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

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. 

After pursuing him for nearly four years, Agatha is finally about to marry James Lacey, the handsome Colonel next door. But there's just one little problem.

After a lifetime spent in public relations, one-woman dynamo Agatha Raisin struggles to adapt to life in a quiet country village - but she soon finds that there is murder and mayhem aplenty to keep her busy. Among the cases she has to deal with are a poisoned quiche; a vet who has been ‘put to sleep’; a hanged horticulturist; a murdered rambler and a curate who meets his Maker somewhat sooner than expected.

Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that she decides to take time off for rest and relaxation. But as soon as she does, she remembers that when she does have time on her hands, she doesn't know what to do with it. So it doesn't take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicise the church fete - especially when the event organiser, George Selby, turns out to be a handsome widower.

When private detective Agatha Raisin comes across a severed leg in a roadside hedge, it looks like she is about to become involved in a particularly gruesome murder. Looks, however, can be deceiving, as Agatha discovers when she is employed to investigate a case of industrial espionage at a factory where nothing is quite what it seems. The factory mystery soon turns to murder, and a bad-tempered donkey turns Agatha into a national celebrity, before bringing her ridicule and shame.

Meet Agatha Raisin, high-flying public relations boss turned village sleuth. After her many years of bullying and cajoling others, her early retirement to a picture-perfect village in the Cotswolds is a dream come true.

Even though Agatha Raisin loathes Christmas panto, her friend, Mrs Bloxby, the vicar's wife, has persuaded her to support the local am dram society in their festive offering. Stifling a yawn at the production of Babes in the Wood, Agatha watches the baker playing an ogre strut and threaten onstage until a trapdoor opens, followed by a scream and silence! Surely this wasn't the way the scene was rehearsed. When it turns out the local baker had been murdered most horribly, Agatha puts her team of detectives on the case.

In the delightful Cotswold village of Carsely, the air is heady with romance. Agatha Raisin is convinced that the new vet has taken a shine to her. But before she can get anywhere, handsome Dr Paul Bladen is accidentally killed while attending to Lord Pendlebury's horse. So was it really an accident? All the evidence points that way, but the circumstances are decidedly suspicious.

A newcomer to the village, Mary Fortune, is discovered murdered. Agatha seizes the moment and immediately starts yanking up village secrets by their roots and digging the dirt on the victim. But the problem is, Agatha has an awkward secret of her own.

Penelope Keith - who starred as Agatha Raisin in the popular BBC Radio 4 series - reads M.C. Beaton’s entertaining murder mystery. During the grey days of early December, Agatha is obsessed by only two things – Christmas, and her ex, James Lacey. Although she says she feels nothing for James now, she’s sure that planning the perfect Dickensian Christmas for all her friends will somehow reanimate her love. Even the murder of Mrs Tamworthy , does little to distract Agatha.

Recently married to James Lacey, Agatha quickly finds out that it's not all 'happy ever after' - before long the newlyweds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity. After a fight down the local pub, James vanishes completely, leaving a bloodstain as the only clue to his fate. Naturally, Agatha is Prime Suspect. Determined to clear her name and find her husband, Agatha begins her investigation - and promptly finds a murdered mistress....

Agatha Raisin's ex-husband James has become engaged to a beautiful young woman and Agatha has been kindly invited to the wedding. This is a difficult pill to swallow, so to take her mind off it Agatha begins a flirtation with Sylvan, a Frenchman she met at James's engagement party. She also decides to holiday in Istanbul, where unfortunately she bumps into James and his fiancée, not once but twice - convincing him she is stalking them.

Abandoned by new husband James, Agatha Raisin hops on a plane to the South Pacific in the hope that an idyllic holiday will bring some consolation. There, she befriends a honeymooning couple, but tragically, the young bride is accidentally drowned. Returning home to the Cotswolds, Agatha finds herself involved in a strangely similar situation: a woman, dressed in a wedding gown, is found floating in the river. The police say suicide, but Agatha, spurred on by bitter reflections on the married state, sets out to prove them wrong.

Agatha Raisin's neighbouring village of Ancombe is usually the epitome of quiet rural charm, but the arrival of a new mineral water company - which intends to tap into the village spring - sends tempers flaring and divides the parish council into two stubborn camps. When Agatha, who happens to be the PR person for the water company, finds the council chairman murdered at the spring, tongues start wagging. Could one of the council members have silenced the chairman before he could cast the deciding vote?

Allotment wars! Lord Bellingham, Carsely's biggest landholder, has enraged locals by saying he is going to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing development. So when he turns up dead, poisoned by antifreeze, nobody mourns his passing. On another fine summer's day, Agatha visits Carsley's allotments, where everything looks peaceful and perfect: people of all ages digging in the soil and working hard to grow their own fruit and veg.

When the village curate is found murdered, retired PR guru Agatha Raisin vows to bring his killer to justice, particularly if the investigation also brings her closer to her handsome next-door neighbour, Colonel Lacey. Duck and Cover Still reeling from the death of their curate, the inhabitants of Carsely decide on Duck Racing and Morris Dancing to cheer themselves up. But the village Fete is unlikely to go smoothly while the killer is still amongst them.

The team of bells at St. Ethelred church is the pride and glory of the idyllic Cotswolds village of Thirk Magna, together with the most dedicated bell ringers in the whole of England: the twins Mavis and Millicent Dupin. As the village gets ready for the Bishop's visit, the twins get overly excited at the prospect of ringing the special peal of bells created for the occasion and start bullying the other bell ringers, forcing them to rehearse and rehearse...so much so that Joseph Kennell, a retired lawyer, yells at the sisters that he 'felt like killing them'! 

He was a hairdresser to dye for... The local ladies all deem Mr John a wizard, so when Agatha 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.

Agatha Raisin, retired PR supremo, has been spurned at the altar by the man of her dreams, her attractive neighbour James Lacey. So temporarily deserting the sleepy Cotswold village of Carsely, she pursues her fleeing fiancé to north Cyprus where, instead of enjoying a romantic honeymoon, they witness the killing of an obnoxious tourist in a disco. Can the duo forget their differences and resume their strangely successful sleuthing partnership?

Reports of a haunted house soon have amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin snooping around, only to discover the victim of the haunting is a universally disliked old biddy on whom someone is playing a practical joke. But then the old lady is murdered, and, for Agatha - Miss Marple with attitude - solving a crime is much more fun than ghostbusting. Very soon she’s up to her usual tricks, involving the villagers, local police, and, naturally, her handsome new neighbour....