Time to Put Agatha to Bed
922395
I've been reading the Agatha Raisin series for years. I've always enjoyed it. After a long break, I picked this one up and was supremely disappointed. The plot is thrown together. As others have pointed out, the characters never grow. And, the writing is really sloppy. I found several continuity errors in this book. A character is referred to as Sadie and then a paragraph later, Sarah. There were many more things like that but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
There are scenes that aren't even necessary. I found myself thinking, "What does this even have to do with the story?!" There are two different mysteries taking place that have nothing to do with one another and just confuse the story. The characters seem to take too long to realize what is happening. There is something wrong if the reader is five steps ahead of the detective in the story. This was just a horribly thrown together story.

And--SPOILER ALERT:

She says the twins are identical but they are able to determine which twin is still alive because of DNA extracted from a tooth. Identical twins share identical DNA.So, this makes zero sense.
339383
It's getting old.  Time to end this series and move on.  Would like to read other books from this author he has good character developement puts in twists and turns.  Light reading for late at night.
868560
I love this series, but I must admit that it is time to let Gretchen Lowell go. Archie Sheridan needs to take care of this hellacious serial killer before she drives him over the edge. Enough is enough! How many times can this woman escape? Please Ms. Cain, resolve this issue and send Archie on another path and let him live a life pleasing to him.
1076429
I really enjoyed the first book of Tommy and Tuppence but I seemed to get bogged down in this one.  Could have been my mood or maybe just not into the story.  They are older with grown children and the mystery seemed a little forced.  But as always its Agatha Christie and was a good read.
2282689
I have now read 4 of her books, and I love them.  I guess they call them "cozies" and I now understand. Its great to settle down to one of her easy enjoyable reads.  I am also living vicariously thru Agatha. I love the way she tells people off.  "GET STUFFED!"  I wish she would stop chasing James from next door, she needs to be more independent.  I am a little tired of the author's favorite word:  truculent.

The bindings on these paperback are pretty cheap. You have to really smash the book flat to get to the words on the inside margin.

I love Agatha! She is very human.  I intent to read every one of them.  I would like to see her on a cruise, but no romance please!
2399445
Memo to Mr. Parker:  For God's sake, kill off Susan.  I am so sick of her anorexic eating habits, neurotic behavior and ambivalent feelings toward our hero.  Give Spenser a break.  It will do wonders for his career which seems to be stuck in neutral.  Think of the pathos.  A story that has Susan going to that big group therapy session in the sky will be an instant bestseller.  Fans will buy the book just to make sure that she is really gone. Maybe then Spenser and Hawk can get back to kicking butt and taking names, something that they haven't done much of lately.
2463218
It's Christmastime for Queen Betsy and the gang, and she's in for yet another rough week. She's trying to plan a wedding (which her fiance may or may not want to go through with), figure out how to tell her beloved she can hear his thoughts during sex, get to know her half-sister (who happens to be the daughter of the devil), and baby-sit her half-brother (while not killing his mother). Oh, and figure out another streak of murders plaguing the St. Paul area.

The series is still a fun piece of fluff, but this book didn't quite have the pizazz of the previous installments. Maybe it was Sinclair being all mopey (when he wasn't screwing Betsy's brains out), or maybe it was the ever-annoying Jon. I don't know. I'll still keep reading the series (heck, I've blown through the first four books in 48 hours), and have my eye on one of Davidson's other series, The Alaskan Royal Family.
898302
A long book that really didn't take me anywhere the 4th book did.  It's about time to end some of the storylines and put this series to bed.
2118672
Just a little bit too old for me.
Unlike S. Holmes, Agatha is fading on to the past. For me. I WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW HER, HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF THE FINELY CONSTRUCTED, CONVOLUTED PLOT TRICKERY.
2661624
Agatha Christie is my favorite writer. I enjoy reading her books and tend to read her books in a sitting or two as I can't put them down.
4087162
This book was a real snooze.  I especially do not like the new character she has created in DCS Ardery.  I hope she is gone by the next book.  George's last book, "Careless in Red" was also uninspired.  "What Came Before He Shot Her" was outstanding as was "With No One As Witness", the two books prior to CIR.  She needs to write the book that resolves the matter of Joel Campbell and the death of HL.  WCBHSH was the best of George's books to date and I have read them all. Knowing the ending did not take away from the drama - it was sad to watch it unfold..  Let's hope that EG will be back on form with her next book, hopefully, picking up on the investigation of Helen's death. Lynley needs to get to know Joel.  We are all rooting for the Campbell family. We also want more of St. James and Deborah.  I never liked Helen but I am sorry she is gone...Lynley loses some of his class without her.  P.S.  I went back this week and tried to read this book again and found myself skipping over all but the parts where Havers is involved.  I cannot stand Ardery and could not be bothered to read about her.  EG needs to ditch Ardery.  It wsa a real disappointment for her to have Lynley and Ardery have an affair.  It was a low-class type of gimmick that detracts from the storyline. I want more Havers and Lynley and less of the "distractions".
2057232
I do love Miss Marple.  It is an interesting comment on the invisibility of senior citizens that, whenever Miss Marple has solved a truly complex murder and proven her intellectual abilities, no one bothers to give her a ride to the bus when she is leaving the village.  She has once again become an invisible old lady lugging a suitcase.  What a bunch of jerks.
3393060
This is like reading Agatha towards the end of her career. Just rambles on, so vague, well I mean to say, that is, if it were, well ... ad nauseum. The colloquialisms are interesting and some of the characters but for the most part I just wished it would end. And at last it was the end.
565095
Wannabe Agatha Christie. It was ok. I would recommend this book to those that have read all Agatha's books and have a desire for like books. Easy read and pleasant.
2104409
This was one of Agatha Christie's "not so good" books. Thankfully there aren't many but they do exist. Perhaps she should not have mixed genres (spy thrillers and crime). Mind you, there isn't a James Bond chase scene in the book but the opening pages takes the reader to a fictional Arab nation on the verge of a coup d etat and sees its young prince exchanging ideas with his English pilot on how to smuggle out the royal jewels.
I am not spoiling anyone's surprise when I say the deaths in this novel are connected directly or indrectly to the jewels (which have ended up in a girls school, by the way). The three murders all come rather late in the book and as such the revelation of the culprit by Poirot feels rushed.
Yes, the book is touted as a "Hercule Poirot mystery"  although we only get to see him three quarters into the story. Since almost all of the investigation was handled by the local inspector, an undercover Special Branch officer and a very intelligent girl, it would have been better if they tied it all up with no need for Poirot to show up.
All in all, I was not impressed with Cat Among the Pigeons. Those new to her work should start with other titles as this one may turn them off Agatha Christie, who was a good mystery writer actually. Her mystery novels usually ends with the reader (me, in this case) gasping and going, "Damn! She's good."
This one didn't. Nuff said.
4777172
This book is about a Maine Inn keeper. She seems to be in the middle of trouble. It usually involves a murder or two. Always it includes a each or two.
1399016
I am a huge fan of M C Beaton. This was her usual good cozy read. Agatha Raisin is just a "hoot". You just want to say "don't do it" and you know that she is. I look forward to her books and have read each and every one. It is just so  nice to read a cozy mystery, in this violent world.
Another success!