Showing results by author "M.C. Beaton" in All Categories

Agatha Raisin becomes embroiled in a turmoil of jealousy and lies when the tranquillity of her local bowls club explodes into a storm of accusation and intrigue - and murder. Her private life is no less turbulent when a past suitor reappears just as her ex-husband seems intent on rekindling their romance, and her close friend, Bill Wong, is in danger of losing the woman he loves. Events take an even darker turn when Agatha realises that, in pursuing the bowling green killer, she is putting her own life in danger.

It seems as if there will be no need to find a husband for Diana, the fifth daughter of Charles Armitage, the hard-drinking huntsman and country vicar. For Diana shares her father's passion for the hunt, secretly posing as a man in order to participate in a sport that is considered too vulgar for a lady in Regency England. Her four elder sisters have married well, but Diana fears she will never be as desirous to wed a man as she is to be one. She was born to have a man's freedom to do and say what she wishes, to move about without restraint - or so she thinks until, disguised as David Armitage, she gets a bitter taste of tawdry town life.

The tenth earl of Berham does not know what to do. An attractivethirty-two-year-old bachelor, he has been appointed guardian of the youngFreddie Armstrong, the eighteen-year-old grandson of his late father's dearfriend. That's bad enough. Then he discovers that the boy is really a girl! It isagainst all convention and against his personal code to keep a young ladyconcealed in his own home. He must find a solution.

The earl's frequent visitor, Lady Clarissa Rennenord,heartily agrees - but for less noble reasons. Lady Clarissa hopes to snare theearl in marriage and does not want any competition. She recommends that Freddiebe sent to a seminary. No one but Lady Rennenord knows what a horrid place it is - andno one, including Lady Rennenord, expects Freddie to escape. Now Freddie isback, and the earl finds her presence unsettling in more ways than one.

For lovely young Miss Patricia Patterson, life seemed a delightful dream - until the specter of her guardian, Lord Charles Gaunt, cast a shadow over her carefree days of idleness and enchanting evenings of dazzling balls and delicious flirtations. Lord Charles demanded she act the part of a proper and perfectly boring young miss. Even worse, he insisted she devote her waking hours to cultivating her mind rather than captivating her swarm of admirers. Thus, the battle was joined - between the handsome, arrogant aristocrat who had Patricia in his lawful power, and Patricia, who vowed to turn this hateful tyrant into her lovelorn slave.

Until the day she saw Lord Philip's photo, she had only fantasized about a mysterious lover whose shadowy features were never quite clear. Now she had a real live nobleman to dream about. Little did she suspect that she would soon meet Lord Philip in the flesh. How could she imagine such a thing? After all, what could justify a daughter of the middle class rubbing shoulders with the nobility?

The local ladies all deem Mr. John a wizard, so when Agatha Raisin finds a few grey hairs on her head - and the rinse she tries at home turns her hair purple - she makes a beeline for the handsome Evesham hairdresser. And as well as sorting out her hair it soon becomes clear the charming man also has designs on her heart - but their budding romance is cut short when Mr. John is fatally poisoned in his salon. Once again Agatha finds herself embroiled in a murder case. Was it one of Mr. John’s many lady clients, all of whom divulged to him their darkest secrets?

A woman of independent means with a healthy dose of cynicism about those of the male persuasion, Harriet Tremayne is content with her circle of spinster friends and their devotion to literature, women's rights, and intellectual interests. When she determines to undertake the London season for her beautiful but featherbrained niece, however, she concedes she must appear less a bluestocking and more fashionable to successfully sponsor this impossible young lady whose only real desire, is chocolate.

In the isolated villages in the north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the chimney sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until the day that Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder.

As far as matrimonial prospects were concerned, Lucy Bliss was told she'd make an excellent clergyman's wife. Her mother had loftier aspirations, however, for Lucy's lovely younger sister, Belinda. Belinda would marry a duke, more specifically the duke of Wardshire. Lucy was truly horrified. "Lucifer" Wardshire was rumored to be as wicked as the devil, with orgies and mistresses - and worse.

Mannerling, the splendid family estate gambled away by Sir Beverley, remains the passionate desire of his daughters. Beverley himself has died and the eldest daughter, Isabella - having failed in her bid to reclaim their home - is blissfully wed. The mantle of savior then falls to the next eldest daughter, Jessica. How fortunate that the new owner of Mannerling has a marriageable son. In truth, Harry is a brutal lecher, a drunkard, and a wastrel, but Jessica, blinded by determination, vows to secure a betrothal.

Is Number 67 Clarges Steet the unluckiest house in Mayfair? Every season the beau mondes of the Regency would hire a house in the heart of London’s fashionable West End at disproportionately high rent for often inferior accommodation and yet Number 67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant from year to year. Could it be that it is associated with ill luck and even death? Something must be done so that the servants of this house don’t lose their livelihood.

Gentle by name, gentle by nature. Everyone in the sleepy Scottish town of Lochdubh adores elderly Mrs. Gentle - everyone but Hamish Macbeth, that is. Hamish thinks the gentle lady is quite sly and vicious, and the citizens of Lochdubh think he is overly cranky. Perhaps it's time for him to get married, they say. But who has time for marriage when there's a murder to be solved? When Mrs. Gentle dies under mysterious circumstances, the town is shocked and outraged.

Suffering from bald patches thanks to a hair conditioner spiked with depilatory cream - supplied by the murderess in her last investigation - Agatha escapes to the coastal resort of Wyckhadden to allow her crowning glory to recover in privacy. A local witch provides her with hair tonic and Agatha’s lost locks begin to grow - but then the witch is found bludgeoned to death. The elderly residents at Agatha’s faded hotel seem innocuous enough, if a little odd. But, as she enquires into the murder she turns up an alarming number of secrets....

When the Catriona Beldame is found murdered and her home set ablaze, Hamish Macbeth must clear his own name and then work to solve yet another murder to bring peace and quiet back to his beloved village. His investigations are complicated by a romance with a female forensic expert. Perhaps the Scotish Highlands' most stubborn bachelor will get married at last!

With their engaging plots, mellow Scottish ambiance, and droll humor, the Hamish Macbeth mysteries always provide a bonnie time. Death of an Addict continues the Hamish Macbeth tradition of superb entertainment, with some fascinating twists. When a recovering addict dies while recuperating near Lochdubh, our redheaded hero suspects foul play. To complete his investigation, Constable Macbeth must leave his idyllic home and travel to Amsterdam to match wits with big-time drug dealers.

Eliza Budley is a beautiful widow whose husband gambled away his fortune. Lady Fortescue reminds the others that, to be fair, Mrs. Budley has no relatives on whom she can call. Gentle Mrs. Budley thinks she has escaped her fate until Sir Philip comes up with a plan: He has heard that the elderly Marquess of Peterhouse is senile, a widower, extremely rich, and unlikely to remember whether Mrs. Budley is a relative or not. So off Mrs. Budley goes. But the marquess turns out to be not so old, hardly senile, and, in fact, quite handsome.

Will the last Beverley daughter marry for Mannerling?

Lizzie is the sixth and youngest daughter of the late Sir Beverley, the patriarch who gambled away their beloved estate, Mannerling. Each of Lizzie's sisters had been entrusted by their ambitious mother to cast lures for the various owners of their former home. Instead, each one married for love. Now it's Lizzie's turn to save Mannerling. But the new owner, the Duke of Severnshire, is far too arrogant for Lizzie's heart. And while the duke has no intentions toward the saucy chit, her curt dismissal of him is perplexing - no woman has ever refused him.

When Agatha Raisin left behind her public-relations business in London, she fulfilled her dream of settling in the cozy British Cotswolds, where she began a successful private detective agency. Unfortunately the village she lives in is about to get a little less cozy. Lord Bellington, a wealthy land developer, wants to turn the community garden into a housing estate. When Agatha and her friend, Sir Charles Fraith, attempt to convince Lord Bellington to abandon his plans, he scoffs.

When therapist Jill Davent moved to the village of Carsely, Agatha Raisin was not a fan. Not only was this therapist romancing Agatha's ex-husband, she dug up details of Agatha's not-too-glamorous origins. Jill also counsels a woman, Gwen Simple, that Agatha firmly believes assisted her son in some grisly murders, although there is no proof. Not one to keep her feelings to herself, Agatha tells anyone who will listen that Jill is a charlatan and better off dead.

Minerva marks the delightful debut of The Six Sisters, a family saga in six volumes that will recount the romantic adventures of the six marriageable daughters of a country vicar, the Reverend Charles Armitage, in Regency England. The eldest, Minerva, is enchantingly beautiful - but a prude. She lives in the country looking after her siblings while her mother reclines on a chaise longue happily inventing new malaises.