M. C. Beaton

An impoverished widow opens a hotel serving the society she has fallen from in this regency romance featuring characters who “leap off the pages” (Publishers Weekly).
 
After her husband’s death, Lady Fortescue knows she must work, even though the thought will appal her society relatives. So she decides to transform her once-grand Bond Street home into a hotel, the Poor Relation, offering society guests...

With “spirited characters,” a New York Times bestseller blends the tales of a besotted elderly nobleman and a debutante whose mother refuses her a season (Library Journal).
 
Sir Philip has fallen in love. But has the old man lost his mind? His colleagues at the popular hotel, the Poor Relation, have to wonder. The smitten nobleman has installed his paramour at the hotel—and he’s the only...

In this “entertaining comedy of errors” from a New York Times bestseller, a runaway bride is ransomed to collect on her father’s debts in Regency England (Publishers Weekly).
 
Due to a bad wager by one of its founders, the popular Poor Relation hotel is in financial trouble. Fortunately, founder Colonel Sandhurst has a plan. Offering the hotel as a sanctuary to a bride running from her...

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery from the author of the Agatha Raisin series.
Death of a Celebrity: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
Murder on the Telly Lochdubh, a remote village reached only by a one-track lane, nestles serenely amid Scotland's hills...until well-known TV reporter Crystal French races into town in her bright BMW. And Constable Hamish Macbeth, dourly wed to duty instead...

Theoddly assorted group met some time ago. All of them were poor relations, the genteel paupers of society, living on little more than their dignity. They banded together and started the Poor Relation hotel, hoping to be bought out by their embarrassed relations. Though as the hotel prospered, they began to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But once more they are in need of funds. To stoop to crime in their days of poverty was one thing, but to turn...

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery from the author of the Agatha Raisin series.
Death of a Gentle Lady: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
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...

New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin—now the star of a hit show on Acorn TV and public television—is beloved by millions and this short story takes readers back to where it all began with Agatha's first case.
At age twenty six, Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the Birmingham slum where she was born. She's lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her

...

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery where an unladylike gossip columnist meets an untimely and watery death. From the author of the Agatha Raisin series.
When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joined the fishing class, she wasted no time in ruffling the feathers—or was it the fins?—of those around her. Among the victims of her sharp tongue and unladylike manner was Lochdubh...

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery from the author of the Agatha Raisin series.
Death of a Kingfisher: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
When Scotland is hit by the recession, Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices that the Highland people are forced to come up with inventive ways to lure tourists to their sleepy towns. The quaint village of Braikie doesn't have much to offer, other than...

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery from the author of the Agatha Raisin series.
Death of a Village: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
Trouble is afoot in a Scottish fishing village as Constable Macbeth finds the pub empty, the church full, and the air permeated with fear. With the help of a journalist, Macbeth begins to ferret out the truth.