TV Series review: Agatha Raisin

                                                 

Agatha Raisin is a sharp-witted, very attractive PR executive who swaps her high-flying London career for a quiet life in the English village of Carsley, imbued with the bucolic charm that only English villages with extraordinarily high murder counts can achieve. The Cotswolds seem to be light years away from the hustle and bustle of London life, but Agatha is kept very busy as murders follow in her footsteps. Soon she is an unofficial sleuth, and very shortly after her talents are both recognised and deplored by the local coppers, she opens an official detective agency. The series is adapted from MC Beaton’s novels of the same name and blend quirky charm with cosy murder mystery and the unique sense of ‘Britishness’ of a typically English rural setting.

Ashley Jensen is Agatha; attractive, quick-thinking, and with a love of very expensive shoes with very high heels. I think a large section of the budget must have been devoted to the shoes. She lives next door to James Lacey, played by Jamie Glover, and their on/off love affair plays out over the episodes. He is handsome, rugged-looking, suave, and well-dressed. Even his jeans are pressed. However, he is a bit of a stuffed shirt and pretty soon I thought Agatha was better off without him. So did she. Then we have Sir Charles Fraith (Jason Merrells) who is a confirmed flirt and desperate to find love. He lives in a stately pile that any woman would be happy in. The exact opposite of James, Sir Charles always looks slightly dishevelled, as if he jumped into a laundry basket and then wore what stuck. He is so funny and disarming and is much more appealing.

The coppers mentioned above start out like the Keystone Cops so it’s easy for Agatha to run rings around them. Matt McCooey plays DC Wong, a handsome half Japanese officer who is utterly sweet and disarming. Jason Barnett plays DC Wilkes, a chubby black officer who is very officious and has a few run-ins with Agatha. These two are hilarious and prove that there are no small parts. However, the absolute scene stealer is Marcia Warren as Mrs Boggle. The name says it all; the old lady who inserts herself into every aspect of village life. She is so funny and well worth watching. There are no age barriers when it comes to acting.

The absolute joy in watching this series is the ensemble acting. The village has a great sense of camaraderie and so do the characters who make up Agatha’s team. There are a few more I have not mentioned. While there were a few determined DEI castings initially, I think soon the scriptwriters stopped meddling and the makeup of the village was determined by the stories and the situations leading to the murders. This is a great pick for weekend viewing but be warned: you will binge watch so make plenty of popcorn!

Movie Review: The Commuter

 

I started watching Fuze which sounded exciting; a WW2 unexploded bomb in London. What a boring and dismal movie. A wooden Aaron Taylor-Johnson headed up the army detail sent to defuse it. Long and dreary, with much time wasted in exchanges with various people who seemed to have no connection to the various departments in the army. No sense of panic and mayhem when people were being evacuated. It was so dull that I stopped watching and found The Commuter, starring Liam Neeson who does thrillers so well. Yes, it sounds like a rehash of Non-Stop, set on a plane, but this one is set on a train. When an insurance broker, Michael MacCauley, very strangely loses his job and is on his way home, his future in tatters, he is approached by a woman who says he can earn a quick $100,000 by doing one very simple thing. But as with all these scams, nothing is ever simple.

The photography is excellent and Neeson comes across as a man who has had his nose to the grindstone, weary and beaten down by life and mortgages and bills. His desperation fuels his frantic actions, as he must identify someone on the gradually emptying train. A witness to a murder committed by the cops. This is not just any murder. It reveals deep-seated political corruption. But as he tries and fails and tries again, it seems as if the woman who hired him has her claws in his family, and the people she works for have infiltrated so deep.

The action scenes are just spectacular and Neeson is incredibly fit. He was 64 when this movie was made. The focus is on his character, but this does not bypass others like Vera Farmiga (the woman), Sam Neill (chief of police), and Patrick Wilson (his former colleague in the force). Critics complained they were underused but there are no small roles, only small actors and an observant viewer will see the back script, the history behind the relationships, and the tiny nuances that say more than the dialogue. A look, an expression, eyes shifting sideways tell the viewer what is really happening. The suspense and tension escalate as the train journey comes to an end, and the witness must be found. The final train smash sequence is absolutely breathtaking, and it must have been spectacular on the big screen. If you want action, a hero, an almighty train smash, justice, and deep politics corruption in spades, this is your movie. Make popcorn. Lots!

TV Series Review: Gone

 

Gone is a British TV series starring David Morrissey. The story revolves around the disappearance of a headmaster’s wife at the elite boys’ school in Bristol where they both work. One day Sarah Polly just does not come home. Her husband Michael takes a while to report her missing, which immediately raises red flags. The school rallies around him but he is a hard person to sympathise with, appearing cold, uncaring, indifferent, and guilty. There’s no body, no note, no indication of whether she left on her own or was kidnapped. Gradually initial sympathy from the other teachers, parents, and the boys turns against Michael, and he becomes the prime suspect. When her body is found in the woods, not far from their home, next door to the school, the gloves come off and the police actively seek to pin the murder on him.

David Morrissey gives a master class in restrained anguish. Gradually the icy wall he has constructed around himself starts to crack and finally break. In an amazing performance, he demonstrates the class and social issues in the UK, the school ethos, the personal history that moulded him from boy to man; and the breakdown of the marriage. Also revealed are the machinations of the various teachers and their pursuit of career goals, the marital issues of several parents, with each new reveal taking the viewer deeper into a maelstrom of drama, deception, lies, and obfuscation. When the murderer is finally revealed, I was gobsmacked. I had no idea.

For once the scriptwriters used a light touch in the casting and we did not get the usual heavy-handed woke nonsense with unsuitable POC castings that require dense backstories to explain why they are there. Every character was cast in a believable way and there were no ‘issues’ aired that had nothing to do with the story, which is a refreshing change from the usual tiresome twaddle peddled as British TV entertainment. Generally, an excellent cast, albeit overshadowed by Morrissey whose agony over the death of his wife and indeed the death of his ambitions and dreams tears at your heart.

If I have one criticism, it is the casting of Eve Myles as DS Annie Cassidy and the lack of due diligence by the scriptwriters, who clearly have no idea of how the police work and how police procedure is followed. No detective secretly records a witness or a suspect. It would be completely inadmissible in court and violates all protocol and the suspect’s rights. No detective inserts themselves into a suspect’s home and takes up residence there day and night. No detective initiates ‘intimate’ conversations and oversteps the boundaries. Eve Myles was misdirected and as a result the series lost a lot of credibility. The producers fluffed quite a few procedural steps. However, apart from that, Morrissey is riveting, giving a towering performance. Watching him was an absolute pleasure. The character breaks down once in tears and, like me, I think viewers will also reach for the tissues. Do not miss it. Scores a perfect 10.

Book Spotlight: To Murder a Marquis by Arabella Sheraton

 

When Jane Carstairs goes to Chelston Hall to complete an archival project, she wakes up in the woods there, only it's no longer 2015 ... it's 1815, and she's faced with the discovery of a possibly dead man…

Escape into the drama and romance of the Regency era with To Murder a Marquis, an immersive time travel adventure full of mystery and passion!

When modern-day Jane Carstairs awakens in 19th century England, she’s thrust into a captivating world of lords and ladies, grand estates, and old-fashioned courtship. But Jane soon realizes there’s a sinister murder plot afoot. As Jane works to discover the truth, she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue. Will she solve the mystery in time or fall victim to the assassin? And can Jane resist the magnetic pull of attraction in this unfamiliar era?

Transport yourself back to the richly detailed Regency world and join Jane on her unforgettable quest for justice and love. With vivid descriptions, gripping suspense, and passionate romantic encounters, To Murder a Marquis is a time travel adventure you won’t want to miss. Embark on the journey today and discover why readers are raving about this unique, spellbinding tale of courage, connection, and timeless romance.

Read Sample Here.

To Murder a Marquis is available at Amazon.

╰┈➤Book Details

➢Title: To Murder a Marquis

➢Author: Arabella Sheraton

➢Genre: Regency Romance

➢Sub-genre: Time Travel

➢Language:English

➢Pages: 324

➢Publisher: Bublish

➢Publication Date: February 23, 2025

➢Formats: Paperback, Kindle

➢Paperback ISBN: ‎978-1647048969

➢Price: Paperback $14.99, Kindle $2.99

╰┈➤Excerpt

Furious barking woke me from a very nice dream in which my ex-fiancé Allan Hunter was on his knees, begging me to stay, and I had just flung his ring back in his face in a most satisfying manner. The fact he’d dumped me for a full-breasted bistro waitress called Tawnee—that’s right, with a double “e”—who clearly said all the right adoring things, had the intelligence of a single-celled organism, and was a tigress in the bedroom was something I chose to ignore.

The dog wouldn’t stop barking. I opened my eyes, and there he was, a beautiful russet-coloured retriever, barking like mad, but with his tail wagging. Still slightly dazed, I shook my head. What the hell was I doing lying under a tree? I was supposed to be in the library at Chelston Hall, helping Dad, who was in hospital in London with bronchitis, collate the archives of the Hadley family. I could almost hear him say, “Jane Carstairs, what on earth are you doing there when you should be working?”

The dog was still barking. I’m not afraid of dogs so I raised myself on one elbow. “Here, boy. What’s the matter?”

I held out one hand for him to come over and have a sniff as an introduction. The dog took a few steps forward, then ran back to his original spot, and barked once. Clearly, a clever canine. He was telling me something. But what? I struggled to sit up. For some reason, my clothes were constricting; something like a straitjacket encircled my chest. Instead of my casual T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, I wore an ankle-length flowing dress, and short lace-up boots, along with a tight, short, long-sleeved jacket. I was in period costume straight out of Pride and Prejudice. Not funny! Someone had obviously pranked me but managing to undress and get me into this suffocating costume was beyond a joke. Plus, how did I get from sitting in a chair in the library to lying under a tree? 

Back to the dog again, which now seemed very agitated. He ran back and forth a bit and whined. By pulling my dress and copious amounts of petticoat up to my knees, tearing something at the jacket shoulder in the process, I managed to stand. The dog ran off through the trees as if on a mission. Maybe someone was hurt, and the mutt was looking for help? Dogs can be so clever that way. Running in the narrow skirt was impossible so I hitched the skirt as high as I could and chased after the dog. Ten minutes later I arrived, panting, at the scene of a bloody accident. Bloody is no exaggeration. A man, also dressed in period costume—riding gear—lay on his back, his arms flung out. He was either asleep, or unconscious, or ... I didn’t even want to consider the last option. The dog stood next to him, its tail wagging. It looked at me, whining as if to say, “Help him.” I knelt and took a closer look. Robert William Edward Hadley, the Marquis of Coleston, lay before me. An arrow protruded from the top of his left shoulder, a massive amount of blood soaked the front of his fawn-coloured coat, and he looked very dead.

– Excerpted from To Murder a Marquis by Arabella Sheraton, Bublish, Inc., 2024. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

From Jane Austen to Georgette Heyer, Arabella Sheraton has found both enjoyment and inspiration in sparkling, witty Regency novels. She also loves history and generally finds the past more fascinating than the future. Arabella wrote her first Regency romance to entertain her aged mom who loved the genre. Arabella is honoured to share the adventures of her heroes and heroines with readers.

Arabella’s book, To Murder a Marquis, is available at Amazon.

Visit her website at https://www.arabellasheratonbooks.com.

Connect with her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/regencyromances/ and X at https://x.com/ArabellSheraton.

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