Kissing Christmas Good-bye by M.C. Beaton
It's beginning to look as if the bloom has fallen off Agatha Raisin's obsessive love for her handsome ex-husband, James Lacey. Not that Agatha is about to admit to this. No. she's decided that her feelings if ennui are down to the lack of a really good investigation that she can sink her teeth into. So that when Agatha receives a letter from Phyllis Tamworthy who claims that someone in her family is trying to murder her. Agatha thinks that Phyllis Tamworthy may be a nutter, but something about the letter gives her pause. What if it is authentic? What if Phyllis Tamworthy is in real danger? With visions of Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" in mind (Christmas is after all round the corner), Agatha decides to take on the case.
In typical Agatha fashion her Christie-like visions come to nothing. Phyllis turns out to be penny-pinching bully to comes her children firmly under her thumb, while Phyllis' children seem to be so colourless and spineless a bunch, that Agatha has a hard time seeing any of them as potential killers. But when Phyllis drops dead after a truly awful tea, Agatha is sure that a very cunning murderer has struck. Quickly Agatha springs into action, determined to discover who murdered Phyllis, and no one, not the hostile police officers in charge of the case or Phyllis' equally hostile relatives or the twinge in her hip are going to stop her.
We see 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 become friends as well as fellow detectives and Agatha's incredible generosity helping Toni softens the many hard edges she still exhibits.
The latest Agatha Raisin book is a reason to celebrate, so I saved this book to read on a my trip to San Diego. It is impossible to explain why I enjoy her books so much but I do. I cannot even remember who the murderer was but honestly that is not why I read them. I'm glad to see she might be moving past her obsession with James.