Showing results by author "M.C Beaton" in All Categories

Lizzie is the sixth and youngest daughter of the late Sir Beverley, the patriarch who gambled away their beloved estate, Mannerling. Each of Lizzie's sisters had been entrusted by their ambitious mother to cast lures for the various owners of their former home. Instead, each one happily married...

Jenny Sutherland is pretty, but the lovely country girl is also vain. Her guardian has decided that a London season is just the thing to give the fair Jenny a sorely deserved set-down. Meanwhile, the handsome Duke of Pelham, owner of 67 Clarges Street, has returned from Europe at last - to find a wife. Used to women doting on him, the Duke turns the ton against the disdainful Jenny who dares to spurn him at her very first London soiree. Alas, he’s fallen in love with the miss he’s just ruined!

As the youngest of four unmarried vicar's daughters, Frederica feared her destiny was to die of boredom in the sleepy village of Barton Sub Edge. Her looks were deemed unfortunate and her willful manner labeled her difficult. She never dreamt the arrival of a stranger would be a twist to her...

"I do not think I want to be married at all. I want to be rich. Very rich...." When Henrietta Bascombe opens a confectionary shop in order to turn her pittance of an inheritance into a fortune, her friends are shocked to hear of such a well-bred lady going into trade. The earl of Carrisdown is both drawn to and repelled by her shopgirl status.

The Davenport sisters were alone, without even a dour-faced maid to supervise their strict puritanical devotions, until the elder, flame-haired Gillian boldly decided it was high time they let their hair down. Now, with the help of a kindly relation, the two daring misses exchange their somber attire for modish gowns and hairstyles that would surely give their parents apoplexy. But the best is yet to come: plum pudding, eggnog, carols, and a most breathtaking tree.

The first book in M.C. Beaton's charming Edwardian Candlelight series. She was a bewitching young girl, that pretty Polly Marsh, and she knew it. She also knew that beauty could be her passport into the castles where she had always known she belonged. So she set her sights for a duke and joined...

The third book in M.C. Beaton's charming Edwardian Candlelight series. Poor Ginny Bloggs! She had inherited a fortune, a magnificent country estate, and her benefactor's disgruntled relatives - a quartet of querulous schemers - who were horrified to find themselves suddenly at the mercy of a low...

Après un séjour de six mois à Londres, Agatha retrouve enfin ses chères Cotswolds - et le non moins cher James Lacey. Même si le retour au bercail de son entreprenante voisine ne donne pas l'impression d'enthousiasmer particulièrement le célibataire le plus convoité de Carsely. Heureusement, Agatha est très vite happée par son sport favori : la résolution d'affaires criminelles. Comme le meurtre d'une certaine Jessica, qui militait pour le droit de passage de son club de randonneurs dans les propriétés privées des environs.

De retour dans les Cotswolds après de longues vacances, Agatha Raisin découvre que son voisin James Lacey, objet de tous ses fantasmes, est tombé sous le charme d'une nouvelle venue au village. Aussi élégante qu'amusante, Mary Fortune est une jardinière hors pair, et la journée portes ouvertes des jardins de Carsely s'annonce déjà comme son triomphe. Mais une Agatha Raisin ne s'incline pas avant d'avoir combattu (quitte à se livrer à l'une de ces petites supercheries peu reluisantes dont elle a le secret) !

His kiss has left her flushed and disconcerted – perhaps men are best avoided after all! The Earl of Tredair has had his fill of balls, routs, and silly misses, and he despairs of finding anyone out of the ordinary - that is, until he meets Miss Fanny Waverley. Most unique and intriguing, she...

Modern notions were all well and good – but where did one find a man to share them? Though Frederica chafes at the restricted life she lives as the adopted daughter of an infamous bluestocking, she does agree with the philosophy: until men learn to appreciate women as intellectual equals...

From the top of his flawlessly groomed head to the waxed tips of his fashionable shoes, Lord Andrew Childe was every inch the perfect gentleman. But Andrew's arrogant composure was almost always shattered by the impertinent Penelope Mortimer, an achingly lovely country beauty who had a clear knack for ruffling his lordship's feathers. Her nose for trouble seemed to land Lord Andrew in the most awkward situations - and love itself quickly became the most delicate of them all!

It's a maiden's miracle! Annabelle Quennell, daughter of a poor country parson, gets a chance at a London season to snare a wealthy husband. But before she sets off, Mad Meg the gypsy predicts trouble ahead, and it is nothing but woe that Annabelle finds. Godmother Lady Emmeline sponsors Annabelle's spree - and demands she wed the oafish Captain MacDonald.

The fifth book in M.C. Beaton's charming Edwardian Candlelight series. Poor little Susie. A beautiful dreamer, she imagined herself happy in a rose-covered cottage, only to find herself mistress of a great damp castle and wife to the elderly Earl of Blackhall. Luck, not the lecherous earl...

Just when he'd fobbed off the last brat, another appeared to take her place! Poor Lord Anselm! The dashing bachelor was forever plagued with dying relatives leaving their female children to his care. Indeed, he had squired so many a silly miss from schoolroom to marriage mart that he had sworn...

Blessed with beauty, Mrs. Manners never bothered with the lesser skills of grammar and spelling. So, in order to entrap a second husband, namely the dashing duke of Denbigh, she needed Miss Verity Bascombe. Surely the modest chit would be honored to write her love letters. Poor Verity! Her old schoolmate was as selfish as ever. The lovely girl's gilded pen soon had the duke most intrigued by the poetic Mrs. Manners! But alas, what began as a tiny deception became troublesome indeed - for Verity soon found herself enamored by the handsome duke!

The Misses Penelope Yarwood, Euphemia Perkins, and Letitia Helmsdale all smugly informed Fiona that the Marquess of Cleveden was at once the most eligible and the most elusive catch in the London marriage mart. Society's most dazzling beauties had failed to win him over yet, and a newcomer like Fiona didn't stand a ghost of a chance of having him look at her twice.

As one of the two remaining unmarried Beverley sisters, Belinda considers herself the last hope for Mannerling, the beloved estate gambled away by their father. Each of her four elder sisters had hoped--even schemed--to marry one of Mannerling's successive owners. But all had chosen true love...

Un grido spezza la quiete di Mircester e la camminata di salute che Agatha Raisin sta facendo nella pausa pranzo. Sono stati i signori Swinburn a gridare e ne avevano ben donde: davanti a loro, disteso sull'erba, c'è infatti il cadavere di un uomo. Si chiamava Harold Nelson, però tutti lo conoscevano come l'Ammiraglio, ed era noto non soltanto per la sua passione per le bocce, ma soprattutto per la sua spiccata tendenza ad alzare il gomito in ogni occasione, pubblica e privata.

Il fatto che Agatha Raisin si sia imbattuta in una gamba mozzata farebbe pensare che il caso di cui sta per occuparsi sia particolarmente macabro. Ma le apparenze ingannano, come scopre la stessa Agatha quando viene assunta per indagare su un episodio di spionaggio industriale in una fabbrica in cui tutti, dai fattorini al padrone, sono perlomeno eccentrici. E non fa eccezione la signora Dinwiddy, l’efficentissima e temutissima segretaria… anzi, non faceva eccezione, perché la donna è stata trovata morta nei pressi della stalla di Wizz-Wazz, l’asinella che è la mascotte dell’azienda.