Cozy alert! (The character’s first name was a clue).M.C. Beaton‘s AGATHA RAISIN wasn’t even a private investigator for a good piece of her career. When she first appeared, in Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death way back in 1992, she was just your typical amateur sleuth– a successful, middle-aged public relations agent who had recently sold off her London PR firm, and taken early retirement and settled down in the sleepy, touristy (and fictional) village of Carsely in the Cotswolds, a few hours west. She was also, perhaps surprisingly for a cozy, a little obnoxious–bossy, cranky, cynical, outspoken and stubborn. Perhaps, not surprsingly, her love life also stank.
But she had other things to keep herself (and readers) busy. She stumbled upon, or otherwise became involved in homicide cases with alarming regularity, resulting in regularly scheduled novels (she’s on the one-a-year plan for almost thirty years now), all titled “Agatha Raisin and the…,” and proved to be quite the amateur sleuth, just abrasive and gritty enough to avoid tripping my gag reflex.
Naturally, Agatha was surrounded by a large, diverse and mildly odd but endearing cast of characters, all hopelessly entangled in each other’s lives, including her pal Police Detective Bill Wong, her young assistant at the agency Toni Gilmour , her ex James Lacey, her secretary Mrs. Simpson, the disapproving vicar, Reverend Alf Bloxby and (sigh) her cats Hodge and Boswell. Cupid also makes regular appearances–this series always seems to have some relationship or another blooming or withering.
And so it goes…
In the last of these “branded” novels, Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (2004), perhaps realizing she’s about to become a one-woman, soap opera version of Cabot’s Cove, Agatha opens an actual detective agency, Raisin Investigations, in the nearby (and also fictional) town of Mircester.
But don’t expect the series of lighthearted cozies to reboot dramatically once Agatha turns pro–she’s still her charmingly prickly self, and her clients are still small town folk, with small town problems: missing pets, background checks, and children and husbands who have strayed. Of course, even the most trivial of these cases usually turn big and nasty.
But not too nasty, of course. Private eye or not, these are still cozies at their core, and a good chunk of Agatha’s “cases” still come from her “just happening” upon a murder (or a corpse) at a wedding or at her hairdresser’s.
These they’reway popular cozies, it turns out, with a large and endearing cast of characters, set in a small (and scenic) village in England. It’s hard to believe it took them so long to bring it to television. American Anglophiles in particular would just eat it up–and they did! The pilot and first series were put out by Sky One in the U.K., but by the second season, Acorn, the American “British” channel, had jumped on board as well.
Mind you, Agatha’s character in the TV series (played by Ashley Jensen) is notably different from her depiction in the novels. She’s less prickly and a little softer around the edges (and prettier), and the large cast is even more hopelessly entangled in each other’s lives.
NOVELS
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992)
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (1993)
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (1994)
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (1995)
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (1996)
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (1997)
Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (1998)
Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (1999)
Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (1999)
Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam (2000)
Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (2001)
Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (2002)
Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (2003)
AGATHA RAISIN AND THE QUICHE OF DEATH
(2014, Sky One)
Pilot
120 minutes
Premiere: December 26, 2014
Based on the novel by M.C. Beaton
Written by Stewart Harcourt
Directed by Geoffrey Sax
Starring Ashley Jensen as Agatha Raisin
Mathew Horne as Roy Silver
Katy Wix as Gemma Simpson
Jamie Glover as James Lacey
Matt McCooey as DC Bill Wong
Jason Barnett as DCI Wilkes
June Watson as Mrs. Josephs
Lucy Liemann as Sarah Bloxby
and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Jez Bloxby
AGATHA RAISIN
(2016–, Sky One/Acorn)
Series
20 episodes, all 60 minutes, unless otherwise noted
Based upon characters created by M.C. Beaton
Writers:
Directors:
Ashley Jensen as Agatha Raisin
Mathew Horne as Roy Silver
Katy Wix as Gemma Simpson
Jamie Glover as James Lacey
Matt McCooey as DC Bill Wong
Jason Barnett as DCI Wilkes
June Watson as Mrs. Josephs
Lucy Liemann as Sarah Bloxby
and Rhashan Stone as Jez Bloxby
SERIES ONE
The Walkers of Dembley” (June 7, 2016)
Hell’s Bells” (June 14, 2016)
The Wellspring of Death” (June 21, 2016)
The Potted Gardener” (June 28, 2016)
The Vicious Vet” (July 5, 2016)
The Day the Floods Camet” (July 12, 2016)
The Witch of Wyckhaddent” (July 19, 2016)
The Murderous Marriaget” (July 26, 2016)
SERIES TWO
The Wizard of Evesham” (November 19, 2018; 90 minutes)
The Fairies of Fryfam” (December 24, 2018; 90 minutes)
The Case of the Curious Curate” (January 28, 2019; 90 minutes)
