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The Hidden Assassinsby: Robert Wilson |
Agatha Raisin and the Haunted Houseby M. C. BeatonM.C. Beaton is becoming as famous for her Agatha Raisin series as she is for her Hamish Macbeth books. The character of Agatha is so aptly portrayed, with her middle-aged ego, her lies, subterfuges and weaknesses, that Agatha is immensely likable despite her faults. This is another of M. C. Beaton's English cozy mysteries, and reads like one of Agatha Raisin's comfortable old outfits – it's easy to put on, feels good, and wears well. Never mind that it's not dressy. Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House may lack the spit and polish of some psychological thrillers or the suspense inherent in stories of serial murder, but it's nonetheless a very entertaining book.Agatha Raisin fears getting old, and suspiciously checks out her body as often as she can. She's especially watching that tell-tale bit of neck under her chin. And although she keeps telling herself she's through with the male sex ever since her neighbor James married, then divorced her, moving away - she's still very aware that another man has moved into the cottage next door. Supposedly married, Paul Chatterton seems to live alone. Agatha has resolutely managed to completely ignore him while the other ladies of the village bombard him with gifts of food. Latest gossip in the village of Carsely is that an older woman living in the neighboring town of Hebberdon is living alone in a haunted house. Agatha is apprised of this first by her friend Mrs. Bloxby, the vicar's wife, then by her new neighbor Paul Chatterton. Agatha, sprawling on a deck chair in her backyard with a face covered in sunblock and her two cats playing around her, isn't prepared for male intrusion. Sullen at first, Agatha finally agrees to accompany Paul to Hebberdon to see if they can lay the supposed ghost. This is when the first of Agatha's many efforts to impress her male escort with outfits comes into play. And her lengthy periods of trying on one costume after another only results in Paul's impatience to be off. Then when they arrive in Hebberdon, Agatha is surprised to find that instead of the wizened little old lady she expected, the woman living in the so-called haunted house is more like a giantess and at least six feet tall. Her name is Mrs. Witherspoon and she appears less than grateful for their offer of help. Mrs. Witherspoon has lived in the present cottage all her life, and refuses to be frightened out of it by the recent haunting, which involves whispers, footsteps, and a cold mist seeping under doors. When Paul and Agatha get her to agree to their staying the night in a downstairs room, Mrs. Witherspoon reluctantly agrees with the caution that they're not to make any noise and wake her up. What follows is the mist seeping under the door and Agatha confronted by what she thinks is an apparition – causing her to flee unceremoniously, leaving Paul in the lurch. When he calls her at home, of course she must return and pick him up, since she's left him stranded there. Mrs. Witherspoon, however, has decreed that neither of them are ever to set foot in her place again. Mrs. Witherspoon obviously doesn't have a very good reputation in Hebberdon. The locals feel she created the haunting herself just to attract attention. And she wasn't at all kind to her grown children. So in spite of the fact that they've been warned off by the police, Agatha and Paul continue to question people – especially after Mrs. Witherspoon is found dead at the bottom of her staircase with a broken neck. Circumstances are such that those in charge doubt it was only the fall it appears to have been. Carol and Harry, Mrs. Witherspoon's daughter and son, are immediate suspects after an inquest jury announces they believe Mrs. Witherspoon's death to be 'murder by person or persons unknown.' After the inquest, Agatha and Paul continue attempts to discover all they can about the murdered woman – and in doing so, naturally arouse the ire of the murderer and put themselves in danger. The result is that Paul is locked away underground in an out-of-the-way place while Agatha and Sir Charles Fraith, a rather presumptuous man who has helped Agatha in sleuthing before, deal with the murderer himself. More than one murder is committed throughout the novel, and the motive is not what you're led to think of at first. M. C. Beaton knows her craft, deftly leading you from one suspect to another with ample reason for each to be the perpetrator. My only concern is that perhaps not enough space is given to the haunting, since that appears in the title. And although Agatha Raisin has been compared to Christie's Miss Marple, I see no similarity whatever, other than the fact they're both adept at uncovering the solution to any mystery. Agatha Raisin stands on her own, a character who blunders her way through rather than make comparisons, and a character who decidedly possesses a very different personality! Alan Paul Curtis |
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