M. C Beaton

Private Detective Agatha Raisin immerses herself in the glittering lifestyle of the fabulously wealthy when Sir Charles Fraith is accused of murder - and Agatha is named as his accomplice! A high-society wedding, a glitzy masked ball, and an introduction to the world of international show-jumping where the riders are glamorous, the horses are beautiful, and intrigue runs deep, leave Agatha with a list of suspects as long as a stallion's tail. Sinister...

Nobody loves an honest man, or that was what police sergeant Hamish Macbeth tried to tell newcomer Paul English. Paul attended church in Lochdubh. He told the minister, Mr Wellington, that his sermons were boring. He told tweedy Mrs Wellington that she was too fat. Angela Brody was told her detective stories were pap for the masses and it was time she wrote literature instead. He accused Hamish of having dyed his fiery red hair. He told Jessie Currie...

All Sergeant Hamish Macbeth ever wants is a quiet life in the tranquil surroundings of Lochdubh, his home village in the Scottish Highlands. Although the area he polices is vast, he's happiest when he's working alone, yet the police authorities insist he has an assistant. In the past, they have supplied a variety of problematic misfits, but they surpass themselves with their latest effort - an American named James Bland. Having met Bland previously,...

When Police Constable Hamish Macbeth receives the news that there has been a murder at Arrat House, he thinks it is yet another prank. But he soon realises that this is not the case and that Arthur Trent has in fact been stabbed.

A visit to the local village fete for a spot of fun and relaxation turns into a nightmare for Agatha Raisin when she discovers the body of the local landowner in the woods - with an arrow in his chest and his trousers round his ankles. At first her old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes, declares the death a tragic accident, believing the victim has been hit by a stray arrow from an archery demonstration. Agatha is convinced the man was murdered...

When therapist Jil Davent moves into the village of Carsely, Agatha Raisin is not a fan. Not only is the therapist romancing her ex-husband James but she digs up details of Agatha's rather unsavoury origins; details she is happy to share with all in the village. Furthermore, Jill is counselling a woman, Gwen Simple, Agatha is convinced is a murderess - although she has no actual proof. Not one to keep her feelings to herself, Agatha tells anyone who...

Dr Frederick Gilchrist's cheap rates & penchant for pulling teeth have gained him a clientele. But only agony could drive Lochdubh policeman Hamish Macbeth to Gilchrist's surgery. And the day it does, Macbeth finds Dr Gilchrist's body.

Returning from holiday Hamish becomes unaccountably worried - it's as if he senses a dark cloud of evil hanging over Lochdubh. He soon learns that there is a newcomer to the village, a woman called Catriona Beldame, and that the villagers have decided she is a witch.

Wealthy Maggie Baird is neither kind or generous. So when her car ignites, with her in it, there are five likely perpetrators. And finding who did it requires all Hamish Macbeth's extraordinary common sense and insight into human nature.

Agatha Raisin becomes embroiled in a turmoil of jealousy and lies when the tranquility 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...