Agatha Raisin mysteries

Recently married to James Lacey, the witty and fractious Agatha Raisin quickly finds that marriage, and love, are not all they are cracked up to be. Rather than basking in marital bliss, the newlyweds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity. After a particularly raucous fight in the local pub, James suddenly vanishes-a bloodstain the only clue to his fate-and Agatha is the prime suspect.Determined to clear her name and...

Frustrated by a series of small jobs after opening her own detective agency, Agatha Raisin places the fledgling agency's reputation on the line by alienating her friends and flirting with a chief suspect.

The vicar of a nearby village persuades Agatha Raisin to help publicize a church fete. Agatha brings out the crowds for the fete, but there's more going on than innocent village fun. Several of the offerings in the jam-tasting booth turn out to be poisoned, and the festive family event becomes the scene of two murders. Along with her young and (much to her dismay) pretty sidekick, Toni, Agatha must uncover the truth behind the jam tampering, keep...

In a town that loves Christmas, a Scrooge-like man rampaging against anything holiday-related is murdered. Agatha Raisin must discover the culprit--but it's difficult, when the victim had enemies galore.

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 do anything to get her man--including footing the bill for a charity ball just for the chance to dance with him. And then George doesn't even show up. Only partly deterred, Agatha goes looking for him, and finds his dead body in a compost heap....

Investigating the murder of a local baker during an amateur theatrical production, curmudgeon Agatha Raisin and her team of private detectives uncover a web of feuds and temperamental behaviors that place the team in mortal danger.

"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...

"The church of St. Ethelred in the village of Thirk Magna is renowned for its team of bell-ringers, the troupe led by identical twins Mavis and Millicent Dupin. Mavis and Millicent are lifelong residents of the remote village--or were, until their home is broken into one night, and Millicent is murdered. But who's the killer? Is it one of their co-workers, sick of being bullied to practice for a big performance? Or perhaps Joseph Kennell, a retired...

"When Private Detective Agatha Raisin learns that her friend and one-time lover Charles Fraith is to be married to a mysterious socialite, Miss Mary Brown-Field, she sees it as her duty to find out what she can about the woman. Coming up empty, Agatha--out of selfless concern for Charles, of course--does the only sensible thing she can think of: she crashes their wedding, which ends in a public altercation. Nursing a hangover the next morning, she...

"Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin--the star of her own hit T.V. series--is back on the case again in Devil's Delight. Toni and Agatha are in the car on the way to Officer Bill Wong's long-awaited wedding when, much to their shock, a naked young man bursts through a hedge on the side of the road and comes running toward them. Terrified, he explains that he has just seen a dead body in the woods. Toni lends...