I'm going to miss MC Beaton. R W Green did a good job. ( )

Yay for Agatha Raisin! She's the perfect companion for a gloomy day when I have a load of reports to churn out at work.

The mystery was fun to work out and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me engaged. The characters, especially the regular cast, are funny and feel very real and fleshed out. I suppose after 30 books, they should. This is only my third book in the series - I read the first two - and watched most of the TV series. I can absolutely see myself hunting down the older books to enjoy though.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the audiobook to review! ( )

Agatha and the Murder of the Bride
Review of the St. Martin's Press Minotaur hardcover (December 2020)

Hot to Trot finds Agatha Raisin interfering in the marriage of friend and sometime lover Sir Charles Fraith who has made a marriage of convenience to cover the debts of his estate. Ex-husband James Lacey is back as well and joins Agatha in some of the escapades. The bride is murdered and Agatha is on the trail in order to clear both Sir Charles and herself from suspicion.

The hardcover edition includes a Foreword by continuation writer R.W. Green describing how he worked with M.C. Beaton on this final Agatha Raisin book which she collaborated on. Generally I think that Green will do fine with the series in the future. He makes a few mistakes such as having James Lacey call Agatha by the nickname Aggie, which I'm fairly certain was only ever used by Roy Silver and Sir Charles in the previous books. Also, it seemed totally out of character for Sir Charles' butler Gustav to act friendly with Agatha, even if he was also working to clear Sir Charles from suspicion in the murder. But I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend etc.

I'm continuing to enjoy the fun of these cozies which are somewhat different from the TV-series which I saw first. Sir Charles is much more of a recurring character and occasional love interest than he is in the screen adaptation and his cheap and chintzy manners are played up quite a bit.

Hot to Trot was a collaboration of author M.C. Beaton (one of the pennames of Marion Chesney) (1936-2019) with continuation writer R.W. Green. A continuation series Book 32 Down the Hatch written entirely by Green is yet to be released, and is expected to be published in October 2021.

Trivia and No Link
Hot to Trot has not yet been adapted for the currently ongoing Agatha Raisin TV series (2016-). If they continue adapting the books roughly chronologically then it would be several years away from being adapted, assuming the TV series carries on that long. ( )

Finally Agatha has given up the fags and is all the better for it. Kinder to herself & others, she’s mellowed and matured. Disappointing and Sir Charles’s involvement which seems very out of character ( )

This was the last book that was written by M.C. Beaton before she died. As far as I am concerned it was the best as well. Agatha was in hot demand by many men as it should be! She had her own detective agency. I just loved it! ( )