DEAD ON TARGET

More murder and mayhem greet Agatha Raisin in the Cotswolds.

Between eavesdropping on family arguments, trying her hand at archery, and watching police detective John Glass, her current boyfriend, fill in as a Morris dancer, Agatha finds the Carsely Village Fete vastly amusing. Her former lover Sir Charles Fraith is on hand, accompanied by Sir Godfrey Pride, whose land is the setting for the fete. Pride, who’s rude and crude, claims an interest in Agatha’s skills as a detective, and they plan on a future meeting. Agatha is pleased that her first attempt at archery goes well, but when a lost puppy leads her to discover Pride dying from an arrow wound, she immediately becomes a suspect to bumbling DCI Wilkes, who can’t stand her. Meanwhile, Agatha’s old friend Roy Silver has become entangled in a business deal with Pride and gangster Freddy Evans. Evans threatens him with bodily harm when he learns that the deal may have died with Pride. Although Wilkes hates Agatha, the rest of her connections with the police are much more accommodating, and with the help of them and the excellent staff at her detective agency, Agatha sets out to solve the crime. There are plenty of suspects who might have killed Pride, a womanizer who was fighting with his children over his country estate. Agatha just needs to find the correct motive and evade aggravation and worse from Wilkes and Evans.

A twisty tale packed with Cotswold trivia and the feisty detective’s ongoing romantic problems.