Agatha and Charles try to get Theresa to go to the police, as she has Antonio's tickets and passport for Spain. And while that's certainly reasonable, after 33 books, I found myself missing the grumpy, hard-charging Agatha Raisin of old. Agatha and Toni are on the way to a wedding when they are stopped by a naked man who says he's just found a dead body. C. Beaton, pen-name of Marion Chesney (1936-2019) due to her great number of published works which helped me through the lockdown periods of the pandemic. Really the only downside here was that the villains were made to be quite obvious even from their first appearances, so there was no really mystery to the solution.

When a women is describe as having a dress big enough to be a marquee tent if needed, I stopped reading. There’s a lot going on in the story and lots of characters to keep up with but it was missing it’s classic Agatha wit and humor for me. Then before she knows it, she says she will go with him to a barbecue of the Mircester Naturist Society without any clothes! Agatha always went to the restroom to fix her lipstick because she didn't want to show up in public without her lipstick on perfectly. After Agatha sees Ursula again, she is suspicious even more as Ursula doesn't seem that she is in the least bit upset that her husband is dead.The detective is toying with idea of reconciling with her ex-husband (and next-door neighbor) James Lacey; Agatha is trying to be 'just friends' with her former lover, Sir Charles Fraith, but Charles has other ideas; Agatha is drawn to Jasper Crane, the chairman of the Naturist Society; Agatha has dinner with handsome Giovanni, who's producing an opera for the church; and Agatha goes out with Inspector John Glass, who's helping her investigate the homicide. DEVIL'S DELIGHT delighted me with its nudists and witches'Gumshoe Review'A Beaton novel is like The Archers on speed' DAILY MAIL'The detective novels of M C Beaton have reached cult status' THE TIMES'A blend of Miss Marple's insight with the cunning of every murderer she ever revealed . Her natural voice has always been pleasant, but she is also extremely talented at performing various accents or regional dialects, adding a lisp, and supporting personalities related to gender, age, and education. Audio “Delight” I picked up the audio version of Devil’s Delight thrilled to discover that my favorite actress, Dame Penelope Keith, once again is the narrator enriching my listening pleasure.

Agatha remembers that her good friend and ex lover Sir Charles Fraith owns the land that the nudist camp is on. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. The often penurious Sir Charles Fraith is having a flush period and even drops 20 pounds into the honesty collection box when he and Agatha visit the Rollright Stones location (a subplot using the real-life historical neolithic site). During a time when even the libraries were closed there were a huge number of her Hamish Macbeth (now 35 novels from 1985 to 2023) and Agatha Raisin (now 33 novels from 1992 to 2022) cozy mysteries which were available for free via Audible Plus.

The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages and have sold more than twenty-two million copies worldwide. First, I am a big fan of the Agatha Raisin TV series so I was predisposed to like these characters and their quirks. But Agatha and Toni grow suspicious after meeting some of the club’s members, whose diverse interests range from artisanal ice cream to ancient curses. Agatha and her team have a few cases to solve, including a disappearing dead body, theft at a brewery, and drug dealing at a girls school.

Google-worthy elements are added about the Rollright stones, Whispering Knights, the King Stone, and the Lone Warrior, the Italian opera Cavalleria Rusticana, and even unique ice cream flavors…chili peppers? In this one, Agatha and Toni Gilmour, a detective in Agatha's detective agency, Raisin Investigations, drive to Agatha's friends at the police force wedding. Meanwhile, Agatha's detective agency takes on two more cases: The owner of Watermill Brewery believes someone is stealing property from his company and Agatha's employee Simon goes undercover to check it out. Agatha might come across as a bumbling, hard-to-please fusspot at times, but she is a smart cookie and in this novel, she shows some vulnerability.

Toni and Agatha are in the car on the way to Officer Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding when, much to their shock, a naked young man bursts through a hedge on the side of the road and comes running toward them.