M.C. Beaton

One of the most borrowed authors from British libraries, M.C. Beaton was the queen of ‘cosy’ crime, with her two principle detective series, Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin, proving phenomenally popular with readers. After a brief career in the noble art of bookselling, Beaton turned to journalism, taking positions as theatre critic and fashion editor for various publications and becoming chief woman reporter on the Daily Express. Beaton then moved to the United States with her new husband, where she wrote over 100 regency romances until, having tired of the form and the period, she decided to try her hand at crime fiction. The result was the first Hamish Macbeth mystery, Death of a Gossip, published in 1985. Upon moving back to the UK in the early 1990s, the Beatons settled in the Cotswolds, which was to prove the setting for her most popular series – and detective – Agatha Raisin. Beginning in 1992 with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, the formidable crime solving abilities of the retired PR guru captured the imaginations of millions of readers the world over.