Death of a Scriptwriter

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Entry
Review: Another delightful entry in M.C. Beaton's series featuring Hamish MacBeth, constable in the Scottish Highlands town of Lochdubh.

In this one, Patricia Martyn-Broyd, an elderly writer who hasn't written anything in years, has retired to the Scottish Highlands. Her books are out of print, but a television company wants to film her last detective novel and she is sure that will result in all of her books being back in print. She is horrified to find out that the producers want to update her book, including sex and violence. When the movie's scriptwriter, leading actress and the husband of the actress are murdered, Patricia is a suspect and turns to Hamish for help.

M.C. Beaton has a nice sense of humor and the subplot of Hamish waiting in vain for various dates had me laughing out loud. Her description of village life, especially the village of Drim and it's inhabitants, is very effective.

This is a well-written book with plenty of suspects to keep the reader guessing who done it. Fans of "cozy" mysteries will love it.

Rating:
Summary: "HAMISH IS GREAT"!!!!!!!
Review: Another good book in the Hamish Macbeth series. I enjoy these much better than the Agatha Raisin books. A group from a TV production company come to Drim to film a TV show. The scriptwriter is killed. Who could have done it? Several has said they would kill him. Was it Fiona, Patricia, Angus or Josh? Inspector Blair believes it was __________. Hamish is not so sure, then someone else is killed. Who killed the second person? Was it Gervase, Fiona or Shella? Hamish keeps digging until he comes up with an answer. As usual Beaton writes so you can feel like you are there. I can see the mountains and the mist in my mind. The characters are great and seems so real. Will be glad to read the next book. If you have not, please read one of the Hamish Macbeth books, I think you will like it.

Rating:
Summary: Hamish Macbeth
Review: I am currently enthralled with the television series on the BBC entitled, "Hamish Macbeth." The characters are wonderfully developed and would suggest to everyone to read the books.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, there must be a Hamish MacBeth out there!
Review: I am hooked on this series, and found this latest novel to be every bit as enjoyable as all of the others; probably even more, since I feel as if I know the characters intimately. I was delighted at the course of action taken by the minister's wife. The lack of Priscilla didn't have the effect I thought it would...I actually felt that her absence helped define MacBeth's character a bit more. The seer is terrific, McBane frustrating and Anderson right in character...good job!

Rating:
Summary: A truly, wonderful series!
Review: I had bought a copy of Death of A Hussy a long time ago and never read it - keeping it in the back of my bookshelf. I tried to read her Agatha series but didn't like it so it kept me from reading her Hamish MacBeth series. I started getting books on tapes for the long drive to/from work and one of them was Death of A Charming Man, read by Davina Porter. I was hooked. Since then I have read all of the books after Charming Man and after I read Death of an Addict, I will go back and read all of the beginning books. Death of a Scriptwriter was very good and with each book, I have not been disappointed yet, with the mystery, with the descriptions of the Scottish Highlands and its people, of Hamish MacBeth. I hope M. C. Beaton forgets about Agatha and writes double time about Hamish! To think, I almost missed these terrific books! I would highly recommend reading the Hamish MacBeth series.

Rating:
Summary: A truly, wonderful series!
Review: I have not read any book in this series before. Perhaps other books by this author are better. However, "Death of a Scriptwriter" is mystery by the numbers. It features a dull detective solving dull mysteries in a dull town. The humor is forced and there is no suspense. The writing style is pedestrian. I do not intend to try other books by this author.

Rating:
Summary: This is a dull book with predictable characters.
Review: I have not read any book in this series before. Perhaps other books by this author are better. However, "Death of a Scriptwriter" is mystery by the numbers. It features a dull detective solving dull mysteries in a dull town. The humor is forced and there is no suspense. The writing style is pedestrian. I do not intend to try other books by this author.

Rating:
Summary: I like Hamish Macbeth but the story is dull & predictable
Review: I hope the mysterious MC Beaton reads these reviews. Her readers love Macbeth and the Scottish village life--the character is lovable. The stories badly need work on the story line. They read like they were written to a formula and were hurridly assembled--there is just not enough detail, and they are predictable. I think the mysterious MC Beaton has signed a contract for too many books under all those pseudonyms she uses. I know she is getting up in years and should be thinking about the legacy of well-crafted books that could be left behind instead of this pile of trash.

Rating:
Summary: Beaton Continues in "Dread Scot" case!
Review: In "Death of a Scriptwriter," M.C. Beaton brings us the fourteenth installment of the Hamish Macbeth series--and she is in her element!

Set in the Scottish Highlands, in the village of Lochdubh, this series is a nice read--nothing too complicated, full of local Scottish color (with both its characters and its setting), lots of delightful red herrings, and logical solutions. This series, the titles of which always begin with "Death of a...," is quite a successful one and one which takes little time to read. Macbeth, the local constable, is proud of the fact that he is not an ambitious soul. Despite the fact that he has solved thirteen previous murders, he is still a constable. He refuses to be promoted as he claims he is too happy in Lochdubh to want to advance to a larger city. He is filled with lots of common sense and while often the villagers give him a hard time ("He's too lazy," they claim.), they highly respet him and have come to his rescue more than once.

He's not so lucky with his own love life, however, and seems to fall in love with any woman who shows interest. The real love, Priscilla Smythe-Halliburton, has moved to London, after he had broken off the engagement, and appears intermittently in all the books of the series.

In "Death of a Scriptwriter," a television crew appears in Macbeth's bailiwick to film a novel written by an English spinster who has moved to Lochdubh. Her books were never much of a success, but this one was picked up by the BBC. She is delighted that at long last, fame is coming her way. She is so overjoyed that she fails to retain the complete rights to her book; a screen writer is hired to "modernize" the plot and characters (in other words, to add lots of sex and violence to the rather staid Victorian tale). Disagreements among the TV crew members erupt and, viola, the screenwriter (an impossible sort, unliked and unloved by anybody, and quite impossible to work with) is found dead; shortly thereafter, the star of the film (who is to appear nude in some scenes) is killed when she "falls" off a boulder; her alcoholic husband has also been found dead! (Bodies seem more plentiful than the last act of "Hamlet"!) Everyone seems to be a suspect! Macbeth, in his plodding, but thorough way, of course, leads us to the conclusion, wherein all deaths are solved, and the reader then is set up to await the next installment.

This book is a fun-read. Ms Beaton is in her element--she's writing about what she seems to know a lot about herself--authors, screenwriters, and television crews (this series is being filmed in England and we can only hope that A&E or PBS will bring it to us over here!). Beaton devotees will love this one!

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Rating:
Summary: Beaton's 'Last Writes' a Good One!
Review: In "Death of a Scriptwriter," M.C. Beaton brings us the fourteenth installment of the Hamish Macbeth series--and she is in her element!

Set in the Scottish Highlands, in the village of Lochdubh, this series is a nice read--nothing too complicated, full of local Scottish color (with both its characters and its setting), lots of delightful red herrings, and logical solutions.

This series, the titles of which always begin with "Death of a...," is quite a successful one and one which takes little time to read. Macbeth, the local constable, is proud of the fact that he is not an ambitious soul. Despite the fact that he has solved thirteen previous murders, he is still a constable. He refuses to be promoted as he claims he is too happy in Lochdubh to want to advance to a larger city. He is filled with lots of common sense and while often the villagers give him a hard time ("He's too lazy," they claim.), they highly respet him and have come to his rescue more than once.

He's not so lucky with his own love life, however, and seems to fall in love with any woman who shows interest. The real love, Priscilla Smythe-Halliburton, has moved to London, after he had broken off the engagement, and appears intermittently in all the books of the series.

In "Death of a Scriptwriter," a television crew appears in Macbeth's bailiwick to film a novel written by an English spinster who has moved to Lochdubh. Her books were never much of a success, but this one was picked up by the BBC. She is delighted that at long last, fame is coming her way. She is so overjoyed that she fails to retain the complete rights to her book; a screen writer is hired to "modernize" the plot and characters (in other words, to add lots of sex and violence to the rather staid Victorian tale). Disagreements among the TV crew members erupt and, viola, the screenwriter (an impossible sort, unliked and unloved by anybody, and quite impossible to work with) is found dead; shortly thereafter, the star of the film (who is to appear nude in some scenes) is killed when she "falls" off a boulder; her alcoholic husband has also been found dead! (Bodies seem more plentiful than the last act of "Hamlet"!) Everyone seems to be a suspect! Macbeth, in his plodding, but thorough way, of course, leads us to the conclusion, wherein all deaths are solved, and the reader then is set up to await the next installment.

This book is a fun-read. Ms Beaton is in her element--she's writing about what she seems to know a lot about herself--authors, screenwriters, and television crews (this series is being filmed in England and we can only hope that A&E or PBS will bring it to us over here!). Beaton devotees will love this one!