Death of a Village

Rating:
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.

Rating:
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.

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!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining story of Scottish rural police
Review: Scottish police constable Hamish Macbeth likes his life and dreads the idea of a promotion. If only he could get his love-life under control, he thinks things would be about perfect. But Hamish can't help offending pretty reporter Elspeth Grant and can't get over being abandoned by his ex-fiance. Besides, his dog can't stand the idea of a woman moving in with him. Instead, Hamish solves mysteries. Even in the Scottish Highlands, crime does take place--including insurance fraud and spousal abuse. But Hamish's police instincts are most intrigued by a small village which seems to have no crime at all--and be suffering from a religious revival. Something odd is happening and the always taciturn residents are being even more closed-mouthed than usual.

The rest of the police force is hopeless and Hamish ends up being a one-man crime buster, assisted by the beautiful Elspeth and a pair of aging sleuths.

Author M. C. Beaton creates a charming character in Hamish Macbeth and a properly cozy world of small crimes and mostly cheery people with deep Scottish accents and deep Scottish accents. Hamish can be annoying--both to Elspeth and the reader--by his judgemental attitude and his thoughtlessness to Elspeth's feelings, but Beaton's stories are strongly written and intriguing.

In DEATH OF A VILLAGE, more than in some of the other Macbeth stories, Hamish seems to be going through the motions--his emotions don't feel quite real. Still, while this may not be the best of the series, it is a well written and enjoyable story.

Rating:
Summary: A light and amusing Hamish MacBeth
Review: The eighteenth book in the Hamish Macbeth series was not so much a mystery but a compilation of several little mysteries in the daily routine of Hamish Macbeth. It was a good book for light reading as Hamish is very likeable character.

While Hamish solves these little mysteries, such as the husband batterer and the nursing home scandal, but his attention keeps getting drawn back to the village of Stoyre where strange happenings are occurring to the townpeople. Is this village truly haunted, or is it something else more sinister? It is up to Hamish, but not so much as to draw attention to his heroics - because then he might get promoted.

Hamish wants to stay in Lochdubh with his dog, Lugs. He definitely does not want to be promoted in any way.

How he does solve the mystery of Stoyre, and how he gets non-promoted makes for a delightful book for all Hamish MacBeth. A great light read!

Rating:
Summary: Another homerun for M.C. Beaton!
Review: This is the nineteenth (not eighteenth, you must include A Highland Christmas) in a series of mysteries featuring the detective work of small town, Highland Scottish detective Hamish Macbeth, P.C. In this book, Hamish must work overtime to avoid a promotion out of his beloved Lochdubh. But, that is not all of his problems. During a recent visit to the tiny village of Storye, he finds that the people there are acting quite strange, as if some sort of religious mania has gripped them. When the situation there turns dangerous and then deadly, Hamish knows he must get to the bottom of whatever it is that is going on.

This is another homerun for M.C. Beaton (pseudonym of Marion Chesney)! This story is every bit as good (excellent) as the other Hamish books, and makes for some gripping reading. Somehow, the author succeeds in making the Hamish Macbeth stories swing effortlessly between lighthearted humor to deadly mystery, all without losing the seeming reality of the story.

The characters in this story are likable and interesting, the story is gripping and entertaining, and the mystery quite fascinating. I think that this is a great book, one that you should consider buying!