There Goes the Bride: An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)

This is the 20th book in this series, and I dare say, that this series is turning into one long book. Agatha Raisin is not changing and she is not learning from her previous disasters. You would think that MC Beaton would have been tired of writing the same old, same old, by now, but apparently not.

Agatha's former husband, James Lacey, is engaged to a much younger woman and both wistful and loathing Agatha has been invited to attend the wedding festivities. At the engagement party, she is swept away by Frenchman Sylvan, this is a man that she does not know, but that is nothing new for Agatha, and it is a recurring theme in all 20 books.

Now back to the wedding, the bride, Felicity, is found murdered on her wedding day and shock of all shocks, Agatha is suspected. To muddle matters even further, the bride's mother Mrs. Bross-Tilkington hires Agatha to dig into her daughter's death. Because of course, the mother of the bride would think that the number one suspect would be best at this. Okay, granted, Agatha has an alibi for the time, but still that seemed a bit more farfetched than usual.

It turns out that not only does Felicity's father have some explaining to do so does the suave Frenchman Sylvan. Now Agatha's life is in danger and in danger and in danger since Sylvan will not stop until Agatha is dead.

This book was truly over about three quarters of the way through, but apparently, the page count was not where it should be and suddenly Agatha is thrown into silly situations. I swear if it were not for the fact that I have read this far into the series, I would have thrown the book against the wall and sworn off Agatha forever.

Now the big question - will I continue with the series? Of course I will, I have gotten this far and the recurring cast of characters are entertaining, but I do wish that Agatha would get a grip and learn from the last 19 books and stop acting like a love struck puppy.

Trouble (and murder!) seem to follow Agatha Raisin around. This time when Agatha attends her ex-husband's wedding she doesn't expect the bride to turn up dead, but that is exactly what happens. While Agatha isn't sure how she feels about James Lacey, her ex-husband and on-and-off again crush, she certainly doesn't wish his fiance dead. When Felicity Bross-Tilkington turns up dead right before the "I Do's" the policy point their fingers at Agatha and it's up to Agatha to prove her innocence.

I love Agatha. I have right since the first time I listened to The Quiche of Death on audio. She is a one-of-a-kind sleuth. She's bossy and domineering, she's "mature" and she doesn't deny that she's looking for the love of her life, with sex included! She's fantastic in my books and of course I love reading/listening to every single one of her adventures.

I feel like she's gone through so much and not gotten her happy ending yet, and you can feel that emotional turmoil in There Goes the Bride. I feel like the build up of the last few books is resolved in this one, and she finds her "place" again in Carsley.

Through the course of finding her place she also solves a murder, finds a missing girl and tries dating! Not bad for a "mature" woman that could sometimes give grumpy cat a run for his money!!

I loved There Goes the Bride and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to cozy readers. This is a true cozy, one that will charm you till you turn the last page, filled with delights of the village of Carsley.

A+++