M. C Beaton

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...

"M. C. Beaton's New York Times bestselling Hamish Macbeth series continues with a new mystery featuring Scotland's most quick-witted but unambitious policeman. James Harrison has recently moved to a restored hunting lodge in Sutherland with his gorgeous private nurse Gloria Dainty. When Hamish visits Mr. Harrison to welcome him to the neighborhood, the old man treats him very rudely. Gloria apologizes for her employer's behavior, and Hamish takes...

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.

"An irresistible new adventure for the bossy, vain, and endearing Agatha Raisin, from New York Times bestselling M.C. Beaton, "the reigning queen of the cozies" (Booklist). The picturesque Cotwsold village of Winter Parva has decided to warm the winter months after the holidays by roasting a pig in the town square. Agatha, always one for a good roasting, has arrived with her former protege;e and current rival in the private detection racket, Toni,...

When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joins the fishing class, she wastes no time in ruffling the feathers -- or was it fins? -- of those around her. Among the victims of her sharp tongue and unladylike manner is Lochdubh Constable Hamish Macbeth. Yet not even Hamish thinks someone will permanently silence Lady Jane's shrills -- until her strangled body is fished out of the river. Now, with the help of the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe,...

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead--and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster, has been...

Returning from a foreign holiday, Hamish Macbeth is worried because he senses a dark cloud of evil hanging over the Highland village of Lochdubh. He learns that a newcomer, Catriona Beldame, is regarded as a witch and various men have been seen visiting her. Hamish himself is charmed by her until he finds out she has been supplying dangerous potions. At first the villagers won't listen to him, saying that the loveless Hamish has turned against all...

After her husband leaves her to join a monastery in France, Agatha Raisin heads for a remote island in the South Pacific, where, to her surprise, she finds herself enjoying her time alone, but her peaceful vacation is shattered when a fellow traveler turns up dead.

Scottish sleuth Hamish Macbeth investigates the murder of Fergus Macleod, the tyrannical head of Lochdubh's new recycling center, while coping with the bizarre edicts of a member of the Strathbane Council and his lazy new constable.

When a Scrooge-like officer with the Health and Safety Board spoils the Costwolds holiday festivities by trumping up reasons to ban town decorations and May Dimwoody's hand-made toys, Agatha Raisin is called on to investigate the officer's subsequent murder.