Refining Felicity by Marion Chesney/M.C. Beaton

I have, of course, read M.C. Beaton before. I've picked up a few of her Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth books and enjoyed them. They're fun little cozy mysteries. I haven't finished either series, though. In fact, I don't think I've picked either up in a couple of years. Good books, but nothing I have felt compelled to marathon read. Even the shows based on the series I'll watch an episode or two of now and then, but again ... not marathon.

I found out a couple of years ago that Beaton has written several genres under several names -- including a ton of historicals under her "actual" name, Marion Chesney. It took me until now to pick up the first from her Regency series, The School for Manners. I'm sure at some point I'll continue with Agatha and Hamish, but these I could definitely see myself marthoning. Reading. Watching. Whatever.

First published in 1988, a couple of months before I turned 13, I probably would have originally claimed Felicity to be one of the greatest characters ever (had I any interest in the time in anything that could be classified in any way as a romance). Now? I'm all about the Tribble twins. Maybe it's the fact that I'm closer in age to them than the so-called heroine. Maybe we're just kindred spirits and would have been thirty-plus years ago as well. I'm not sure which one I'm drawn to more, yet. Maybe by the time the series is finished I'll have it figured out. Right now I'm leaning Team Amy .... except for when I'm feeling more Effy-ish .... 

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Title Refining Felicity

Author Marion Chesney/M.C. Beaton

Publication originally published 1 October 1988, St Martin's Press

Amazon Description

Cover Art

First Lines

It is a sad fact that one's insides do not keep pace with one's outsides. Pains in the lower back, wrinkles round the eyes, soft puffiness under the chin, elasticity gone from the step; all the outward manifestations of growing old make up a pitifully hardening shell over the ever-youthful and hopeful soul.

Faves on 4s

4%: Effy was soft and timid on the outside and had a hard core of steel within, the hallmark of a truly feminine woman. Amy was crude and harsh and ungainly and swore on occasion quite dreadfully, but could be sentimental and impractical to a fault.

14%: Felicity swung a leg over the polished banister and slid down the staircase, vaulted over the polished carved heraldic beast on the bottom post and landed lightly in the hall, to cries of shock from the ladies and roars of noisy approval from the hunting crowd.

44%: Her poor head, stuffed by Felicity with romantic tales, led her to believe that Felicity had taken her own life. She rushed up to the drawing room and flung herself weeping on the middle of the carpet and begged for mercy.

64%: 'What are they saying?' he asked.

         'Only that this house is being called Ravenswood's harem and they are saying that you are Turkish in your tastes and prefer older women.'

         The marquess laughed, as much with relief as anything else. 'If that is all they have to say, let 'em,' he said.

84%: Her heart had lifted when he said he wanted to talk privately to her. Disappointment that the only reason he wanted to be alone with her was to be reassured that his monstrous behaviour had not reached the delicate ears of his fiancee, who must be cherished and protected unlike such a hurly-burly girl as herself, enraged her.

Friday Two-For-One (Book Beginnings, Friday 56, #boutofbooks 4 & 5)

I've decided to share two books this week for Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- the one I've just finished and the one I'm just beginning (well, beginning again as it's a re-read). These are the 4th & 5th (and probably last) books I'm reading for the BoutOfBooks readathon. I've had a blast doing it ... have gotten to "know" quite a few more readers ... and already can't wait until the next one!

As always, Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings is at Rose City Reader.

from Amazon:

Rambley Bits

This is the third of Beaton's Hamish Macbeth books. I think right now there are over thirty in the series so it should take me a while to catch up .... unless I stop taking so much time in between books (I read the second in February ... of 2016!). Really? I could catch up in about a month if I wanted to as they're delightfully fast reads. 

Anyway, this installment sees Hamish (and trusty canine Towser) away from home covering for another vacationing officer. Of course, a murder occurs shortly after Hamish arrives and Hamish has to do what he does best -- solve the mystery while annoying the inspector in charge. The wit I loved from him in the first two books are present yet again and even though he and Priscilla are separated for the vast majority (she's in London -- he's in the middle of nowhere), I'm still rooting for them to figure it the heck out already. 

Maybe I'll make a new goal of reading at least 2 Hamish's a month .... which will still take me over a year to catch up .... dangit.

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I believe I've only read Emma once before -- about a million and three years ago in high school. Hence, I probably only half paid attention to it and likely only half understood it. Of course, in the years since I've seen the movies and mini-series and have absolutely fallen in love. This, therefore, will be my weekend (aside from a trip to the dentist for the kid) : pjs, Emma and oooooh Mr Knightley. 

Rambling About.. MC Beaton's Death of a Cad

Title: Death of a Cad     Author: M. C. Beaton Publication: February 1987 -- St. Martin's Press Format: epub -- BookBazaar Reader (149 pages) First Line: Henry Withering, playwright, slumped down in the passenger seat of the station wagon after another bleak look out at the forbidding landscape. Favorites on 4s: 4 - When he had asked her to marry him, all she had felt was a giddy elation at having done the right thing at last; at having finally found someone who would please her parents. 24 - Priscilla bit her lip. Somehow it had never crossed her mind even to turn her back while Hamish was changing his trousers. 64 - Was this what the future held for him? Chatting away in the evenings to a spoilt mongrel? 84 - "I could smell him from here -- fear-sweat. Angry, blustering, ranting people are usually frightened." 104 - "She'll be drooping around the castle by tonight, trying to queen it over the rest of us as if she's some sort of femme fatale, instead of the worn-out trollop she really is." 124 - "The only thing I'm taking to bed tonight is a hot-water bottle."

Ramble: I'm still mad-crushing on Hamish Macbeth. I had read the first in the series back in August and had lamented then that the non-relationship between Hamish and Priscilla was driving me crazy. In this book it's even worse since Priscilla is engaged to be married to someone other than Hamish and her parents have invited a whole slew of people to their estate in order to meet him and celebrate. I was hoping that the "cad" mentioned in the title would end up being him ... but with no such luck. Of course, practically everyone in attendance at the party has motive for wanting the victim dead and it is Hamish who steps up to solve it all in spite of most viewing him as a simple bobbling village bobby.

There wasn't as much humor here as there was in the first book, but I chalk that up to the somberness surrounding the engagement. It's difficult for Hamish to be witty when the girl he adores is set to live happily-ever-after with someone else. Priscilla also seemed greatly diminished in spunk aside from the few times that she and Hamish were alone. There are moments of coffee-snorting-worthy humor, just not as much as there had been .... and, hopefully, not as much as there will be.

The 32nd book in the series is set to be released the end of this month. I think I may need to do some serious adjusting to my monthly reading thing so it doesn't take me the next decade to catch up!

Rambling About.. M. C. Beaton's The Quiche of Death

Title: The Quiche of Death Author: M.C. Beaton Publication: December 1992 - St. Martin's Press Format: epub -- Book Bazaar Reader -- 137 pages  First Lines: Mrs Agatha Raisin sat behind her newly cleared desk in her office in South Molton Street in London's Mayfair. From the outer office came the hum of voices and the clink of glasses as the staff prepared to say farewell to her. Favorites on 4s: (page 24, 54, 74, 94, 114)  24 - She ate some breakfast and picked up an Agatha Christie mystery and tried to read, but could not focus on the words. What did fictional mysteries matter when there was a real-live one in the village? 54 - Old houses crack and sigh as they settle down for the night. For a long time Agatha lay awake, starting at every sound, until she suddenly fell asleep, one hand resting on the knob of the poker. 74 - "Like another world," said Roy. "I thought you'd made a ghastly mistake coming here, Aggie, but now I think you're lucky." 94 - "You know, you haven't given it much time. It takes about two years to settle in anywhere. Besides, you're a different person. Less prickly, less insensitive." 114 - Agatha Raisin, with her skirts hitched up, was running down Lilac Lane as if all the fiends of hell were after her.

Ramble: I've been meaning to read the Agatha Raisin books for at least a decade ... or two ... and finally got around to starting!

Agatha is 53 and has take an early retirement from her public relations firm in London in order to buy a cozy little cottage in a cozy little village. Everyone seems friendly at first. Her new neighbors always say hello and talk about the weather but she soon realizes that it's all they talk to her about so she decides to enter the upcoming quiche competition so people will notice her when she wins. Of course, Agatha doesn't know how to do more than microwave frozen dinners from the market so she goes to the best quiche shop in London and buys a quiche to enter in the contest. She loses, the contest judge ends up dead, her quiche is declared to be the weapon. Things in Agatha's world aren't quite so cozy.

I have some big issues with Agatha Raisin. She's brash and ballsy and selfish and reminds me a little too much of people I have known. Since other characters tended to call her out on her less desirable personality traits I'm assuming that I wasn't necessarily supposed to like her much. Luckily, I absolutely adored some of her neighbors and her former assistant, Roy. They're why I have The Vicious Vet lined up and ready to go already. If next month's TBR goes by as quickly as this month's has it will be the first thing I turn to to fill in the empty bit of time. I'm hoping that Agatha herself will grow on me some more, but as long as everyone else is written as they were in The Quiche of Death I think I'll be okay.

MC Beaton's Death of a Gossip

I started Death of a Gossip this morning when I woke up shortly after 7am Sunday morning and it was finished by 5pm. It was that fast .... and that good!!!

 I think that most know how much I adore Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy and Hamish MacBeth is so similar in feel and wit that I kept imagining what would have happened had the two ever crossed paths. I likely would have had trouble breathing from laughing so hard but oh how worthwhile the hyperventilation would be!

It definitely fits well into the "cozy" side of the mystery spectrum. There's a murder but there's no gore and the mystery aspect of it kept me guessing. It reminded me quite a lot of some of my favorite Agatha Christie tales where practically everyone you come across has equal means and motive. Hamish isn't even officially on the case, being just a small local "bobby." He can't bring himself to just sit by and do nothing, though, especially not when the girl he's crazy about puts a bug in his ear about it.

Of course, although she volunteers to follow him around with praise the problem is that her father quite dislikes Hamish and while he's a simple police constable, Priscilla comes from prestige.

While the relationship (or non-relationship) between Priscilla and Hamish is a minor blip in the grand scheme of the whole murder mystery deal, it's one that's driving me crazy. I was half tempted to go reading through synopses for books further into the series to find out if they end up together .... but I resisted the spoilers. 

For now.