‘Agatha Raisin: Devil’s Delight’ by M.C. Beaton

Genre: Adult Fiction – Cosy Crime

Published: 2022

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★

It’s always fun to return to Carsley, though recently the books seem to have gotten darker in tone more generally. There are far more outside influences. In this book there are several seemingly unrelated mysteries that all link together at the end, which is clever, even though you can see it coming.

It’s the characters that keep me coming back to this series, and I don’t like leaving any series unfinished once I’ve started. Toni Gilmour is certainly one of my favourite characters, has been since she was introduced to the series. She just gets on with things, takes risks, and wants to help everyone that she can to better their lives, as she was helped by Agatha to do the same when we first met her. Agatha always annoys me with her love life. She can’t make her mind up and, rather than keeping me engaged in the story, those are the parts that I want to skip past or skim over.

The Agatha Raisin series is supposed to be a cosy crime series but it’s feeling less cosy these last few books, and more serious. Maybe more so since Beaton herself died, but it had started before that as well. I want to keep reading because I enjoy the series, but the tone is distinctly different from earlier books in the series.

It’s still a light and enjoyable read, but there is some darkness creeping into the tone of the book, so I think that’s something to be aware of. A fun and engaging read, nevertheless.