Agatha Raisin: Love, Lies & Liquor

***Agatha Raisin: Love, Lies & Liquor*** is the second episode of the fourth season of *Agatha Raisin*. The episode was written by Matthew Thomas and directed by James Larkin. It aired February 7, 2022 on Acorn TV.

The episode is based on the *Agatha Raisin* book of the same name.

## Synopsis

James has finally returned to Carsely and promised to whisk Agatha away on holiday where she can help him write his next novel. Agatha’s dreams of the French Riviera quickly fade when she finds herself in Snoth-on-Sea, a seaside resort whose glory days are far behind it. When a hotel guest is found murdered, it’s up to Agatha to prove who the killer is.

## Plot

Agatha's on-again, off-again, (currently off-again) love interest James Lacey has returned to Carsely after a successful book tour, and is leaving just as quickly, but this time with Agatha.

He's taking her someplace special for a working holiday, a beautiful place by the sea where they can get busy on his new book. But Agatha's expectations of somewhere fabulous, like Mauritius, are dashed when they arrive at the seen-better-days Palace Hotel in Snoth-on-Sea. The getaway goes from bad to worse when they're greeted by protesters at the hotel, and then Agatha meets Geraldine Jankers, the matriarch of an obnoxious family of fellow holidaymakers, who disturbs her and James with her rude behaviour at dinner.

Their stay is made all the more memorable with Agatha's arrest the next morning! It appears that Geraldine was murdered during the night on the nearby beach - strangled with Agatha's scarf. Finding herself the prime suspect in the murder case, it's up to the bailed out private eye to find the real killer and clear her own name.

To find out more about Wayne Weldon and Chelsea, Roy and Toni check into the hotel undercover. Through Roy's convincing acting skills, he manages to lure some secrets out of the suspects. This suddenly puts the case in a different light. Meanwhile, the murder turns into a gruesome series of murders. It is revealed that Geraldine's former husband Ronny Black was involved in a jewel robbery from which the loot has gone missing to this day. Toni and Roy go looking for Ronnie but when he is found stabbed to death in the hotel's basement, Agatha realises that the murders and the coup are connected. As a result, Agatha and her colleagues attend the hotel's controversial casino night.

After re-interviewing the victim's latest husband, Agatha learns about Chelsea's traumatic history and begins to make connections between the killings and the long-ago robbery.

## Cast

* Mathew Horne as Roy Silver
* Matt McCooey as Bill Wong
* Jamie Glover as James Lacey
* Lucy Liemann as Sarah Bloxby
* Jason Merrells as Sir Charles Fraith
* Jodie Tyack as Toni Gilmour
* Taz Skylar as Harry Beam
* Ian Puleston-Davies as Brian Jankers
* AJ Jones as Wayne Weldon
* Holli Dempsey as Chelsea Davis
* Suzanne Packer as Marcia Shaw
* Phil Daniels as Archie Swale
* Robbie Gee as Terry Miller
* Paul Thornley as D.I. Martin Barret

## Gallery

* Episode stills
* Promotional shots
* Behind the scenes

## Trivia

* Filming for this episode began April 19, 2021 and continued throughout April and May 2021.
* Filming took place around Clevedon and Frome in the county of Somerset.
	+ Filming locations included Clevedon Pier and the Orchardleigh Estate.
* During the episode, James and Agatha remark on the unexpected success of James's book in America. This alludes to the real-world popularity of the Agatha Raisin television series amongst America viewers, which has kept the show going despite its cancellation by its original British broadcaster after the first season.

### Continuity

* James continues his career as an author following the success of his book tour, which documents the Battle of Titley's Knob. (TV: *Agatha Raisin & the Haunted House*, *Agatha Raisin & the Love from Hell*)

### Cultural references

* The episode used the Palace Hotel setting to make numerous visual references to the Overlook Hotel in an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s *The Shining* (1980).
	+ James (and later Roy) repeatedly sees a pair of young girls dressed alike in the corridors of the Palace Hotel, much like Danny Torrance was haunted by the Grady twins at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining.
	+ The episode ends with a close-up shot of a framed photograph of the Palace Hotel's staff circa 1921, in which Lloyd (the hotel's elderly bartender, who served Agatha and many other guests in the present) is clearly pictured; this mirrors the ending of The Shining, where the Overlook Hotel's contemporary caretaker Jack Torrance is pictured in a photograph of hotel-goers from 1921.

The bear costume worn by Harry also is a reference from the film as one character wears a bear costume.

## International premieres

* Netherlands
	+ March 27, 2022 (Part 1)
	+ April 3, 2022 (Part 2)
* Latin America
	+ April 14, 2022 (Parts 1 & 2)
* New Zealand
	+ April 19, 2022 (Parts 1 & 2)
* UK
	+ May 2, 2022 (Parts 1 & 2)
* Austria, Germany and Switzerland
	+ May 7, 2022 (Parts 1 & 2)

## References

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]