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Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death - M.C. Beaton
by CPTDANIELS ==Synopsis of the book:== Agatha Raisin at 53 has decided after a successful career running her own PR company to retire from active life. She has sold the business, her home and has bought a cottage in a small village called Carsely. However will she able to adapt to life in the Cotswolds after the fast pace of her former ... London life? She realises she needs to make friends and get herself known in her new community. So she decides to enter the village quiche competition. The only problem is she can't cook and has spent the last twenty plus years living of takeaways, microwave meals or dinning out. She knows a good establishment in London for authentic quiches so she purchases a quiche. To her disgust she does not win the competition and tells the judge Mr Cummings-Browne he can keep it. The following day the Police visit Agatha and advise her that her quiche has poisoned Cummings-Browne and he is dead. Agatha has no choice but to come clean about cheating but now she must also clear her name of the murder of this popular man. ==My thoughts on the novel:== I thought this was a good crime thriller. For me this series of stories would appeal to the more mature readers within our society. My reason for saying this is they are interesting, well thought out stories, but for me they lack the depth and modern technology required to solve crimes. For this was a gentle read, I did not feel overly taxed by it and it did not challenge me as a reader. But that can be a positive or a negative as sometimes it is good to read a thriller that is an easy read. I can imagine this would be a popular holiday read as it is quite light. This is not the first book I have read from M.C Beaton or indeed the first in the series I have enjoyed. Beaton is best know for two series of crime stories, the Agatha Raisin ones and the Hamish Macbeth. The Macbeth stories have been transferred successfully to television. While the Raisin series now number 23, I had previously read various stories within the series. I thought this time it would be good to read the first and see how the Agatha Raisin books began. I don't really know what I expected from the first in the series, but as far as I am concerned where the author choose to start Agatha Raisin's story it was a great selection. I say this because she was giving up her successful career and starting in essence a new chapter in her life. As a result I found her new life interesting and enjoyed the challenges she was to face. It was almost like we were experiencing a shared newness and I found that helped me grow to like this character in her new surroundings. My decision to purchase this book had been made on the grounds that I have enjoyed all the other books in the series. I found this one and bought it second hand at Amazon for under three pounds. Although a new one is currently on sale for just 4.34. Added to which I liked the sound of it from the summary of the story. This was a good three paragraphs long and I liked the idea of her cheating in this competition and getting found out. In addition I thought the title of the book was unusual and interesting. When I began the story I found I instantly liked the style of author employed. I felt it was a light hearted read and one in which the leading character was a most unusual lady. She reminded me of a modern day Miss Marple, but whereas Miss Marple or was a harmless old lady Agatha is a 53 year old lady who wants to be involved in everything. She has bound of energy and what particularly appeals to me is she is far from perfect in fact she is quite often bad, such as trying to pass a bought quiche as her own work. The story had a good feel about it and I found very quickly I was immersed in it. The plot was never too complex, it was basically a well thought out story. I really liked the fact the Agatha really cheesed of the locals who she was trying to befriend but her actions backfired on her. This helped me to feel empathy with her when in truth she is a character I have little in common with and so could in theory struggle to understand or like. I think the main reason I liked this book and it was not a feature I noticed so much in the previous stories was the humour within it. I am not for one minute saying poisoning is funny, but because of the actions and what was happening mainly to Agatha it was a most amusing read. And because of good, crisp descriptions you were able to picture the scene and see the clever wit within it. As a result in some respects the crime and Agatha's investigation of it was almost secondary as I am sure when I think about this book it will be the humour within it I will remember not who committed the crime and why. That said the investigation did have a variety of possible suspects and I did not guess the solution to it until it was resealed to me. And maybe because of the many humorous situations Agatha found herself in I did not feel the story had much in the way of mystery or suspense. Added to which I also felt the story lacked many twists and turns as the author choose instead to bring more humour in and make it a gentler more sedate read. The pace of the story I felt was good all the way through and I liked the way Agatha like a typical amateur blundered her way along. And while excitement was generally lacking from the story, I did find the concluding chapters did try and redress this. As the ending was fast paced and well thought out. I think I have already mentioned quite a lot about what I thought of the leading character in the series Agatha Raisin. She is a very feisty lady who quite often uses any means at her disposal to achieve her aims. And while this is not the sort of person I would necessarily like because of this but because she makes mistakes and does crazy things I find I like and respect her. As a result I want her to succeed especially in this story when at one stage it seemed everyone in her new village disliked her. In this story I liked her indecision about whether she would stay in the village as she missed her London life but then she was not so sure, this really endeared her to me as I could imagine most given her situation would feel exactly the same. For me the stories length was about right to tell a good and interesting story. I think for the series to be a success it was important to introduce Agatha in may ways as a flawed character. And so from that point of view for me the humour and dry wit within the story was more important than the crime itself and the investigation of it. ==Conclusion:== I really enjoyed this introduction to the Agatha Raisin series of crime stories and as such I would recommend it. What I really liked was the humour within the story which you could argue took away from the investigation itself. The story was well written and always interesting, but lacked a complex or gripping plot behind it. As a result I found it a very light and easy book to read that did not really tax me, but was still enjoyable. ==Other Information:== Pages: 304 Price: 4.34 Publisher: Robinson Publishing ISBN-10: 1849011346 ISBN-13: 978-1849011341 Year first published: 1992 Thank you for reading my review. This review is published under my user name on both Ciao and Dooyoo. © CPTDANIELS January 2013. Read the complete review |
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A Family Daughter - Maile Meloy
by catsholiday A Family Daughter by Maile Meloy ISBN 9780719566479 Original price £7.99 This was yet another of my free Bookcrossing finds. I love this organisation as I have found so many books that I never would have read without finding them through Bookcrossing. The thing is that I can pick up a book that looks interesting and ... if it proves to be rubbish I have lost nothing and just put it back out there. If I find a good one I can then share it with my friends and enjoy a good book then write a review to earn me a few pennies too. THE AUTHOR Maile Meloy is American and lives in California. Here first novel 'Lairs and Saints' was shortlisted for the 2005 Orange prize for fiction and was also chosen by Richard and Judy as their summer read for that year. THE STORY The story is set in the USA and begins in 1979. The heroine Abby is staying with her grandparents and has chicken pox so in the heat of summer she is trapped indoors with no friends so is feeling pretty fed up. Abby is the daughter of one of Yvette and teddy's children,the slightly scatty Clarissa. They have an older more sensible and reliabke daughter Margot married with children and also a much younger son called Jamie. Clarissa , Abby's mother is mid divorce and in order to cope has sent her daughter to stay with her parents so that she has time to herself over in Hawaii. Abby is miserable until her young uncle Jamie turns up and then she has someone to swim with and enjoy herself and the two become close. Sadly as well her parent's divorce Abby has then later on to cope with the fact her father is killed in a car crash and her one normal parent is lost to her. She turns to Jamie for support and they become even more close and eventually become lovers. They can't help themselves yet they know it is wrong and from this relationship so many ripples begin and throughout the book we see how the entire family and people beyond are affected by this relationship. they know what they did is wrong and so separate and try to form other relationships . They seek counselling but this is not the magic answer. Abby writes a book sort of based around their relationship and this has huge repercussions on the family as you might imagine. CHARACTERS I found the characters very real and although I have had nothing quite as eventful happen in my family I can empathise with each of them as they are human. They are all characters that are neither black or white, at time you find you really want something good to happen for one of them and then they do something so stupid or awful that you want to give them a good shake. I do like it when characters are real and neither all good or too bad. MY THOUGHTS What Jamie and Abby did was morally wrong and incest which is quite taboo in Western society. However it is not a brother and sister nor is it a father and daughter. These are two youngsters who just happen to be uncle and niece and feel very close to each other. It is a grey area and you can't help but feel for them in their predicament. They do manage to form other relationships but always at the back of their minds is their feeling for each other and their constant struggle to fight this. Incest is a tricky subject but I thought the author handles the whole thing well. She portrayed their struggle and their horror at their situation and also how thi affected so many others in the story. This was a family story involving a couple of generations and all the ups and downs that they go through, many sparked off by Abby's book which they are never sure if it is true or not. I did find I was drawn to the stories of some of the characters more than others and each had their part to contribute to the family saga. It was frightening how easily some of the characters fell when faced with a challenge while others seemingly more fragile mentally coped with so much more. I can't say this was the best book i have ever read but is far from being the worst. I thought it was very well written and had so many elements of human frailty in it. At times I was amused at others quite shocked and then later quite sad. It was quite shocking at times but I did quite enjoy the fact that the characters were sympathetic one minute and totally awful the next. It wasn't a relaxing read because of this but to me it was more real because people do tend to be likeable one minute and then do something annoying the next, that is life and no one is perfect in my view. I have not read anything else by the author but having read 'A Family Daughter', I would not be averse to reading another book she has written. I didn't find the sex scenes particularly graphic or titillating. This is no 'Shades of Grey', it much more matter of fact and almost passed over really as the book is not about the actual sex scenes but more about the repercussions of the relationship. To quote the blurb on the back " An engaging and insightful novel about the joys and complications of modern life.... A delicious read." "Maile Meloy writes wonderfully well, with an efficiency so lithe it's like watching an athlete." - Guardan "' A family Daughter' roams engrossingly from California to Paris to Buenos Aires in ways that make it a big book as well as a swift, slender, graceful one." - New York Times It is an easy read in that it is well written and the story flows easily from character to character and it is easy to see how it all fits together. I liked the fact that it ended somewhat open ended as though there may be a sequel. In fact reading the synopsis of her previous book 'Liars and Saints' i do believe this may be a sequel to that one as the event mentioned in that is also in this book but I am only guessing. Thank you for reading . This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name ©Catsholiday Read the complete review |
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Saved by Cake - Marian Keyes
by ryeb I try and bake a new recipe at least once a week, so I get good use out of my cookbooks. At the beginning of 2012 I told my boyfriend that I had made something like 80 different cakes in the previous two years, which must have made him panic that I was going to run out of recipes. [Some chance!] Anyway, a few days later he came back from ... work bearing two new baking books one of which I am reviewing today. It is "Saved by Cake" by Marian Keyes. No, it is not a fiction book, despite the author's fame as a novel writer! THE AUTHOR My boyfriend didn't buy me this book because I am a fan of Marian Keyes, although he thought there was something familiar about her name. I have never read any of her books, and I didn't know she had moved into writing cookery titles. This is in fact her first. The sub title of the book is "80 ways to bake yourself happy". When I read that, my heart sank and I thought "oh no, not another one!". That is because I have lost count of the number of blogs, magazine articles and books explaining how baking cupcakes/bread/anything you can think of has helped someone get over their depression/divorce/entire previous life. I don't doubt that baking a cake can make you feel happy and give you a sense of achievement but I feel some of the authors are peddling over simplistic answers. I don't think Marian Keyes could be accused of the same. The introduction explains her motivation for writing the book and the origin of her interest in baking. She tells us that she suffers from severe depression, and has been on the brink of suicide more than once. Baking has become a distraction from dark thoughts but she never presents it as a cure. In her own words - "to be perfectly blunt about it, my choice sometimes is I can kill myself, or I can bake a dozen cupcakes...I'll do the cupcakes and I can kill myself tommorrow." That sets the tone for the first part of the book, and I could understand some people finding it flippant, or distressing especially if you are a fan of hers. The remainder of the book is like any other recipe book though, and you can leave behind hearing any more of Marian's personal situation if you wish to. THE BOOK ITSELF Rather in contrast to the subject matter of the introduction is the presentation of the book as a whole. The cover is pink and bears a photo of the grinning author in a 50's style scene, surrounded by delicious cakes. Inside there are plenty of pictures amongst the candy coloured pages. The cakes look as though they have been set down in amongst a Cath Kidston catalogue, as they are surrounded by retro flowery prints and girly florals and ribbons. It looks very pretty, and just short of kitsch I think. I can imagine the publishers deciding that suicide and depression wouldn't sell as well as pictures of cute little tea tables. It is a hardback and has proven to be a well made one as it has been well thumbed in the 9 months I have had it. FOR BEGINNER COOKS ONLY? The author had no interest in baking, and no equiptment either, prior to her depression. So having started from the point of being an absolute beginner, she assumes that the reader will be too. Therefore the first part contains useful information such as what equipment you really need and why you need it - the last point isn't always well covered in other books. There are also plenty of useful tips gained from bitter experience. I have used lots of baking books before this one so I didn't find much information that was new to me here. It is still good stuff though - and I can heartily second the advice not to try and transfer a floppy silicon cake tin full of cake mix to the oven without a solid tray underneath! Having a "been there and done that" attitude means that Marian Keyes is not patronising and I think she would fill even the most nervous of bakers with confidence. The above doesn't mean that the book is only for new cooks though. I was pleasantly surprised by the range of creative recipes included as I was half expecting the book just to contain the usual staples such as butterfly cakes. They are all very well explained, with clear instructions and side notes to offer extra advice as needed. This means that whatever recipe I have tackled has been easy to follow, and more importantly, they really do work. TYPE OF RECIPES INCLUDED The first thing that surprised me, given the title, is the fact the book doesn't just include cakes. There are also some biscuit, tart, pie and meringue recipes for example, but as they are nice in their own right I am not going to complain. While there are recipes for basics both big and small such victoria sandwich cake and rock cakes, there are also many more unusual types too. Wasabi Cupcakes anyone? I haven't tried that particular recipe myself! To shortlist my favourite makes from the book is quite hard, as my copy is bristling with post it notes of recommendation. At a pinch I am going to select a sinful Snickers cheesecake which is vegetarian, blondie cupcakes [white chocolate and macadamia nut] which are extremely easy as well as quick, and some chocolate and treacle biscuits which burst with flavour. The last is the only recipe that takes a bit more effort than usual, but that is solely due to the fact they are crumby and need care when handling but you are warned of that fact. There really is a good variation of things to make, whether you want something relatively quick or something a bit fancier for a special occasion. WOULD I RECOMMEND THE BOOK? Marian Keyes doesn't pretend to be an expert, but she has produced a good cookbook nevertheless. I probably would have dismissed the book as a celebrity title that was bound to be full of recycled ideas if I had seen it in a shop. If I had read some of the publicity material online, I may also have thought it was a self help book. For the author it undoubtedly is, but you don't need to suffer from depression to use it! I think the excellent range of ideas has kept me coming back to the book, and it means that there are recipes to grow into once you have mastered the basics. If you want to learn to bake and feel that some books intimidate you by presuming on what you "should" know how to do, this is the book for you. If you know what you are doing already, buy it for the great range of reliable and interesting recipes. If you hate things pink and flowery, you may have to avert your eyes from the pictures though! The book cost £16.99 at full price, but my boyfriend paid £10 and it is still available for that price on Amazon. It is definitely worth that. [This review also appears under my user name on Ciao.] Read the complete review |
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