Did anyone else watch Hamish Macbeth in the old days of the late 1990s? If you did, you may or may not know that the author of the books that series was based on is M.C. Beaton (I wonder what those initials stand for?) Anyway, I have just discovered a series of books she has written - 18 in total according to the inside of my book cover - about a public relations star, Agatha Raisin, who has taken early retirement and moved into a picture -perfect Cotswold village.
To improve her standing with the locals (who don't like newcomers) she decides to enter a local quiche baking competition. Only thing is, she doesn't know how to bake and so purchases her quiche at her favourite London deli. When she doesn't win, being a mite competitive our Agatha, she goes off in a strop leaving her quiche behind. That evening one of the competition's judges dies after eating her leftover quiche - it is revealed as a poisoning. Agatha becomes a murder suspect and must confess the quiche's source to the village. Then, to clear her name she sets out to find the real murderer, becoming a much improved individual along the way.
What fun this sounds! Must keep an eye out. I went to a food and flowers competition at our local village hall last year (though didn't enter anything) - one of the saddest, but also unfortunately amusing, things was the categories where only one thing was enterred - but it was still deemed only good enough for second prize.
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