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...

"When Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth hears reports of a haunted castle near Drim, he assumes the eerie noises and lights reported by the villagers are just local teenagers going there to smoke pot or, worse, inject themselves with drugs. Still, Hamish decides that he and his policeman, Charlie "Clumsy" Carson, will spend the night at the ruined castle to get to the bottom of the rumors once and for all. There's no sign of any ghost...but then Charlie...

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...

"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,...

Feeling jilted and cross, Agatha follows a fortune-teller's advice and rents a cottage in the pretty village of Fryfam, where she hopes good fortune and true love will come chasing after her for a change. Instead, her nose for trouble leads her into a maelstrom of jealousy, blackmail and dangerous liasons.

Confounded by the murder of Lochdubh writing circle's long-winded organizer, police officer Hamish Macbeth investigates the victim's writings for clues and wonders at sinister themes within an unfinished soap opera script.

The honeymoon is most definitely over for Agatha Raisin and her new husband, James Lacey. It's only been a short time since their wedding-and already they aren't getting on. But his wandering eye and her God-awful housekeeping are the least of their problems. Just days after a very public, very ugly marital row, James disappears-and when his mistress is later found murdered, he's the prime suspect. Agatha just doesn't buy it. Sure, he's a liar and...

Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth is charged with investigating the death of a maid struck down by a bucket of water.

The garbage collectors in Britain are still called dustmen, and Lochdubh's dustman is an abusive drunk named Fergus Macleod. When Fergus is put in charge of a recycling center and dubbed the "environment officer." Constable Hamish Macbeth smells trouble piling up. Sure enough, Fergus becomes a bullying tyrant with his new power, issuing unwarranted fines and blackmailing residents. And when his body is found stuffed in a recycling bin, no one's sorry,...

Agatha Raisin is ambivalent about holiday cheer, but the village of Carsely has long prided itself on its Christmas festivities. John Sunday, a self-important officer with the Health and Safety Board, is putting a damper on the celebrations. The Carsely Ladies' Society joins forces with the ladies in the neighboring village of Odley Cruesis to try to put a stop to his meddling only to find that someone has literally put a stop to him with a kitchen...