Love Lies and Liquor, M.C. Beaton

Another delightful escape!

I read this book on the couch next to a fireplace with the moonlight spilling all around me through the giant windows of our cabin after R went to bed and DH was watching a TV show that I am not interested in ( Breaking Bad )

Agatha Raisin is always in the grip of an obsession with her ex husband James Lacey.

She is delighted when he asks if she would like to take a vacation with him .

She packs a suitcase full of alluring clothes .

But James is taking her to a dreary town called Snoth-on-Sea

 Its a miserable place and Agatha finds that her dreams of a cosy idyll with James are so far fetched

While eating dinner, a woman on a nearby table is very rude to her Agatha is inflamed and threatens to "kill " Geraldine
 Of course, threatening to kill someone, is a manner of speech. A little hyperbole that we are all used to.

But Geraldine, turns up dead 

Unattractive, plump Geraldine turns out to have had three husbands in the past One of them was a jewel -thief , now serving time

 Turns out Geraldine has his stash !

Who has killed Geraldine? Of course I will not spoil the mystery for you.

 But be assured, the murderer will not be discovered, until the other subplot- relating to laundering money - is also solved

 There is yet another subplot in all Agatha Rasins - her romance with James Lacey

 He is cold and bachelor like and only attracted to her in this story because she seems to have recovered from him.

 This is the very first story in which Agatha finally seems to be growing up

 But does she like it? No she does not!

  Because love is the ultimate addiction

Death of Chimney Sweep

Pure escapism

Nothing is more blissful than the latest Hamish McBeth mystery and a cup of tea!

Hamish is a truly happy man who lives in a small village called Lochduh - in the Highlands of Scotland

He is the man without any ambition.

He loves to solve mysteries and is a remarkably shrewd and relies a lot on his intuition

(The intuition is a lot  like the other series by this author - The Agatha Raisin Series - which I also love )

I have read every book by MC Beaton ( and in fact re-read several of hers )

The story is about a bossy and controlling Captain Davenport - who moves to the village of Drim with his wimpy wife - Milly

Captain Davenport is a spiteful man who is clearly scared of something

One day he he gets a phonecall

He tells his wife that he will be out for the day and that  a visitor may come. Its imperative that she  tell the visitor that the Captain is abroad

His wife- free of her bullying husband - goes down to the village- after letting the chimney sweep in

However when she returns - she notices that blood is dripping from the chimney !

The Captain has been murdered and stuffed up the chimney in his fireplace

The chimney sweep is suspected but he is dead too

As always, Hamish comes to rescue and a few more dead bodies - and a lot of charm later -the mystery is solved