2008-06-10 Agatha Raisin Investigates

I thoroughly enjoyed these CDs. I've been a fan of Penelope Keith for many years, and think this role - as a kind of latter day Miss Marple - is the best thing she's ever done. She plays a high-powered businesswoman who moves to the countryside and finds she doesn't really fit in, so she has to cheat to get noticed. In the first story, she enters a local baking competition with a shop-bought quiche...only to discover she's poisoned the judge. And in the second, all the villagers have fallen in love with the handsome local vet...who again gets mysteriously murdered. These are very light-hearted murder mysteries: think 'Midsomer Murders' on radio, but the character of Agatha Raisin is such a glorious creation: she's feisty, ballsy, chain-smoking, totally un-PC, and yet somehow incredibly likeable. I was very sad when I got to the end of these, and intend to treat myself to the next lot!