An Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)

Even the first name of the main character refers to Agatha Christie - maybe with a modern touch, like the possible bisexuality of Deborah or the lesbian couple.

Agatha quits her PR well-paid job in London to return to her quiet life in this English village. James, his friend and she-wishes-he-was-her-lover companion are waiting for her, although she feels depressed because she is afraid that their relationship if going nowhere - he is just not interested in her that way. To fight this and lose weight, she decides to join a group of quarrelsome hikers, led by Jessica, a pushy school teacher. She likes researching about ancient rights of way and confronting farmers. But the local aristocrat is polite and answers her declaration of war with a polite letter and an invitation for tea. Jessica refuses, but Deborah, one of her supporters accepts the invitation. The lord of the house feels interested in meek Deborah, so different to the assertive ladies he usually dates in spite of his butler Gustave's disapproval of the woman. But Jessica doesn't understand politeness, and she goes to confront the man in his castle... and gets murdered. Deborah asks Agatha to investigate, so she decides to join the walkers with James pretending to be a married couple with issues.

For me it was impossible to take this story seriously. If Agatha has lived so long in this town, how is it possible that she and James can pretend so easily to be married and that nobody knows them? A person of unknown past, and a criminal record will NEVER work at a school, not nowadays. Has the author heard about DBS? She can't, because this is impossible - people like these would never pass the scrutiny of a primary school.

Admiral this afternoon / evening.

Picked up while having lunch at the pub today.

On the bookcase in the waiting room on platform 4.

Picked up at Oxford Station, Platform 4 bookcase on 8th November 2017. I was intrigued by the post-it note and Book Crossing details, so couldn't resist picking it up. I can't say the same for the book contents, I'm afraid! This is very badly written and not very credible characters and plot, but it passed the waiting time and journey on a cold, late, dark night. The BBC Radio 4 dramatisations were better, so I'm surprised that the book is so bad. I did finish it, however.
Anyway, I love the Book Crossing concept and the thought of each books journeys. I will definitely release this back into the wild somewhere, and some other books too.