Marion Chesney

1936 – 2019

100 works on record

Biography

Marion Chesney was born in 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland. Her first job was a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While working there, the Scottish Daily Mail hired her to review variety shows; she quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to work as a secretary--albeit without typing or shorthand skills--in the advertising department of Scottish Field magazine but was soon the fashion editor instead. She moved to the Scottish Daily Express, where she reported mostly on crime, then to Fleet Street and the Daily Express, where she was their chief woman reporter. Marion married Harry Scott Gibbons, and they had a son, Charles. Harry was offered a job as editor of the Long Island, New York, Oyster Bay Guardian, and the small family moved to the United States. The Oyster Bay job didn’t work out, and the trio moved to Virginia. Marion and Harry worked in the same greasy spoon in Alexandria--Marion waited tables, and Harry washed dishes. Happily, they both got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and returned to New York. Marion wanted to spend more time at home with young Charles. In 1977, encouraged by her husband, she started to write historical romance novels, eventually publishing over one hundred books under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under a variety of pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester. By 1985, Marion was weary of historicals and turned to detectives stories, writing as M. C. Beaton. A course at a fishing school during a holiday in Sutherland provided inspiration for the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. Eventually, the family returned to Scotland and and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland, where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. Another move, to the Cotswolds, led to the birth of Agatha Raisin.

Works

Our Lady of Pain (Edwardian Murder Mysteries)

2006

Sick of shadows

2005

Hasty Death

2004

The Romance

1997

The Homecoming

1997

The Deception

1996

The Folly

1996

The banishment

1995

The Sins of Lady Dacey

1994

Back in Society

1994

The dreadful debutante

1994

Sir Philip's Folly

1993

Mrs. Budley falls from grace

1993

The desirable duchess

1993

Lady Fortescue Steps Out

1992

His Lordship's Pleasure

1991

Animating Maria

1990

Perfecting Fiona

1989

Lady Margery's Intrigue

1988

Rainbird's Revenge

1988

Love and Lady Lovelace

1988

At the Sign of the Golden Pineapple

1987

The adventuress

1987

The wicked godmother

1987

The Miser of Mayfair

1986

Diana the Huntress

1985

The French affair

1985

Frederica in Fashion

1985

The Flirt

1985

Maggie

1984

Daphne

1984

Sweet masquerade

1984

The Westerby inheritance

1982

Penelope

1982

The Ghost and Lady Alice

1982

Quadrille

1982

Minerva

1982

My Lords, Ladies and Marjorie

1981

The Constant Companion

1981

Regency Gold

1980

Lady Margery's Intrigue

1980

My dear Duchess

1980

Henrietta

1979

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam

Death of a Dentist

Death of a Gentle Lady

The skeleton in the closet

Death of a bore

Agatha Raisin and the wellspring of death

Agatha Raisin and the terrible tourist

There goes the bride

Death of a Poison Pen

Love, Lies and Liquor

Death of a witch

Agatha Raisin and the wizard of Evesham

Death of a nag

Death of a Travelling Man (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries (Audio))

Agatha Raisin and the vicious vet

Agatha Raisin and the haunted house

Death of a Celebrity

Agatha Raisin and the day the floods came

Death of a dustman

Agatha Raisin and the murderous marriage

The deadly dance

Death of a Macho Man

Death of an addict

Death of a hussy

Agatha Raisin and the witch of Wyckhadden

Death of a perfect wife

The perfect paragon

Death of a Dreamer

Death of a Gossip

Death of a Village

Death of a Maid

Death of a snob

Death of a prankster

Death of an outsider

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam

Agatha Raisin and the potted gardener

Agatha Raisin and the love from hell

Death of a cad

Agatha Raisin and the walkers of Dembley

A spoonful of poison

A Highland Christmas

Agatha Raisin and the day the floods came

Agatha Raisin and the quiche of death

Agatha Raisin and the case of the curious curate

Death of a glutton

Death of a Charming Man

Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam (An Agatha Raisin Mystery)

Death of a Glutton (Hamish Macbeth)

Death Of A Dustman - A Hamish Macbeth Mystery

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (An Agatha Raisin Mystery)

Death of a Dreamer (Hamish Macbeth Mystery)

The Vicious Vet

Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Death of a Prankster (Hamish Macbeth)

Death of a Nag (Gemstar)

Death of a Scriptwriter