Allreaders.com

Deadly Dance Book Summary and Study Guide

M.C. Beaton Booklist M.C. Beaton Message Board

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Deadly Dance




St. Martin's, Nov 2004, 22.95, 224 pp.
ISBN: 0312304366

After years of solving homicides for the fun of it, Agatha Raisin opens up her own detective agency in Mirceaster, England following being mugged while vacationing in France. She hires her new neighbor Emma Coffrey to serve as her secretary. Business is booming as people hire Agatha to get evidence in divorce cases and finding missing people and pets.
Click here to see the rest of this review...


Wealthy socialite Mrs. Laggat-Brown hires Agatha to uncover who threatened her daughter Cassandra if she marries her fiancé Jason Peterson. On the night of the engagement party, someone with a gun aims it at either the mother or daughter. The ex-husband of her client, who served time for fraud, arrives to offer comfort and flirts with Agatha. Meanwhile Emma has a crush on Agatha's friend Sir Charles and decides to poison her boss to get her out of the way. A killer enters Agatha's abode while she is away and drinks the poisoned coffee that Emma prepared for Agatha, and dies. Emma is arrested and the dead murderer turns out to have IRA connections. Agatha still has to solve who wanted Mrs. Laggat-Brown, her daughter, and Agatha dead.

Agatha remains crude and rude even to clients, but also retains that vulnerability that endears her to readers.

Harriet Klausner


The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner



Chapter Analysis of Deadly Dance

Click on a plot link to find similar books!

Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 10%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 40%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 40%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 10% Tone of story    -   very upbeat How difficult to spot villain?    -   Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story:    -   2000+ (Present) What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot?    -   70% Kind of investigator    -   skilled citizen investigator Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot?    -   life in small town Crime Thriller    -   Yes General Crime (including known murderer)    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   private investigator Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Race    -   British

Setting

Europe    -   Yes European country:    -   England/UK

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   generic/vague references to death/punishment Amount of dialog    -   significantly more dialog than descript

Books with storylines, themes & endings like Deadly Dance

The Alpine Quilt by Mary Daheim
Legacy of Masks by Sallie Bissell
When Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle
Blood Hollow by William Kent Kreuger
Restored to Death by Nancy Bell
M.C. Beaton Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
2 Ways to Search!
Or



Our Chief Librarian