Meet M.C. Beaton, author of the much-loved Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth crime fiction books.

Marion Chesney is known primarily for the more than 100 historical romance novels she has published under her own name and under several pseudonyms: Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward.

M.C. Beaton is the pseudonym she reserves for her crime fiction and mystery novels

I would like to concentrate only on the Agatha Raisin Series, in this post, because I can never forget how horses and bicycles sagged under the wonderful Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and Agatha Raisin reminds me of Miss Marple on speed 🙂

Agatha Raisin (23 books)

Agatha Raisin is a frustrated, yet endearing, retired, middle-aged public-relations agent who moved from London to Carsley in the English Midlands.

In the first book, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992), Agatha is 53, but she ages as the series progresses.

While she does solve murders in the first few books, it’s not until Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (2004) that Agatha sets up her own detective agency.

The police, and even some of her acquaintances, insist that she solves crimes through accident and luck.

From No 1 to 23, titles include:

‘The Quiche of Death’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener’, ‘Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist’, ‘Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden’.  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell’, ‘Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House’,  ‘The Deadly Dance’,  ‘The Perfect Paragon’,  ‘Love, Lies and Liquor’, ‘Kissing Christmas Goodbye’,  ‘A Spoonful of Poison’, ‘There Goes the Bride’,  ‘Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body’,  ‘As The Pig Turns’,  ‘Hiss and Hers’ and finally  ‘Christmas Crumble’.

For anyone curious about the Hamish Macbeth Series:

This series of novels is set in the Scottish Highlands, in the fictional village of Lochdubh, in the real county of Sutherland.

Although Lochdubh and the neighbouring town of Strathbane are fictional places, the series refers to real Scottish towns such as Dornoch, Dingwall and Inverness.
Hamish Macbeth is Lochdubh’s village policeman.

To find out more about M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney) HERE

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