Hiss and Hers

An Agatha Raisin Mystery, Book 23

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of everyone's favorite sleuth, M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin is as feisty as ever - armed with her famous wit and biting sense of humor. This time, though, there's some biting of a whole other sort going on.

Agatha has fallen head over heels in love - again. This time, she has her eye on the local gardener, George Marston, but so do other women in their little Cotswold village. Shamelessly determined, Agatha will do anything to get her man - including footing the bill for a charity ball just for the chance to dance with him. And then George doesn't even show up.

Only partly deterred, Agatha goes looking for him, and finds his dead body in a compost heap. Murder is definitely afoot, but this killer chose no ordinary weapon: A poisonous snake delivered the fatal strike. Rising to the occasion, Agatha rallies her little detective agency to find the killer, only to learn that George had quite a complicated love life. But murderously complicated? Well, if she can't have George, at least Agatha can have the satisfaction of confronting the other women and solving the crime.

©2012 M. C. Beaton (P)2012 AudioGO

Good story-disappointing narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Unfortunately, the usually wonderful Davinia Porter narrated this book and she just does not have the range to encompass the wide variety of characters. It actually made the story confusing since her voices did not differ enough, one from another, to enable the listener to keep track of who was saying what. Penelope Keith is, in my opinion, THE narrator for Agatha Raisin stories.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hiss and Hers?

This story is unusual with its many twists and turns of plot. The whole snake thing made the story eerie.

What didn’t you like about Davina Porter’s performance?

I love Davinia Porter in the Poor Relations series. But she just doesn't have the oomph needed for Agatha's expressiveness (e.g. very wimpy "snakes and bastards!"). She is more of a genteel narrator.

Any additional comments?

More character development and relationship development happened in this book. I enjoyed that.

Ugh! Yet Another Narrator Change

It isn't that the narrator is bad, it's just that she isn't Penelope Keith. In this tale, most of the time Agatha sounds like a 90 year old, smoking hag. The men's voices were very similar, as with other narrators aside from Ms. Keith. The story was alright; I just grew tired of the narrator very early on.

Miss Penelope Keith

I miss Penelope Keith, she gave Agatha a strong, independent voice of a middle age woman. Unfortunately, this time Agatha sounds like a shaky woman in her eighties, and Roy sounds more like her sister.

Disappointing performance

The lady that performed this book is a good enough voice actress though from time to time she seemed to confuse the characters and the voices seemed to get mixed. But my main issue is that she makes Agatha sound as if she were 90 years old and decrepit! It’s too much. I know part of the character is the fact that she is struggling with getting older but with this voice she sounds ancient.

Disappointed

I'm sure Davina Porter is well suited for some stories but not Agatha Raison's.
I prefer Penelope Keith.

Yikes

I keep enjoying the series’ twists and turns and truly love the growth of the characters. The reader, I’m sad to say, was awful. At times Agatha sounded like a child and at others sounded like a witch. Roy’s and Charles’ voices were NOT at all entertaining as they usually are, Mrs. Blocksby (sp) sounded tired and not at all herself, and the staff of the agency all sounded as if they had a problem speaking. I believe I’ve just been spoiled by Ms. Keith’s reading.

I do not like this narrator

I cannot enjoy this one. This narrator sounds mean, old and angry. I really enjoy the listen when Penelope Keith does the narrating. This narrator's voice cuts through me.

fantastic!

this book was fantastic. i even loved the new narrator. the plot was so suspenseful and the fabulous tricky ending was even more surprisung than i had expected!

I Fast-Forwarded the Book ...

Narrator's voice for the main character is like a serrated knife edge. After downloading and listening to Beaton's Agatha Raisin series by production date, only this one so far was a disappointment.

Why aren't they all dead ! ! !

I've listened to all of these stories to date and my highest hope and prayer is for all the protagonists to be killed off in gruesome ways. Am I wrong in thinking this way? I don't think so.
Egocentric, Narcissistic, Mean Spirited, Vindictive, Dull as a butter knife, etc etc etc...Agatha is the worst of all protagonists imo. I keep hoping and praying that someone bumps her off.
The other main characters are just as bad. Charles is a cad, James is dispassionate, etc.
The only character I truly like is the Vicar's wife...smart, quiet, supportive, etc.
And the Cotswolds...my goodness the villagers are out of the stone age, miserable, mean, vindictive, hateful of all 'in-comers'...if this is truly how the Cots are why would anyone want to live there? I guess the beauty of the land and homes are the attraction.
But I've listened to every story, while hoping Agatha is killed, and will continue to listen because I just can't stop. It's a bloody addiction I can't quit.
I do like the reader. We all have the sounds of what we expect in our minds and imaginations and God pity the voice that doesn't live up to those expectations. But I enjoy them.