iron gate set in the hedge, thankful that she had changed her fragile office high heels for more robust low wedges before taking her walk. Bursting through the gate, she found herself in an area of flat open lawn. There were three people there dressed in white. One was a grey-bearded man lying on the grass, one was an elderly lady collapsed in some distress and the third was an old man, tending to the woman. Agatha rushed over to the woman, who was breathing heavily, clearly distressed, her eyelids fluttering.

'What happened?' asked Agatha, kneeling to talk to the man, who was cradling the woman in his arms.

'My wife collapsed,' he explained, then nodded towards the figure lying on the grass, 'when she saw him.'

'I'll be fine....' the woman gasped, looking up at her husband, 'a little thirsty...'

Agatha reached into her handbag and handed the woman a small plastic bottle of mineral water that was to have been part of her calorie controlled lunch. She also grabbed her phone, calling for an ambulance while heading towards the man spread-eagled on the grass.

'Yes, an ambulance, please. Mircester Park at the...' she glanced up at a sign above the door of a neat pavilion that overlooked the lawn, 'Mircester Crown Green Bowling Club. One woman collapsed and one man...' she looked down at the grey-bearded man on the ground, 'looks dead.'

ABOUT 'DOWN THE HATCH': Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green--with the body of an old man lying at their feet.

The man, who the coroner determines died by poisoning, was known as the Admiral, a gardener notorious for his heavy drinking, and Chief Inspector Wilkes writes the death off as an accident caused by the consumption of weedkiller stored in a rum bottle. Agatha is not convinced that anyone would mistake weedkiller for rum but carries on with her work at Raisin Investigations, until she receives an anonymous tip that the Admiral's death was no accident.

Local gossip points to the Swinburns themselves as the killers, spurred by a feud at the club where they, as well as the Admiral, were members. Distraught at this accusation, they turn to Agatha to clear their name, and she takes the case--despite the warnings of Chief Inspector Wilkes.

Agatha encounters one suspicious character after another, becoming further enmeshed in the Admiral's own dark and shady past. And when she's run off the road, narrowly escaping with her life, and then another attack occurs, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the case closed--and will stop at nothing to prevent Agatha from solving it.

MY THOUGHTS: This is the 32nd book in the Agatha Raisin series and it's a lot of fun. If the fact that it is the 32nd book is a little daunting, let me reassure you that there is absolutely no need to have read the previous books to enjoy this. Each book works perfectly well on its own.

I read the very first in this series, The Quiche of Death, many years ago and didn't like it at all. Then a few years ago I came across another Agatha Raisin, I can't remember what it was called, but I quite enjoyed it and have been dipping in and out of this series ever since.

Down the Hatch is a classic English mystery set in a village in the Cotswolds, and the first death occurs at the local bowling club. Who knew bowlers were such a feisty lot?

There is plenty of misdirection in the form of red herrings and plenty of suspects at whom to point fingers. Not only does Agatha have a murder or two to solve, but also exotic animal smugglers to catch, which almost proves to be her undoing.

The majority of characters might best be described as bucolic, with the exception of Agatha and her sidekick Toni. Agatha upholds her standards with her high heels and handbags, the latter of which came in jolly handy in this story.

I thought the action leading up to the resolution was rather clever, and I enjoyed it. I will certainly be picking up more in this series to read.

Dame Penelope Keith narrated the audiobook of Down the Hatch. I could listen to her all day. She narrates Agatha beautifully, although she did slip back into her own voice occasionally when narrating long passages of other characters. It really didn't seem to matter, though.

There was a rather interesting foreword by R.W. Green, who has taken over the writing of the series since M.C. Beaton's death in 2019. There is also an introduction by M.C. Beaton in which she explains how the Agatha Raisin series came about.

This was a fun mystery, which I almost got right.

⭐⭐⭐.6

#DowntheHatch #NetGalley

I: @mcbeaton12345 @blackstonepublishing

T: @mc_beaton @BlackstonePublishing

#audiobook #contemporaryfiction #crime #murdermystery #privateinvestigator

THE AUTHOR: Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, 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 went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.

Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 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 Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of Down the Hatch by M.C. Beaton and R.W. Green and narrated by Dame Penelope Keith for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

I loved this audiobook installment of the latest Agatha Raisin mystery series. The narrator does a great job of bringing the characters alive!

I just adore Agatha Raisin!

This is a long-running series (this is book 32) featuring amateur sleuth turned PI Agatha Raisin. I have read the first 17 in the series and have also seen the TV shows. What keeps me coming back to this series is Agatha’s character because she is funny, feisty, and politically incorrect at times. The beautiful setting of a Cotswold village is also a huge part of this charming series.

In this latest installment, Agatha happens upon a man, known as the Admiral, who has been poisoned. When the local police write it off as an accident, Agatha sets out to prove The Admiral was murdered. Although Agatha’s life is messy and chaotic at times, she still manages to solve the case.

Sadly, the original author M.C. Beaton passed away in 2019. Therefore, I really appreciated the introduction by the new author, R.W. Green. I am happy to report that I think the book is written in the style of M.C. Beaton and is true to the character of Agatha Raisin.

Audiobook Narrator: I think that Penelope Keith is the perfect narrator for the Agatha Raisin audiobooks. She elicits the humor of the book without making it seem too silly or slapstick.

I so very much loved this series prior to Beaton’s passing and was Leary of someone else trying to fill her shoes, even with her blessing, However, this did not disappoint. It was very much in the spirit of previous books and just as fun!
After the death of the Admiral, an older man who was much disliked by those who knew him,Agatha is involved in looking into it because it seems like it’s more than just an accident. There are too many other that have reason to want him out of the picture. In doing so, there’s another murder and Agatha’s employee gets hurt and Agatha is nearly killed. All is not as picturesque in Cotswold as you would expect.
Fun and easy way to pass the afternoon.
Thanks to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

Wow, I was so excited to listen to this book, as I have read all of M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin books, and I have watched all of the Agatha Raisin tv shows! I just love Agatha Raisin and I felt so grateful for the chance to read this book. I just loved it so much and it is one of the best Agatha Raisin books I have read. The story and the characters are so funny, and I was laughing out loud all the way through reading the book. It is just so hilarious and it really brought me a lot of joy and delight. I love how eccentric the characters are and the humour in the book is just my cup of herbal tea.

The story is about Agatha investigating the murder of The Admiral, who is a gardener, and who was poisoned. As she goes through her investigation, looking for clues, she is attacked, but she doesn't give up until she finds out who killed The Admiral. Agatha has plenty of helpers and all our old favourites are back, such as James, Charles, Toni, Simon, Bill, Roy and Mrs Bloxby. And, of course, we have Wilkes on the other side. Agatha enjoys a bit of romance in this book and she seems to have settled down a bit.

I loved everything about the book - the story, the characters, the setting, the book cover and the audiobook narrator. The whole book is a huge delight and R W Green has done a wonderful job in continuing and expanding on the work of our beloved M C Beaton.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Out since yesterday (US) or the beginning of the month(UK)! Happy belated Pub Day to this classic gem of a cozy mystery !

MC Beaton passed away in December 2019. Fortunately for her readers she chose a successor and collaborator: R W Green, to carry on with her Agatha Raisin series. "Down the Hatch" is the first book completely written by Green, and it's a good one. There is a lot going on in this book, and all of it is classic Agatha Raisin even if RW Green has put his own touches on it mellowing Agatha’s abrasive personality just a little bit and making James a Little less pompous !

All of the " old" characters are in the book, and it was so good to revisit them and catch up. The story, an unusual poisoning plot set at the local bowling club, had plenty of twists and turns, and kept you guessing right until the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it for an entertaining read.

Narrated by the incomparable Dame Penelope Keith !

Thank you to @blackstonepublishing @netgalley for providing me with an advance listener copy in exchange for an honest review !

3 stars

A fun book, but it’s not the best murder mystery I’ve ever read. Honestly, this reads more like a small town intrigue featuring gossipy & quirky characters, with a light side of crime solving.

[What I liked:]

•Agatha Raisin is a great character! I love how sassy she is while simultaneously being so proper. I also love how she’s a mentor to her employees while being allergic to relational moments, which she considers “mushy” 😂

•The narration & dialogue are witty, with a delightful sense of dry humor. I quite enjoyed reading the narration because of that.

•I love how Simon goes undercover as a garbage collector 😂 That and the animals bit were quite amusing.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Much of the story is spent on Agatha’s drama with past boyfriends & ex-husbands suddenly reappearing. I wish more time was spent on the actual main plot, i.e., the murder mystery.

•The mystery with the Romanians wrapped up too quickly & neatly. It felt manufactured.

•Agatha is casually racist towards the Wong family (who are Hong Kong/Chinese-British). She rags on their food & the smell of it. She also is condescending & judgmental of their decor which uses bright colors, calling it distasteful interior decorating.

•The main plot (the murder mystery) isn’t developed much & is suddenly explained by Agatha in a “big reveal” at the very end. That’s not my favorite narrative device in mystery novels. ….aaand the villain just admits everything when confronted, way too easily.

•Agatha constantly worries about her figure, her weight, & her calorie intake throughout the book. It’s to the point that I’m concerned she has body dysmorphia &/or the beginnings of an eating disorder. Not that I think that those issues shouldn’t be explored in literature, but it’s just so casual & normalized in this story; which is something I do not appreciate as someone who struggles with those issues myself.

CW: sexism, sexual harassment, murder, substance abuse, incest

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

I enjoy this series and I love Agatha! Cozish mysteries are one of my favorites! I can tell a difference in Agatha's voice since the passing of the original author but he is getting there with finding his way for Agatha. I am looking forward to see how he continues with this series.