title: Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 5)
author:  M. C. Beaton 
description: The blunt Agatha Raisin, with her stocky figure and "bearlike eyes," makes for an unusual sleuth, and her fifth outing (after Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley, 1995) certainly makes for an unusual adventure. The former public relations powerhouse who left London and a career for a simpler life in a Cotswold country village is about to marry her handsome next-door neighbor. But the wedding ceremony is halted mid-vow by the arrival of Jimmy Raisin, the husband Agatha fervently hoped was dead and has neglected to mention to James Lacey, the fastidious, upstanding citizen currently waiting to tie the knot. Even less convenient than a living husband who interrupts your wedding is one who, shortly thereafter, turns up dead in a ditch in the immediate neighborhood. Naturally, Agatha and James top the suspect list. But the dead Jimmy was a down-and-out alcoholic who had been known to practice a bit of blackmail. Agatha and James track down some of his victims, who have a distressing tendency to die shortly after being questioned by the two. With bodies stacking up and James refusing to marry Agatha (even though she has already sold her cottage), the atmosphere becomes nicely tense. Beaton, who also pens the Hamish MacBeth series, gleefully creates one excruciating situation after another for her indomitable heroine to endure. <br />Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  **M. C. Beaton** is the author of the hugely successful Agatha Raisin and
  Hamish Macbeth series, as well as a quartet of Edwardian murder mysteries
  featuring heroine Lady Rose Summer, several Regency romance series and a
  stand-alone murder mystery, _The Skeleton in the Closet_ – all published by
  Constable & Robinson. She left a full-time career in journalism to turn to
  writing, and now divides her time between the Cotswolds and Paris. Visit
  [www.mcbeatonbooks.co.uk](http://www.mcbeatonbooks.co.uk) for more, or follow
  M. C. Beaton on Twitter: [@mc_beaton](http://@mc_beaton).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Titles by M. C. Beaton**
  
  
  The Poor Relation
  
  
  _Lady Fortescue Steps Out · Miss Tonks Turns to Crime · Mrs Budley Falls from
  Grace Sir Philip’s Folly · Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue · Back in Society_
  
  
  A House for the Season
  
  
  _The Miser of Mayfair_ · _Plain Jane_ · _The Wicked Godmother  
  Rake’s Progress_ · _The Adventuress_ · _Rainbird’s Revenge_
  
  
  The Six Sisters
  
  
  _Minerva_ · _The Taming