Two Agatha Raisin Mysteries

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage, M.C. Beaton, 1996, St. Martin's Press, Genre: Cozy Mystery. 196 pages. Finished 5/29/14.

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist, M.C. Beaton, 1997 St. Martin's Press, Genre: Cozy Mystery. 182 pages. Finished 5/31/14.

LesOpinion: I'm not above admiring well-written books I don't like for their author's skill or even waxing poetic about genre work that doesn't treat the reader like a complete imbecile, but as much as I wanted to like these Agatha Raisin mysteries, it was too clear that author M.C. Beaton was phoning it in. The characters are flat and unlikeable, their actions and words are disjunctive, and the parts that (I suspect) were meant to be funny are just inane. Spare yourself, Gentle Reader, there are better cozies out there.