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

She was a bewitching young girl, that pretty Polly Marsh, and she knew it. She also knew that beauty could be her passport into the castles where she had always known she belonged. So she set her sights on a duke and joined the firm of Westerman’s as a stenographer. Surely one of that noble family would notice her, and then all her dreams would come true! The trouble with pretty Polly Marsh was that she just didn’t know her place.

The most hated man in the most dour town in Scotland is sleeping with the fishes, or more accurately, has been dumped into a tank filled with crustaceans. All that remains of the murdered victim are his bones. But once the lobsters have been shipped off to Britain's best restaurants, the whole affair quickly lands on the plate of Constable Hamish Macbeth.

About the best that can be said of wealthy Maggie Baird is that inside her middle-aged body, there still beats the heart of a beautiful tart. So when her car catches fire with Maggie in it, there are five likely suspects right on the premises of her luxurious Highlands cottage. Lochdubh police constable Hamish Macbeth has to question Maggie's timid niece and four former lovers, one of whom Maggie had intended to pick for her husband. All five are equally poor - with ample motive and opportunity to monkey with Maggie's car.

She had dared turn a cold shoulder to London's prize catch. She was a precocious American upstart who thought beauty, brains, and bravery were enough to conquer London society. Well, he'd show her! Nobody spurned Lord David Manley, the most eligible bachelor in town - not publicly, not privately. He was determined that she'd soon be trembling in his arms, desperately in love with the man she had dared mock. David Manley always got his way, and Miss Molly Maguire presented a challenge he couldn't resist.

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.

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.

It was an unfair decision - to be forced to choose between her home and her heart…When one of her sisters is attacked by Harry Devers, the lecherous son of Mannerling's present owner, Abigail Beverley puts her obsession with reclaiming the mansion on hold. It is then that Abigail meets the dashing and extremely eligible Lord Burfield, fresh back from the army and in full-time pursuit of a bride. She must be quick to grab his attention lest he be snapped up by Prudence Makepeace.

She was the flower of an East End slum who rose to become a star. But Poppy Duveen quit the stage to marry Freddie Plummett, the only real gentleman she had ever known - the bounder who died. When Freddie died, Poppy was left the castle, but she was also left in the clutches of Freddie's formidable uncle, Hugo, the dazzling Duke of Guildham.

Alice Lovesey is a poor, mistreated scullery maid whose desperate plea for help miraculously summons Wadham Hall's rakish eighth duke - summons him from the dead! Though caught up in the delights of being newly materialized, the duke promises to return the favor by helping Alice become a lady of quality. But does Alice's heart stand a ghost of a chance now that she has lost it to a restless spirit?

Penelope - golden haired, azure eyed, fresh from the country - has stolen the heart of the most desirable Earl of Hestleton. Rich and startlingly handsome, he is the most eligible lord in the realm. He had planned to toy with her affections and then toss her aside, but when the earl discovers that he is a pawn in her aunt's social-climbing scheme, he begins to doubt Penelope's true love. Can the belle keep her beau, or will "Aunt Augusta's" ambitious plans force Penelope to flee?

Local police stations all over the Scottish Highlands are being threatened with closure. This presents the perfect opportunity for Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who would love nothing more than to get rid of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth. Blair suggests that Cyril Sessions, a keen young police officer, visit the town of Lochdubh to monitor exactly what Macbeth does every day. Macbeth hears about Blair's plan and is prepared to insure that Cyril returns back to headquarters with a full report. But Cyril is soon found dead, and Hamish quickly becomes the prime suspect in his 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.

Love and jealousy abound in this playful romance, set during the British Regency. Everyone in the ton knew that Lord Hubert Challenge had married country mouse Mary Tyre for her dowry, but no one had yet guessed that Mary had actually fallen in love with her husband! And she was willing to try anything - sumptuous clothes, a saucy manner, even flirting with another man - to get her handsome husband's attention…until she learned that two could play at that particular game.

After being nearly killed by both a hired hit man and her former secretary, Agatha Raisin could use some low-key cases. So when Robert Smedley walks through the door of her detective agency, determined to prove that his wife is cheating on him, Raisin Investigations immediately offers to help. Unfortunately for Agatha, Mabel Smedley appears to be the perfect wife: young, pretty and a regular volunteer at church.

The morning of Agatha's marriage to James Lacey dawns bright and clear. But her luck runs out in the church when Jimmy, the husband she had believed long dead, turns up large as life and twice as ugly. Agatha has a go at strangling him. James breaks off the engagement. So when Jimmy is found murdered next day, Agatha and James are both the prime suspects. And they'll have to work together in order to clear their names . . .

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.

In the fourth installment of the Daughters of Mannerling series, beautiful Rachel must choose which she wants more - true love or the Mannerling mansion. The haughty Beverley family is obsessed with regaining Mannerling, the exquisite seventeenth-century mansion gambled away by their now-deceased father, Sir Beverley. Three of the six Beverley daughters, including Rachel's twin, have failed to win back their ancestral estate - settling for love matches over Mannerling's heirs.

An unabridged reading of an Agatha Raisin mystery from M. C. Beaton, read by Penelope Keith. There may be trouble ahead...so will Agatha face the music? Can the feisty Agatha cut it as a private investigator? She soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. But then walks in wealthy divorcee Catherine Laggat-Brown, and Agatha is given her first real case.

Agatha non ce la fa proprio a smettere di correre dietro agli uomini. Questa volta prende una cotta per George, un ex soldato particolarmente aitante che si propone come giardiniere e tuttofare. Ma non è l’unica donna di Carsely ad avergli messo gli occhi addosso; anzi, la concorrenza è agguerrita. Una sera, però, Agatha fa un’atroce scoperta: George è stato ucciso e gettato in una compostiera. La sorella di George assolda Agatha per scoprire l’assassino, che però non si accontenterà di una sola vittima...

In welchen trüben Gewässern muss Hamish diesmal angeln? Eigentlich ist Tommy Jarret auf der Suche nach einem Seeungeheuer in der Nähe des Dorfes Drim. Aber dann ist er plötzlich tot. Offenbar starb er an einer Überdosis Drogen. Hamish Macbeth findet das Ableben des Jungen ein bisschen sehr merkwürdig - und seine Spürnase hat den schottischen Dorfpolizisten noch nie getäuscht! Daher beschließt er, undercover zu ermitteln, und schleust sich in den illegalen Drogenhandel im nahe gelegenen Strathbane ein.