OK, I'll give it another shot. Guess the book, win the magnetic bookmark!
While the rest of the town is smitten by Mrs. Gentle, our hero distrusts and dislikes her. When she tries to close down his beloved station, he exacts his revenge and saves a beautiful woman from deportation at the same time by proposing to Gentle's maid Ayesha. By the time the wedding day arrives, Hamish is desperate to escape marriage; when Ayesha doesn't appear and Mrs. Gentle is found dead, he escapes one disaster only to be swept into another.
The book was written by a romance novelist under a pseudonym.
The book is the 24th in it's series.
Name: Jay northeastern New Mexico Zone 5b, in the foothills @ 7100'
It was years ago... I recall it as slowly paced, quietly interesting. I was a bit lost for a while... mostly I remember long shots of driving through sunlit moors & rocky coastline. Not a thing about the story.
OK, I confess, when you first posted the hint "Death of a ---" I was going to say Death of a Gentle Woman, due to the name of the victim being Gentle, but thought that too obvious. But when I looked at a list of series titles, I see a very similar one... is that it?!
I think I've only read Death of a Cad in this series & I don't recall it at all. I did try a couple of the Agatha Raisin ones & didn't care for them at all. She just seemed too abrasive for me.
I have little confidence in any enterprise or business or investment that promises dividends only after the death of the stockholders.
Oh, that narrows it right down! 
Come into my web, spider babies!!
