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Summary: Hamish MacBeth is on the Case Again
Review: Constable Hamish MacBeth, a man thought of by many as unambitious, senses that secrets are swirling about him. With his ear to the ground and the calm devotion of his dog, Lugs, he sets out to determine why the nearby city of Stoyre has taken on an odd hue. Even the professed resurgence of religion has MacBeth wondering what the small town is hiding, and he is determined to follow the trail until he has all of the answers. Along the way, he's haunted by an old love and enticed by Elspeth Grant, a pretty but sassy reporter. He's also invested in a murder at a nursing home and the possibility of spousal abuse under another roof. MacBeth, in his own quirky way, follows the truth until the mysteries are explained.
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Summary: More like a collection of stories...
Review: Did television fame change Hamish? Or did it change the nature of his creator's storytelling about him? In any case, it seems to me that this book is more a collection of scripts they decided not to use in the TV series than a single, unified mystery. The stories fit together well enough, but no single story pulls the book through its beginning, middle, and end. Still, I like Hamish and M.C. Beaton always seems to get the dialog just right. The sentimental bits about Lugs the dog have a humorous undertone (is Lugs actually jealous of the new woman on the scene?) and the gossipy aspects of village life play fresh and funny again. It's tricky for a book serial to outlive its television counterpart, I think, especially when the television finale wrapped up so many loose ends. Maybe when we're all a little further away from BBC Lochdubh, it'll be possible for Hamish to return to the ordinarily extraordinary business of life as a village constable.
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Summary: A Delight!
Review: Fans of Hamish Macbeth will rejoice! Hamish is back, slightly perturbed by stories that his adored Priscilla will be marrying someone else. He knows they're unsuitable -- but he misses her. Tall, red-headed Hamish continues to attract women, however, and the local reporter Elspeth has been showing some interest. With her help, he digs into a series of cases that only loosely relate to one another. A nearby village seems caught up in a sinister spell. A lovely young wife seems to be abused. Residents check into a local nursing home and some seem to check out awfully fast. And villagers report some mysterious action along the jagged coastline. Hamish loves a mystery but this time his skill may get him the reward he doesn't want: a promotion to a big-city police force, where he'll be lost in the crowd. Nearly every character in the series -- as well as the reviewers -- call Hamish unambitious, but I think he's a man who's got everything he wants, and he knows it. And on some level, he seems to know he's not destined for marriage (thankfully -- the series would never be the same) and takes comfort in his beloved dog, Lugs. It's easy to dismiss M.C. Beaton's books as light -- and they are -- but she's a solid writer. She creates characters in a sentence or two and even gives them some depth. Her characters have self-defeating flaws as well as heroic virtues. Her books are small but you get a real sense of people and place -- the result of tight, careful writing. On page 233, we learn how Hamish acquired Lugs -- in 3 sentences. Some writers would need 3 pages. Let's hope we see a few dozen more volumes from this prolific and gifted author.
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Summary: Another first-rate effort
Review: Hamish MacBeth is back in top form and M.C. Beaton's Highlands constable just keeps getting better and better. This installment is, like the others in the series, fairly light reading and you can polish it off easily in a day. My only complaint about Beaton's books are that they are just too short - I want the pleasure of reading them to last and last! The writing remains crisp and fresh, the characters lively and well-drawn and the mystery well-plotted. What else can you ask for?
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Summary: Gone Hollywood -- mean, rough on reader, lost the charm
Review: I read the book and came to the conclusion that she has gone Hollywood. Then I read the flap note that mentions a BBC series. Gone Hollywood: written in short episodes for readers with a short attention span; lots of ready-to-film violent scenes with little characterization or connecting plot; plenty of stuff for the special effects people; mean and nasty in tone; way too many murders for the locality; little charm or local color; anti-religious and anti-rural cliches; hero of infinite strength and endurance; and of course, a major role for a girl with a bare midriff. In other words, Superman transported to the Highlands with less sex. Hard on the reader -- several sympathetic characters are needlessly killed or seriously injured. A little more work on the plot could have avoided that. Read an earlier one in the series -- or read "Evans Above" by Rhys Bowen.
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Summary: Elspeth turns on the charm
Review: I thought that this latest installment of the Hamish Macbeth series is far better than the last few. Finally Hamish is starting to stop wallowing over Priscilla Halliburton Smythe (a character that became less interesting in each progressing installment)and has found new interest with the local astrologer/mystic/psychic/whateveryouwanttocallher Elspeth. She seems to be much more abitious than Priscilla and much more suited to Hamish. Another plus in this book is that the majority of action takes place outside of Lochdubh. The inhabitants of Lochdubh are wonderful but sometimes their quirks can be a bit stiffling, so these new characters were a welcome change of pace.
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Summary: an easy and enjoyable read.
Review: If you're looking for a quick but good and light mystery novel to indulge in, this latest Hamish Macbeth installment, "Death of a Village," just might do. Hamish is again being threatened with promotion and a move away from Lochdubh. Of course our canny policeman isn't having any of this. Of course persuading his superiors to leave him where he is at his current rank is going to take some very quick and devious thinking. But can he pull it off? For in between trying to ensure that he is not transferred from Lochdubh, Hamish also gets entangled with a number of perplexing cases that deal with everything from a suspected domestic abuse to murder at a retirement home. And there is the mystery of the atmosphere at Stoyre, a fishing village on Hamish's patch. Even for the normally unfriendly and dour Highland villagers, the closed and cagey behaviour of the people of Stoyre has Hamish suspecting that something untoward is up. But what? No matter what, Hamish is determined to get to the bottom of what's going on at Stoyre... Not every Hamish MacBeth mystery novel makes for a completely enjoyable and worthwhile read. But I thought that "Death of a Village" was a particularly good installment in the series. M. C. Beaton's dry humour and gentle irony was evident, and was what made this book so very very readable and fun. Filled with quirky and eccentric characters that are not always likeable, beautiful and atmospheric descriptions of the Highlands and more than a few humourous episodes, this light, fast paced mystery novel was just what I needed to help me unwind at the day's end.
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Summary: Another Winner for Hamish
Review: MC Beaton pens another winner with "Death of a Village". No one can write a village mystery like her, and her Hamish is a wonderful character. I like him more each time out. In this book Hamish is on a winning crusade against crime in his patch. He cracks open a fraud ring, a nursing home scam, saves a little girl's life in a catastropic flood and uncovers a salvaging ring that is stripping a German submarine from World War II that had been downed somewhere near the village of Storye which is a village on his patch. Usually nothing much goes on in Storye, but when Hamish makes a routine visit there, he finds that the villagers are secretive and scared. He and his young reporter friend Elspeth try to determine what is going on in the tiny village. Hamish is hard pressed to keep his good deeds "off the radar screen" so to speak because the last thing he wants is promotion to a larger police station. The only thing I'm sad about after reading this book is that I have only one left to read in this long-running series. The series has been a total delight!
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner for Hamish
Review: MC Beaton pens another winner with "Death of a Village". No one can write a village mystery like her, and her Hamish is a wonderful character. I like him more each time out. In this book Hamish is on a winning crusade against crime in his patch. He cracks open a fraud ring, a nursing home scam, saves a little girl's life in a catastropic flood and uncovers a salvaging ring that is stripping a German submarine from World War II that had been downed somewhere near the village of Storye which is a village on his patch. Usually nothing much goes on in Storye, but when Hamish makes a routine visit there, he finds that the villagers are secretive and scared. He and his young reporter friend Elspeth try to determine what is going on in the tiny village. Hamish is hard pressed to keep his good deeds "off the radar screen" so to speak because the last thing he wants is promotion to a larger police station. The only thing I'm sad about after reading this book is that I have only one left to read in this long-running series. The series has been a total delight!
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Summary: It's SUPER Hamish!
Review: No our highland hero doesn't don a cape and tights, but with as many crimes as he's solving he is achieving superhero status, with his devoted LUGS as his faithful sidekick. This time the irrepressible M.C. Beaton provides a delightful deviation from the formula of bumping off the most obnoxious character, and gives us lots of mystery and mayhem for the buck - but will an entire village die? And how to prevent a promotion that would send him away from his beloved Lochduh? With cunning, an offbeat attitude and a willingness for unorthodox methods, he dances about the plodding Blair and Anderson and pulls numerous surprising solutions out of his hat. But weighing heavily is the peculiar air of the seaside town of Storye. Weighing almost as heavily is Hamish's luck with women. Will Priscilla really marry? Is Hamish in danger of cradle robbing? Will he ever give the right signal to the rather bizaare lady reporter? Is he really involved with his married admirer? With equal parts of tea and whiskey, Hamish manages to be the unluckiest - or luckiest? - Superhero of them all as the clock ticks for the Village of Storye. Let me also say that the cover is a departure, and one that makes the reader eager to crawl right into the book.
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