What Should I Read If I Love Agatha Raisin?

If you love Agatha Raisin, go straight to Simon Brett's Fethering mysteries. Same sort of English village, same middle-aged woman who is not remotely nice about her neighbours, same murder that everybody would rather gossip about than solve. After that, there are six more cosy crime series below that scratch the same itch.

M.C. Beaton did something a lot of cozy mystery books do not dare to do. She made her sleuth unlikeable. Agatha is vain, rude and lies about her age. The village of Carsely thinks she is dreadful. She solves the murder anyway.

That is the bit people miss when they hand out read-alikes. A sweet amateur sleuth with a cat is not the same book. You want someone with edges.

What makes a good Agatha Raisin read-alike

Two things, really. A lead who is allowed to be annoying, and a village small enough that everybody knows what she did on Tuesday. The murder is almost secondary. What you are actually reading for is the social awkwardness.

Bonus points if there is a man she is pretending not to fancy.

1. The Fethering Mysteries by Simon Brett

Start with The Body on the Beach. Carole Seddon is retired, rigidly proper and permanently mortified by something. Her neighbour Jude is loose, warm and slightly witchy. They cannot stand each other, and then they can.

It is a Sussex coastal village rather than the Cotswolds, but the tone is spot on. Dry and observant, and quietly savage about middle-class England.

2. The Melissa Craig Mysteries by Betty Rowlands

Start with A Little Gentle Sleuthing. Melissa is a crime novelist who moves to a Cotswold cottage for peace and quiet, which goes about as well as you would expect.

These are proper old-school village murder mystery books and they are badly underrated. If you want the same postcode as Carsely, this is it.

3. The Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries by Debbie Young

Start with Best Murder in Show. Sophie inherits a cottage in Wendlebury Barrow, gets a job in the village bookshop, and finds a body on a float at the village show.

Warmer than Agatha and a lot less spiky, but the village politics are perfect. Free in Kindle Unlimited.

4. The Lady Hardcastle Mysteries by T.E. Kinsey

Start with A Quiet Life in the Country. It is 1908, Lady Hardcastle has retired to Gloucestershire, and her maid Florence is better than her at absolutely everything, including hitting people.

The funniest books on this list. The double act does the work that Agatha's arguments do. Also in Kindle Unlimited.

5. Bob and Shirley by Suzy K Quinn

These are mine, so take that however you like. Bob and Shirley run the pub in a Suffolk village called Great Oakley. Start with Death by Hot Chocolate.

The thing that makes them an Agatha read-alike is the attitude. The chapters alternate, so Bob tells you what happened and then Shirley tells you what really happened, and the two versions never match. Nobody is being nice about anybody. Free in Kindle Unlimited.

6. The Mitchell and Markby Mysteries by Ann Granger

Start with Say It With Poison. A bit more traditional and a bit more police procedure, but it is Cotswold village murder with a very dry sense of humour.

If Bill Wong was your favourite part of the Agatha books, you will get on with Alan Markby.

7. The Exham on Sea Mysteries by Frances Evesham

Start with Murder at the Lighthouse. Libby moves to a Somerset seaside town after her husband dies, sets up a bakery, and more or less immediately finds a body.

Middle-aged reinvention plus a small town where everyone knows your business. Very Agatha. Kindle Unlimited again.

And if you just want more M.C. Beaton

Read Hamish Macbeth. Same author, Scottish Highlands, a lazy village policeman who is a great deal cleverer than he lets on. Start with Death of a Gossip. It is gentler than Agatha Raisin and, whisper it, rather better written.

Do these work as book club books?

Some of them really do. The Fethering books and the Lady Hardcastle books both give a group plenty to argue about, because the fun is in the character dynamics rather than the puzzle. Cosy crime is an easy sell for a book club anyway. Nobody has to be brave about the gory bits, because there are not any.

Frequently asked questions

Which Agatha Raisin book should I read first?

The Quiche of Death. It is the first one and it sets up everything, including exactly why the village cannot stand her. The series runs to more than thirty books, so you have a lot ahead of you.

Are the Agatha Raisin books the same as the TV series?

No. The show is broader and softer, and Agatha is far more likeable on screen. The books are sharper and a bit meaner. If you came to them from the telly, expect a slightly different woman.

Are there cozy mysteries like Agatha Raisin on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes, quite a few. Sophie Sayers, Lady Hardcastle, Exham on Sea and my Bob and Shirley books are all free to read in Kindle Unlimited. The Beaton books themselves usually are not.

Is Agatha Raisin cosy crime or cozy mystery?

Both, and it depends where you live. Cosy crime is the British term and cozy mystery is the American one, and they describe the same thing. Small community, amateur sleuth, no gore on the page.

Suzy xx