Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Unlike quite a number of people, Agatha had not given up on Christmas. To have the perfect Christmas had been a childhood dream whilst surviving a rough upbringing in a Birmingham slum. Holly berries glistened, snow fell gently outside, and inside, all was Dickensian jollity. And in her dreams, James Lacey kissed her under the mistletoe, and, like a middle-aged sleeping beauty, she would awake to passion once more.... Agatha Raisin is bored. Her detective agency in the Cotswolds is thriving, but she’ll scream if she has to deal with another missing cat or dog. Only two things seem to offer potential excitement: the upcoming Christmas festivities and her ex, James Lacey. This year she is sure that if she invites James to a really splendid, old-fashioned Christmas dinner, their love will rekindle like a warm Yule log. When a wealthy widow hires Agatha because she’s convinced a member of her family is trying to kill her, Agatha is intrigued---especially when the widow drops dead after high tea at the manor house. Who in this rather sterile house, complete with fake family portraits, could have hated the old lady enough to poison her? Agatha sets out to find the murderer, all the while managing a pretty, teenage trainee who makes her feel old and planning for a picture-perfect Christmas, with James, all the trimmings, and perhaps even snow.

Customer Reviews:

a paticularly satisfying Agatha Raisin installment

By tregatt - October 14, 2007

I wholeheartedly concur with the previous reviewers: this particular Agatha Raisin installment is a good one.

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. Isn't just typical then that all of Agatha's Christie-like visions would come to nothing? Phyllis turns out to be penny-pinching... read more

Best yet in the series--and by no means strictly a "holiday" book

By BC - October 11, 2007

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.

Will Agatha Enjoy a White Christmas with James Lacey?

By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" - October 12, 2007

The suspense in Kissing Christmas Goodbye is mostly focused on whether Agatha Raisin will be able to pull off a splendid Christmas party with James Lacey at her side: That's one of her dreams as the book opens. Having grown up as the daughter of two alcoholics in the Birmingham slums, Agatha has always craved a classic Christmas dinner. Her previous attempt hit a major snag when she burned her turkey and had to be bailed out by a last-minute caterer, but everyone had fun.

The detective agency is doing well because Agatha has overcome her scruples about taking on divorce cases, even if everyone on the staff finds them distasteful. But without the fantasy of a man to fall in love with, Agatha finds herself bored by it all. With her Christmas fantasy, she finds a substitute for romantic fantasies.

Life becomes more interesting when Agatha decides to check out an invitation from Phyllis Tamworthy, an elderly woman who claims that her family is about to kill her... read more