Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.75 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best quiche will make her the toast of the town. But her recipe for social advancement sours when Judge Cummings-Browne not only snubs her entry--but falls over dead! After her quiche's secret ingredient turns out to be poison, she must reveal the unsavory truth… Agatha has never baked a thing in her life! In fact, she bought her entry ready-made from an upper crust London quicherie. Grating on the nerves of several Carsely residents, she is soon receiving sinister notes. Has her cheating and meddling landed her in hot water, or are the threats related to the suspicious death? It may mean the difference between egg on her face and a coroner's tag on her toe… (goodreads.com) Confession time: I had no idea what this book was about (beyond a deadly quiche) when I picked it up. I came across it while shelving at the library where I work and I could not stop giggling for the rest of the day. I think the title is hilarious! That’s the sole reason I read it. I thought the title was fantastic. I still can’t help but smirk when I think of it… The Quiche of Death. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be like a pun like “the kiss of death” or if it is simply supposed to be a deadly quiche, but either way, I love it. This book is what we call a “cozy mystery” (the favored genre of mystery loving grannies everywhere). What’s the difference between a cozy mystery and a regular mystery novel? Well, regular mystery novels are usually more action-packed staring police officers or bounty hunters or private investigators or someone else qualified to be tracking down murderers. Cozy mysteries usually focus on someone who solves the case even though they probably shouldn’t be interfering. Cozy mysteries star anyone from old ladies with Sherlockian tendencies to cats. This kind of novel also frequently features baked goods, cats, or quaint shops on the cover and much of the time the titles are puns or a play on words (e.g. Twelve Slays of Christmas, Rest in Pizza, Crust No One, Fudge and Jury, Huckleberry Finished, For Whom the Bread Rolls, etc.). So, now that we all know what a cozy mystery is, let me tell you that I do not usually read them. I typically don’t read any mysteries, but I have read and enjoyed a few. I’ve never read a cozy mystery before this that I can remember. Part of the reason I read it might have been because I’d eaten quiche around the time that I saw it at the library (seriously, I went my whole life with out eating quiche and then I had both mini quiches and regular sized quiche from two different friends in one week). And even though I probably won’t be reading the rest of the series or any more cozy mysteries any time soon, I was glad that I read this one. The protagonist, Agatha Raisin, is not a very likable character and I don’t think she was intended to be. However, you can’t help but root for her and feel bad for her when she’s feeling lonely. She’s also fairly amusing in how she deals with people in her abrasive way and I had fun reading about a main character who just plows right into everything with little grace or cunning. The plot of the book was long, drawn out, and had way too many side adventures. There was one chapter where she just took these two random old people out of the town and the old people were really grouchy. I can’t remember if Agatha actually found out anything more about the case in that chapter or if she was just enduring the old people the whole time. And there were other chapters that were pointless but my cup of tea, like when Agatha arranged a charity auction with the local Ladies’ Society. Pretty much irrelevant, but something that I personally liked reading about. I don’t know if the long gaps between relevant information are something common to cozy mysteries, but it just seemed like there were too many filler chapters even though this is already a relatively short book. If this is a regular trait of cozy novels I probably won’t be reading many more any time soon, but I can see wanting to read one if I’ve been reading too many action books or something and need a break. Also while shelving at the library I discovered that there is a TV show that was made based off of the Agatha Raisin series. While I don’t think I’ll read any more of the books, I probably will give the show a try, just because I think I prefer watching mysteries to reading them in most cases. It seems that the pilot episode/movie covers the events of The Quiche of Death so I’ll probably start out with that and if I like how it is on screen then I might watch more. We’ll see! Do you ever read cozy mysteries? Are there any really good ones out there that I should know about and give a try? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading, but if you’ll excuse me I just left my poisonous quiche in the oven and it’s going to burn! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/139176.The_Quiche_of_Death
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