SUGAR AND SPITE

Agatha Raisin continues her duel with choleric DCI Wilkes when he writes off a murder as an accident.

Agatha’s detective agency is doing well. So is her romance with former DI John Glass, who’s soon to leave on a two-week cruise as a dance instructor. Attending a lecture on bird watching given by three local Cotswolds women whose friendship is long but rocky, Agatha watches as they’re threatened by Gethin “Guy” Fawkes, a local farmer who doesn’t want anyone "trespassing" on his land to look at birds, even though the women say they have a legal "right to roam." On their way out for dinner the next day, Agatha and John come upon a road closure, and her old friend DS Bill Wong tells them that a woman’s been killed by a falling tree. The woman is Joan Feldrake, one of the birders, and both Agatha and a reporter think that something’s not right with the accident scenario. Joan’s brother is dating Mary, another of the birders, and seems in an awful hurry to wrap up her estate. In the meantime, Agatha’s flamboyant friend Roy Silver, who’s horse riding in the area, tells Agatha that one of the neighbors of the riding stable suspects Fawkes of stealing her sheep, even though they’re not actually disappearing. Since two of the birders have been lured to the woods by a message about a rare bird, Agatha and Roy go looking for Joan’s missing phone and find another body. The phone opens up new avenues of investigation in a case of multiple murders with many red herrings.

Lots of mystery in a package that makes you laugh and cry.