Dead on Target

Agatha Raisin, the prickly and resourceful amateur sleuth who has also been brought to television, returns in this installment of M.C. Beaton's Cotswolds mystery series. She goes to a village fete hoping for an easy afternoon, but instead she stumbles upon a body in the woods: the local landowner, struck by an arrow and lying with his trousers down around his ankles.

Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes, a longtime antagonist of Agatha's, first treats the death as a tragic accident, assuming a stray arrow from an archery display hit the man. Agatha is certain he was murdered. When Wilkes finally comes around to her view, he regards her as his leading suspect.

Determined to clear her name and find the real killer, Agatha begins her own inquiries. They draw her into the lives of a family locked in conflict, a dishonest gangster, and a murderer who has set their sights on making her the next victim.