M. C Beaton

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...

Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish Highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a body stuffed inside the chimney. The town of Lochdubh is sure Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that he is capable of committing murder.

Local police stations all over the Scottish Highlands are being threatened with closure and this presents the perfect opportunity for Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who would love nothing more than to get rid of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth. Blair suggests that Cyril Sessions, a keen young police officer, visit the town of Lochdubh to monitor exactly what Hamish does every day. On hearing of Blair's plans Hamish is fully prepared to ensure young Cyril...

Agatha has fallen in love again. This time it's the local gardener, George Marston, she has her eye on. But competition for his attention abounds. When George is a no-show at a charity ball Agatha goes looking for him and finds he has been murdered, having been bitten by a poisonous snake and buried in a compost heap.

Sergeant Hamish Macbeth is alarmed to receive a report from a woman in the small village of Cronish in the Scottish Highlands. She has been brutally attacked and the criminal is on the loose. But upon further investigation, Hamish discovers that she was lying about the crime. So when the same woman calls him back about an intruder, he simply marvels at her compulsion to lie. This time, though, she is telling the truth. Her body is found in her home...

When a local woman tells Sergeant Hamish Macbeth that she doesn't remember what happened the previous evening, he's not unduly worried. After all, she's been out drinking. But when her body is discovered in a ditch, Hamish is forced to investigate a crime that the only known witness - now dead - has forgotten.

Returning from holiday Hamish becomes unaccountably worried - it's as if he senses a dark cloud of evil hanging over Lochdubh. He soon learns that there is a newcomer to the village, a woman called Catriona Beldame, and that the villagers have decided she is a witch.

Winter Parva has decided to throw a celebratory hog roast to mark the beginning of the winter holiday festivities & Agatha Raisin has arrived with friend & rival in the sleuthing business, Toni, to enjoy the merriment. But as the spit pig is carried towards the fiery charcoal Agatha realises that things aren't as they seem.

The most hated man in the most dour town in Scotland is sleeping with the fishes, or, more accurately, has been dumped into a tank filled with crustaceans. All that remains of the victim are his bones. But once the lobsters have been shipped off to Britain's best restaurants, the whole affair quickly lands on the plate of Hamish Macbeth.

Matilda, Duchess of Hadshire, was a virtual prisoner of a cruel husband who romanced his mistress right under the duchess's nose. Her only joy was dreaming of the handsome Earl of Torridon - for he, like her, was trapped in a horrid marriage and longed to find true love and happiness. Though she secretly wished for the death of her unkind husband, Matilda never imagined the guilt that would plague her when the illustrious duke was befittingly murdered...