M. C Beaton

This time it's the local gardener, George Marston, she has her eye on. But competition for his attention abounds. With her shameless determination Agatha will do anything to get her man - including footing the bill for a charity ball in town just for the chance to dance with him. But when George is a no-show Agatha goes looking for him - and finds he has been murdered, having been bitten by a poisonous snake and buried in a compost heap. Agatha and...

The eldest, Minerva, is enchantingly beautiful - but a prude. She lives in the country looking after her siblings while her mother reclines on a chaise longue happily inventing new malaises. Her father, a vicar of decidedly secular inclinations, indulges a hearty passion for hunting instead of worrying about the girls' dowries. But when he wants to send his boys to Eton, the money must be found - and how better than by marrying Minerva off to a man...

Recently married to James Lacey, Agatha quickly finds out that love is not all it's cracked up to be. After a fight down the local pub James vanishes - a bloodstain the only clue to his fate - and Agatha is prime suspect.

While locals think Josie McSween is quite a catch, Hamish has a severe case of pre-nuptial jitters, after all, if it wasn't for the recent murder of a beautiful woman in a neighbouring village, there wouldn't be a wedding in the first place.

An unexpected hike to the Other Side ... After time away, Agatha Raisin returns to her beloved Cotswold village of Carsely - and to her handsome neighbour, James Lacey. True, James seems less than thrilled to see her, but Agatha is soon distracted by a sensational murder. The victim, found in a field, is young hiker Jessica Tartinck, who spent her life enraging landowners by insisting on her right to roam. Hope springs eternal in Agatha's breast as...