M C Beaton's latest book to be published in this country is entitled Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham. The wizard in question is a hearthrob hairdresser who captivates the heroine before being exposed as having a rather nasty sideline as a blackmailer and is eventually murdered in his own salon.

Publisher Constable & Robinson confirmed the author would be happy to be interviewed. But when the summons came, 'M C Beaton would be happy to see me in her Evesham hairdresser's', I began to feel a little edgy.

Of course, the fears were completely without foundation. M C Beaton - aka Marion Gibbons - turned out to be a charming "grannybe" and hairdresser Gareth Martin certainly didn't look like a blackmailer...I think.

Marion is a successful, full-time author whose works include the Hamish McBeth series successfully translated onto the small screen by the BBC. Married to modern history writer Harry Scott Gibbons, the couple divide their time between their Cotswolds home in Blockley and Paris.

'Twas not always thus. Glasgow-born Marion began her working life in a city centre bookstore when reading the literary reviews in the weekend "heavies" was essential and testing staff knowledge a Monday morning ritual.

Her path into journalism was the stuff of legend. "I used to be friendly with a very pretty actress and we spent a lot of time at the theatre, often going for coffee with the cast after a performance."

One day, in the absence of the actress, she went to the theatre as usual with another friend and met the cast on the way out.

"They said they were not going for coffee that day and went off. I took my new friend to the coffee house anyway and ten minutes later, they trooped in. I was absolutely mortified as only a teenager can be."

However, in the depth of one winter, the Daily Express could not persuade any of its critics to attend a first night in snow-bound Glasgow.

"I said I would do it and that was it. After that I used to get regular visits from the Express courier with theatre tickets."

Marion joined Scottish Field magazine as a secretary and rose to be fashion editor and subsequently went to work for Rupert Murdoch in New York. She concluded her journalistic career with the Express in London, where she met her husband who was the Express's Middle East correspondent.

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham is the third in a series which were printed first - and proved successful - on the other side of the Atlantic.

Following the death of the hairdresser, Agatha - a cross between Bridget Jones and Miss Marple - decides the track down the killer.

A widow, whose alcoholic husband was also murdered, she manages to find time to pursue her quest for true love with at times tragi-comic consequences.

No-one is quite who they seem in this story and the denouement is skilfully crafted.

It's not the longest book I've ever read, but it's a good and easy read.

That opinion is apparently shared by actress Penelope Keith, who recently portrayed Agatha in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of one of the earlier books.

Like many authors, Marion works to a rigid schedule. "I try to produce five pages a day," she said. "That leaves me time to run to the shops and do other things. It probably takes me about three months to complete a book."

She is currently working on a five-book deal for Time Warner which will take her through to 2008.

What does it take to excite an author of such experience?

"The latest Hamish McBeth made it onto the New York Times best-sellers list," remarked Marion. "That really did give me a buzz."

Fans in the Evesham area will be able to get their own buzz when Marion visits the Phoenix Bookshop in the town on April 29 to sign copies of the latest Agatha Raisin book.

l Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham by MC Beaton, is published by Constable and Robinson on April 27, price £5.99.