M.C. Beaton

Born

in Glasgow, Scotland, The United Kingdom

June 10, 1936

Died

December 30, 2019

Website

http://www.mcbeaton.com/uk

Genre

Mystery, Suspense, Romance

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Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.

Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, 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 fol Like her on Facebook!

Learn more on her website!

Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.

Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, 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 went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.

Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 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 Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created. ...more

Combine Editions
M.C. Beaton’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 454,137 ratings · 36,346 reviews · 277 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin, #1) 3.74 avg rating — 22,955 ratings — published 1992 — 75 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death of a Gossip (Hamish Macbeth, #1) 3.70 avg rating — 13,391 ratings — published 1985 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin, #2) 3.72 avg rating — 13,834 ratings — published 1993 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (Agatha Raisin, #4) 3.75 avg rating — 10,787 ratings — published 1995 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (Agatha Raisin, #5) 3.81 avg rating — 9,912 ratings — published 1996 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death of a Cad (Hamish Macbeth, #2) 3.82 avg rating — 8,605 ratings — published 1987 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (Agatha Raisin, #3) 3.79 avg rating — 12,303 ratings — published 1994 — 55 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death of an Outsider (Hamish Macbeth, #3) 3.83 avg rating — 7,692 ratings — published 1988 — 38 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (Agatha Raisin, #8) 3.75 avg rating — 8,271 ratings — published 1999 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (Agatha Raisin, #7) by M.C. Beaton (Alias), Marion Chesney 3.72 avg rating — 7,992 ratings — published 1998 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by M.C. Beaton…

Series by M.C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin (31 books)
by

M.C. Beaton (Alias),

Marion Chesney

3.73 avg rating — 227,565 ratings

Hamish Macbeth (34 books)
by

M.C. Beaton

3.79 avg rating — 174,785 ratings

Agatha Raisin: BBC Radio Drama (5 books)
by

M.C. Beaton,

Penelope Keith (Narrator)

3.85 avg rating — 9,206 ratings

Quotes by M.C. Beaton

“Clever plastic surgery can restore an appearance of youth, but nothing changes the expression of age and experience in the eyes.”
― M.C. Beaton, As the Pig Turns

26 likes

“A lady is as young as the gentleman she feels," said Roy and cackled happily.”
― M.C. Beaton

tags: agatha-raisin, age

25 likes

“Snakes and bastards!”
― M. C. Beaton

20 likes

See all M.C. Beaton's quotes »

Polls

Vote for our September 2016 group read!

Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride

10 votes, 26.3%

The Blackhouse by Peter May

5 votes, 13.2%

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

5 votes, 13.2%

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

4 votes, 10.5%

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

3 votes, 7.9%

Runaway by Peter May

3 votes, 7.9%

The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid

2 votes, 5.3%

The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey

2 votes, 5.3%

The Special Dead by Lin Anderson

2 votes, 5.3%

Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton

1 vote, 2.6%

Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid

1 vote, 2.6%

38 total votes

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Combine Editions
M.C. Beaton’s books