Dishing the Dirt

An Agatha Raisin Mystery

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Alison Larkin

Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin is back and finds that she must prove her own innocence when a local therapist turns up dead. When therapist Jill Davent moved to the village of Carsely, Agatha Raisin was not a fan. Not only was this therapist romancing Agatha's ex-husband, she dug up details of Agatha's not-too-glamorous origins. Jill also counsels a woman, Gwen Simple, that Agatha firmly believes assisted her son in some grisly murders, although there is no proof. Not one to keep her feelings to herself, Agatha tells anyone who will listen that Jill is a charlatan and better off dead. Agatha can only sigh with relief when the therapist takes an office in Mircester.

When Agatha learns that Jill had hired a private detective to investigate her background, she barges into Jill's office and gives her a piece of her mind, yelling, "I could kill you!" So when Jill is found strangled to death in her office two days later, Agatha becomes the prime suspect. But Agatha, along with her team of private detectives, is determined to prove her innocence and find the real culprit. This time Agatha must use her skills to save her own skin. With Dishing the Dirt, M. C. Beaton proves that "once you meet Agatha Raisin, you'll keep coming back" (New York Journal of Books).

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

agate escapes death again

I missed Penelope performance, too many murders. although the epilogue was intriguing. I'm sure I'll but the next book in the series.

Agatha Raisin

I love the Agatha Raisin series! It’s been my favorite series on the Audible Plus catalog!

ok

Stop pushing religion and bad mouthing Richard Dawkins. It's unbecoming and unnecessary; as well as it takes away from the story. The prior Narrator was better.

Alison is growing on me

The storyline was great. I love the twists of the villain. Part of what makes audio books so engaging is the voice of the actor bringing the characters to life. Alison Larkin does a good job. But after so many books with Penelope Keith giving grit to Agatha and company something seems missing.

This seemed a very typical Agatha Raisin story.

Where does Dishing the Dirt rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've listened to several Agatha Raisin mysteries, funny but disappointed with narration on this.

What did you like best about this story?

Like the humor, if something can go wrong it will.

What three words best describe Alison Larkin’s performance?

Poor voice over, poor inflection, poor accent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

the best so far

I have read or listened to each story in order over the summer. fantastic improvement from character development to relationships. snakes and bastards! where is the next book?!?!

M C Beaton continues to score

How nice to have so many of these fun stories with a strong woman character that really are real mysteries, to continue to read. I love how the story and Agatha have grown and changed but still maintained its sense of community, and steadiness. I can't help but notice that British mysteries always em to make the LGBT character to killer or the victim...but there are a few in these stories who just exist. Check out nearly any other series those, especially those produced on TV...you see an LGBT character and if they aren't killed off, they will be the killer. It's not a spoiler to say that, because it always happens....you can count on it.

Amusing, light reading

I think Alison is a decent narrator. Perhaps in comparison to Penelope Keith her voices aren't quite as polished or well accented, but she's not bad.
The story is interesting, and Agatha is a mixture of curious foibles, self delusion and destruction, and strength and kindness. Beaton's snide editorializing about social and political progress are entertaining.

Bring back Penelope Keith!!!!

I think the author needs to realize that when listeners get used to a certain narrator and if that same narrator is unavailable in the next book of a series, they should at least try to get someome who sounds like the original reader, as we are used to a particular voice. This person does NOT sound like Agatha RAISIN and all her different characters all sound alike. I simply do not enjoy this reader.

No aging time warp

While I am enjoying the series, I have noticed the story lines seems to have only advanced 3-5 years from when the series started. In the first book Agatha was in her early 50s circa late 80s to early 90s based on references to pop culture at that time. However, by the pop culture referenced in this, and the last, book it seems to be at least 2010 or even 2014 with the use of iPads and Kindles; and yet she is still in her early 50s. I realize these are fictional stories but early on in the series the time period seem to play a big role in her chatacter, so I was a bit disappointed to see such a time warp .