Kissing Christmas Goodbye

The feisty and ferocious Agatha Raisin is back in her 17th adventure with all the charm of a snappy pit bull. Jealous and cranky, yet incredibly kind and generous, Agatha's vulnerability has won her legions of fan who will enjoy this, one of the best in the series. Not only is there a country house mystery, but the Christmas setting adds charm as Agatha prepares to celebrate her best Christmas ever with friends, snow, yuletide decorations, and hopefully, James Lacey at her side. The brightest spot in the novel may be the addition of a new character, teenage Toni Gilmour, whose background is eerily akin to that of Agatha. Toni may be the anti-Agatha: young, beautiful, vivacious, charming and clever. Despite Agatha's occasional bursts of jealousy, the two women are friends as well as fellow detectives and Agatha's incredible generosity in helping Toni softens the many hard edges she still exhibits. Mrs. Tamworthy, matriarch of a highly dysfunctional family, hires Agatha to find the person who is attempting to kill her. More murders follow as Agatha is both friend and enemy to the Tamworthy heirs. There are red herrings aplenty before she finally cracks the case and can enjoy hosting her Christmas party. Will she get the snow she longs for and will James Lacey be the man she dreams he can be? Long-time readers will enjoy visits from Bill Wong, Roy Silver, Sir Charles Fraith, Mrs. Bloxby (and even a deeper look at Alf Bloxby) and another cameo appearance by James Lacey. Two big questions remain to tease readers at the end: is Agatha really over James and has Bill Wong found the girl of his dreams at last? Can't wait for the next installment!

After coming off a more serious Christmas mystery, I'm finding this book welcoming. A treat! Don't want to spoil but if you'd like a yuletide mystery with a slightly irreverent protag., colorful and fun characters, this is for you. Flows, reads nicely, not tedious, I laughed several times and I've just started the book. Glad I picked this as my first A. Raisin as I def. found a new series to tuck into. Enjoy! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

I enjoyed this book immensely. I had a few chuckles. This is an easy to read, quick, fun, enjoyable mystery that once you pick up you don't want to put it down. Hooray for Agatha Raisin, a middle aged but full of life woman. I have read the whole series and was a little worried that Agatha was wearing thin, but this was definitely right on track where it should be

With KISSING CHRISTMAS GOODBYE, M.C. Beaton gives us an exceptionally good story that is not only filled with details of Agatha's life, but also contains an interesting mystery! Agatha Raisin has a rich dream life. In most of her dreams she does wonderful things and her friends admire and love her. She especially relishes the love of her former husband, James Lacey. This time Agatha is planning on having a wonderful Christmas dinner party where the food and decorations are excellent and her guests are full of admiration and love for her. In the mean time, she has her detective agency to run. She needs another employee to work on the missing pet problems and hires a teenage girl named Toni. Toni proves to be even better than Agatha could have imagined. The young woman is smart and has a great deal of incentive. Agatha is, of course, jealous of Toni's youth, beauty and brains, but knows she's hired a good detective. The agency's biggest case involves a very wealthy woman who is murdered before she could cut all of her children out of her will. All of Agatha's detectives get involved in the investigation including her friends Sir Charles Firth and Roy Silver Judith Miller

I'm only giving an opinion, not a review per se, the book jacket says it all. There is a new character that adds a lot of life to the series, very little James (thank goodness) and a dash of Roy, the vicar's wife and Bill Wong all combined with a mystery that for once I didn't figure out before the big reveal. It's light, it's fluffy & it's all Agatha. I loved it so much that I wish M.C. Beaton would slow down on the Hamish McBeth series for a bit & dedicate more time to Agatha Raisin.