M C Beaton - does she just churn out books a la Barbara Cartland, and ...

[TerribleTantrums]

what decade is Hamish Macbeth set in? I read the first Hamish Macbeth assuming it was the 1950s, but then in the second one somebody says "I don't have AIDS" which brings it forward at least to the early 80's. It just doesn't have a late 20th century feeling though, perhaps that's to do with the remoteness of the location. (I won't be reading any further anyway, I got bored and stopped halfway through the second Hamish book, the characters are just too annoying).

Also, how on earth does she manage to write at least 3 books a year (some years it looks like about 5 books according to Wiki).

[KurriKurri]

She seems to have a never ending turnover of books, in several genres. I read a couple of Agatha raisin ones -but found like you that they got a bit tiresome and repetitive. I imagine that is how she manages to be so prolific, - liberal use of cut and paste

[TerribleTantrums]

The weird thing is that I really enjoyed the TV series of Hamish Macbeth, the personalities were filled out, it was more humurous, and the charm (mostly the charm of the landscape tbh) stopped me being so annoyed about the shallowness of the plot. Usually I prefer the book over the screen adaptation. Of course it helped that Robert Carlyle was still winsomely attractive then, he's scarily haggard now, as though he's been ageing three times as fast as the rest of the world.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

I do enjoy reading Hamish Macbeth books and Agatha Raisin ones - I get them from the library when I see them. I've even read some of her historical romance ones - Frederica in Fashion, Diana the Huntress etc etc. Froth, but quite fun...

[patchworkchick]

I enjoyed listening to Agatha Raisin on the radio and have got out the cd's from the library. Your right mc Beaton dies have a large out put.

[derektheladyhamster]

Some of her books have been re-released recently.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Chesney

[TerribleTantrums]

I've been reading a couple of the 'A House for the Season', and 'X goes to Y' books because they've been coming up as a Kindle daily deal. I definitely like her regency stuff better than the more modern stuff. They're great for reading last thing before sleeping because the don't engage my brain at all.