Love, Lies - & Liquor (1)agatha Raisin : Season 4...

"But the real drama," Geraldine whispered, leaning in so close Agatha could smell her peppermint tea, "is the Liquor. Old Man Higgins, the town's legendary bootlegger. They say he hid a stash of vintage, high-proof rum somewhere under the boardwalk before he vanished forty years ago. People would kill for a bottle of 'Higgins’s Fire'."

The local police, led by a Detective Inspector who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, immediately pegged Agatha as a "person of interest." Apparently, her loud complaint about Geraldine’s "insufferable prattling" the night before had been overheard by half the hotel.

"You did it again, Agatha," he said, a hint of admiration in his voice. Love, Lies & Liquor (1)Agatha Raisin : Season 4...

"Well, you have a certain… way of expressing your frustrations, Agatha," James said, looking troubled.

Geraldine took one look at Agatha’s designer handbag and James’s refined profile and decided they were her new best friends. By dinner, she had cornered them in the dining room, whispering scandals about the local vicar and the suspicious freshness of the hotel’s "catch of the day." "But the real drama," Geraldine whispered, leaning in

"It’s charming, isn't it?" James said, inhaling the briny air with misplaced enthusiasm.

Determined to clear her name—and get back to a town that served actual alcohol—Agatha donned her sleuthing hat. Her investigation led her from the greasy kitchens of the Palm Court to the shadow of the crumbling pier. She discovered that Geraldine wasn't just a gossip; she was a blackmailer. She had found Old Man Higgins’s ledger, which proved that several prominent town members—including the DI himself—were descendants of the town's most notorious smugglers. People would kill for a bottle of 'Higgins’s Fire'

But the next morning, the legend of the liquor turned into a reality of blood. Geraldine Wentworth was found face-down in a giant decorative clam shell on the promenade, strangled with a yoga strap.