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Penelope Keith stars as Agatha Raisin, the Columbo of the
Cotswolds, in two full-cast BBC Radio 4 Dramas based on the
best selling books by M.C. Beaton...
The
Quiche of Death & The Vicious Vet is
the first volume of Agatha Raisin audio plays to be
released through BBC Audio. Both stories feature Penelope
Keith as the curmudgeonous Agatha Raisin - a middle-aged woman
who has retired from the cut-throat world of PR and moved
from London to the sleepy village of Carsely. With too much
spare time on her hands, she also discovers that she has a
knack for amateur detective work.
The
two plays on this double CD collection were originally broadcast
on Radio 4 in May 2004 (the first as a one hour special and
the second split into two half-hour parts).
The
Quiche of Death:
This story opens with Agatha retiring from the world of PR
and moving out of London to Carsely. She is desperate to fit
in, but doesn't have a clue how to, until she discovers that
he big annual local baking competition is coming up. There's
one problem, Agatha has never been one for cooking. Determined
to win, she calls an old friend in London and invites him
down for a few days, with the proviso that he picks up a quiche
from an expensive London bakery before he comes down. But
when the judge is poisoned after eating Agatha's entry she
investigates and uncovers a web of extra-martital sex and
pastry-based favours.
SPOILER
ALERT (Skip the following paragraph if you don't want to read
a major spoiler)
The
biggest problem with this release is that nowhere on the CD
sleeve does it let the potential purchaser know that this
is Volume 1 in the series. We received this and Volume
2 at the same time to review and by pure chance
I listened to Volume 2 before I listened to this release.
As I listened to this CD, it was pretty obvious who had killed
Agatha's neighbour in the opening episode. As I already knew
that her neighbour was James Lacey, and he doesn't appear
on the first episode, it was safe to assume that the murdered
man's wife killed him - allowing the house to be put on the
market. Okay, she could have moved away to start afresh because
the house had too many memories, but you soon learn that she's
not the sort of woman to let something like that bother her.
The
Vicious Vet: A handsome vet is found stabbed with a syringe
full of tranquilliser. Was it an accident or did someone put
him to sleep? Agatha ropes her new neighbour James Lacey into
helping her investigate who killed the village vet - and in
the process they resort to barefaced lies, burglary and interfering
with a crime scene before the police arrive.
Agatha
literally bumps into her new neighbour after fleeing from
the sexual advances of the vet. Her driving is hampered by
a number of things - the fact that she's had a few too many
drinks, the heavy snow and her need to get away from the vet
as quickly as possible - and actually makes her fender bender
much more believable. Things don't get off to a good start
between Agatha and James - he's a pretty blunt character,
thanks to his military background, and the two are more alike
than they know.
As
they investigate the unfolding murders, they make all the
mistakes of a couple of have a go heroes without a clue of
what they are doing. Again, this helps to lay the foundations
of the series. Neither have any real background in criminology,
and the fact that they learn as they go helps the listener
to connect with both of them.
If
you ignore the fact that the main character is obviously called
Agatha in an attempt to fool the book buying public into thinking
- at a quick glance - that this is an Agatha Christie crime
series, this is an enjoyable collection of tales that comes
to life incredibly well thanks due to the impressive vocal
talents of Penelope Keith and Malcolm Sinclair.
Darren
Rea
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