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Author M.C. BeatonM.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department at John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she received an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to become their theatre critic. She left Smith's to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing experience, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter.

After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion moved to the United States where Harry had been offered the position of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. They subsequently moved to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs at Rupert Murdoch's new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York. Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, supported by her husband, started to write Regency romances. After she had written close to 100, and had gotten fed up with the 1811 to 1820 period, she began to write detective stories under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Hamish Macbeth story. Marion and Harry returned to Britain and bought a croft house in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. When her son graduated, and both of his parents tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds, where Agatha Raisin was created.

While Marion wrote her historical romances under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, as well as several pseudonyms (Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward), because of her great success with mystery novels as M. C. Beaton, most of her publishers both in the U.S. and abroad use the M. C. Beaton pseudonym for all of her novels.

M.C. Beaton Book List
Her website: www.mcbeaton.com/us
Similar authors: Gyles Brandreth, Diane Mott Davidson, Janet Evanovich, Elizabeth Peters, Alexander McCall Smith
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Blood of an Englishman
Signed First Edition

Blood of an Englishman by M.C. Beaton

M.C. Beaton Selected Bibliography


Hamish Macbeth Series

  1. Death of a Gossip - 1985
  2. Death of a Cad - 1987
  3. Death of an Outsider - 1988
  4. Death of a Perfect Wife - 1989
  5. Death of a Hussy - 1991
  6. Death of a Snob - 1992
  7. Death of a Prankster - 1992
  8. Death of a Glutton - 1993
  9. Death of a Travelling Man - 1993
  10. Death of a Charming Man - 1994
  11. Death of a Nag - 1995
  12. Death of a Macho Man - 1996
  13. Death of a Dentist - 1997
  14. Death of a Scriptwriter - 1998
  15. Death of an Addict - 1999
  16. A Highland Christmas - 1999
  17. Death of a Dustman - 2001
  18. Death of a Celebrity - 2002
  19. Death of a Village - 2003
  20. Death of a Poison Pen - 2004
  21. Death of a Bore - 2005
  22. Death of a Dreamer - 2006
  23. Death of a Maid - 2007
  24. Death of a Gentle Lady - 2008
  25. Death of a Witch - 2009
  26. Death of a Valentine - 2010
  27. Death of a Sweep - 2011
  28. Death of a Kingfisher - 2012
  29. Death of Yesterday - 2013
  30. Death of a Policeman - 2014
  31. Death of a Liar - 2015
  32. Death of a Nurse - 2016

Agatha Raisin Series

  1. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death - 1992
  2. Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet - 1993
  3. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener - 1994
  4. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley - 1995
  5. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage - 1996
  6. Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist - 1997
  7. Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death - 1998
  8. Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham - 1999
  9. Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden - 1999
  10. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam - 2000
  11. Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell - 2001
  12. Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came - 2002
  13. Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate - 2003
  14. Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House - 2003
  15. Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance - 2004
  16. Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon - 2005
  17. Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor - 2006
  18. Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye - 2007
  19. Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison - 2008
  20. Agatha Raisin: There Goes The Bride - 2009
  21. Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body - 2010
  22. As the Pig Turns - 2011
  23. Hiss and Hers - 2012
  24. Something Borrowed, Someone Dead - 2013
  25. The Blood of an Englishman - 2014
  26. Agatha's First Case - 2015
  27. Dishing the Dirt - 2015

Agatha Raisin Short Stories

  • Agatha Raisin nd the Christmas Crumble - 2012

Agatha Raisin Companion

  • Agatha Raisin Companion - 2010 (with introduction by M.C.Beaton)

Note: For a complete list of Beaton's books, please see her website at www.mcbeaton.com/us

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