Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (Agatha Raisin series #12)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

 M.C. Beaton  (2002)

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I am in the midst of the Goodreads.com 2020 reading challenge.  This is my third challenge year and I am 4 books behind schedule.  Yikes!  To make a framework for the books I would read, I established a reading protocol early in the year to make book selection easy and organized.  Of course the closure of the libraries in my town make it a little awkward.  Each book chosen for this challenge must fall into one of the following categories:

     1. Authors recommended by other readers (author must be new to me)
     2. Any recommendations by my fellow readers of the online mystery reading group established in 1993 on Prodigy
    3. The next book in a series I have been reading
    4. The next book in a series I have abandoned (in an attempt to revive my interest)
    5. A book that references a historic event or period that is not in my lifetime  
    6. A book that references any historic event or a biography of a famous person who lived in my lifetime.  
    7. New mystery author with setting in USA.
    8. New mystery author with setting in western Europe.  

This novel satisfies Protocol #3

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Another warm summer day with Agatha Raisin ends up being quiet enjoyable.  Nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a protagonist who ends up locked in a meat locker.   I seriously forgot it was 90 degrees on my balcony!  

This cozy mystery series of an amateur detective (who is also a frustrated adult female in very high heels) and the men she chooses--never disappoints.  This is not a spoiler, but this novel begins with Agatha being quite frustrated, and she finds a way to be frustrated at the end.

This series is best read in order.  If it were just about the mystery, the series can be read in any order, but it is the frustrating romance situations Agatha encounters that are best when read in order.   For example, besides a mystery this time, Agatha has to juggle at least 5 men.  One who has disappeared, one who married a younger female in Paris and poor Agatha did not even get an invite, a very young male friend who comes in and out of the story, a police detective who seems to enjoy Agatha's style of investigation, and then there is some old guy who wants to kill her.    Not a bad romance gang of characters.

If a mystery reader needs to cuddle up with a series for the winter and/or the pandemic days we have left, this series is one I would suggest.   This is book 12--and I know there will be more.  How do I know?  Well, at the end of this mystery, Agatha cannot stop thinking of the guy who disappeared.  There is love in the air and if nothing else in book 13, Agatha is going to find it. (I hope).

I will be sorry when this series comes to an end.

The Good Killer

Harry Dolan

February 2020

Nothing better during these quiet days at home during the pandemic than a Harry Dolan mystery novel.  This is his latest release.  Reading his mysteries is like settling down in a quiet room and not agreeing to get up from your book until the end.   His sentence structure is so smooth, that the story just slides along with your eyes and you cannot stop "stream-reading".   

No spoilers in this review, but I cannot deny that there are some rough action events in the mystery storyline.  Just sign it off to the fact that rough and tough men read Dolan novels, too.    After the yoga chapter, its fair balance! 

The protagonists are Sean, the good killer and Molly, his significant other girlfriend, and they are running away from antagonists: Jimmy, Nick, Kelly, Tom and Lincoln.   Molly takes a little time off to attend yoga week in Montana as mentioned.  The antagonists find her.  OOPS!! 

Then just to make the story really fun to read, there are some characters to keep track of because they round out the plot.  They are:

•      Adam, (Molly's old rich guy boyfriend)
•      Howard Frazier and his wife
•      Henry Keen
•      Steve Z
•      Carla Whyte
•      Dalton Webber
•      Noura Ibrahim
•      Ray and Rapheal..a little love story between two detectives-- don't miss that.  It's cute but not cozy.          
•      Rose Dillon   She plays a significant role as this story begins.  But as the mystery builds, you almost forget about her. She shows up to close the story and turns out your reading light as this mystery is solved, resolved and sadly for the reader, it ends.   But Rose insists having her own ending.
•      Cole, the friend with the black boots.  Some friends are hard to forget

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Favorite quotes: 

"We look ahead.  We prepare. That's our advantage.  Because we know the battle's coming."  (Sean Tennant)

                             

"Today a new sun rises and we start again".  (Molly Winter)

Just perfect for encouragement during the pandemic. 

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I love these mysteries and hope you will soon join me in that love as well!!  (I did read the first three Dolan mysteries in order and I advise that, but the last two have been wonderful stand-alones.)

Pick up this mystery--and stay safe. 

Let me know what you think and certainly what you are reading!