A FAMOUS fictional Cotswolds detective is to return in a new book.

Agatha Raisin, who has appeared in over 30 novels as well as her own TV series, will appear in a brand-new mystery written by R.W. Green.

The book, Agatha Raisin: Killing Time, will be published by Constable in October.

Cotswolds-based Agatha is an eccentric detective with an erratic love life and a penchant for gin and tonics.

In the new story, her private detective agency is working flat out on a series of burglaries, which take a violent turn when a friend of Agatha’s is murdered during a raid on his antiques shop.

Although determined to nail the villains, the investigator also makes time to help Sir Charles Fraith prepare to stage a huge, glamorous event in the grounds of his ancestral home.

When Agatha begins to receive death threats and narrowly avoids being abducted by kidnappers, she takes advantage of a previously-arranged trip to Majorca to lie low for a while.

There she meets her partner, former police officer John Glass, who is now working as a dance instructor on a cruise liner.

However, their relationship founders over John’s apparent closeness to his stage dance partner, Louise.

Can Agatha nail her friend’s murderers and rescue her romance with John?

Agatha is the creation of the late M.C. Beaton, who died in 2019 and was also the author of the Hamish Macbeth titles.

The writer’s books have been translated into 17 languages and have sold more than 22 million copies globally.

In addition, she is consistently the most borrowed UK adult author in British libraries.

The first Agatha Raisin book, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, was published in 1992.

R.W. Green, a fellow writer and lifelong friend of M.C. Beaton, took over as writer of the series with Agatha Raisin: Hot to Trot in 2020.

Agatha Raisin: Killing Time by M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green is out on October 17 and published by Constable.

It is priced at £20 in hardback, though it will also be available in ebook and audio formats.