M. C Beaton

When Agatha Raisin returns home after a sojourn in the capital, she finds a new woman ensconced in the affections of her attractive bachelor neighbor, James Lacey. The newcomer, Mary Fortune, is superior to Agatha in every way, especially when it comes to gardening. With Carsely Open Day approaching, Agatha longs for some fascinating crime to remind James of her genius for investigation and to distract him from Mary. Soon a series of assaults on the...

Private detective Agatha Raisin discovers the body of a man known as "the Admiral," a gardener notorious for drinking. The death is ruled an accident until Agatha receives an anonymous tip. "Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green-with...

Life in the English Cotswolds hasn't been all Agatha Raisin thought it would be. Retired early from a successful career in public relations, she longs for a little romance and excitement. After all, Carsley must have more to offer than tea with the village ladies. But friendly overtures toward her neighbor James Lacey have him running for the door every time. So when a handsome new veterinarian arrives in town, Agatha sees a chance to give her bruised...

In the isolated villages of northern Scotland, the residents rely on chimney sweep Pete Ray. After Police Constable Hamish Macbeth finds a dead body stuffed inside a chimney, the entire town of Lochdubh suspects Pete. Then Pete's body is found on the Scottish moors, and the mystery deepens.

Jealously investigating an ex's intended, Agatha Raisin crashes the wedding only to become implicated in the bride's murder, a situation that immerses Agatha in the cutthroat equestrian world. When Agatha Raisin learns that her friend and one-time lover Charles Fraith is to be married to socialite, Miss Mary Brown-Field, she sees it as her duty to find out what she can about the woman. Out of selfless concern for Charles, of course. When Agatha crashes...

"Gloria French was a jolly widow with dyed blonde hair, a raucous laugh and rosy cheeks. When she first moved from London to the charming Cotswolds Hills, she was heartily welcomed. She seemed a do-gooder par excellence, raising funds for the church and caring for the elderly. But she had a nasty habit of borrowing things and not giving them back, just small things, a teapot here, a set of silverware there. So it's quite the shock when she is found...

Unlike quite a number of people, Agatha has not given up on Christmas. To have the perfect Christmas had been a childhood dream while surviving a rough upbringing in a Birmingham slum. Holly berries glistened, snow fell gently outside, and inside, all was Dickensian jollity. And in her dreams, James Lacey kissed her under the mistletoe, and like a middle-aged sleeping beauty, she would awake to passion once more...Agatha Raisin is bored. Her detective...

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of everyone's favorite sleuth, M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin is as feisty as ever and armed with her famous wit and biting sense of humor. This time, though, there's some biting of a whole other sort going on. Agatha has fallen head over heels in love. Again. This time, she has her eye on the local gardener, George Marston, but so do other women in their little Cotswold village. Shamelessly determined, Agatha will...

Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha is dreading the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Her best intentions to move on with her life are put on hold when James's young bride is shot to death just minutes before saying I do, and Agatha is named the prime suspect.

"The idyllic Cotswolds village of Thirk Magna is best known for the medieval church of St. Ethelred and its bells, which are the pride and glory of the whole community. As the bell-ringers get ready for the visit of the dashing Bishop Peter Salver-Hinkley, the whole village is thrown into a frenzy. Meanwhile, Agatha convinces one of the bell-ringers, the charming lawyer Julian Brody, to hire her to investigate the mystery of the Bishop's ex-fianc�ee:...