Death of a nag

Beaton's Hamish MacBeth stories are always good, but the latest is a standout. The plot is even better than usual, the characters are more engaging, and even the mostly dour and serious Hamish is funnier and more likable than usual. Hamish and the ravishing Priscilla Halburton-Smythe have ended their long engagement, and the townsfolk blame Hamish. To escape Lochdubh's wagging tongues, Hamish embarks on a short vacation at Friendly House, a bed-and-breakfast in the seaside resort of Skag. But instead of the relaxation and solitude he sought, Hamish finds he's involved in yet another murder case. The victim is a drunken, mean-spirited fellow lodger at Friendly House, and Hamish figures the murderer is most likely also on the guest list. Patient, stolid Hamish uses brains, intuition, and a keen understanding of human nature--as well as plenty of shoe leather--to ferret out the unlikely killer. A fine, well-told police procedural with plenty of human interest, Beaton's latest will appeal to a wide range of mystery fans. (Reviewed July 1995)0892965304Emily Melton

After a romantic disappointment and an undeserved demotion, Scots village bobby Hamish MacBeth, seen last in Death of a Charming Man, decides a week's holiday at the coastal village of Skag might be just the ticket. He's dead wrong, of course: the food is dire, and the man in the next room nags his wife so loudly and continuously that more than one person at the The Friendly House bed-and-breakfast wishes him dead, though only Hamish is heard threatening him. When this chap's body is found floating in the river Skag, Hamish is the prime suspect. While clearing his name, the lanky Scot has to deal with the widow, who's suddenly making eyes at a refined bachelor; two leather-skirted Glaswegian beauties intent on raising disco hell; and the rude revelation of one family man's secret life. Some holiday. Beaton has fine-tuned her MacBeth series into something altogether winning. In this 11th entry, her plot is top-notch, a few somber notes demonstrate her touch for understated compassion and, as always, Hamish and his highland cohorts are lovingly rendered. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

A broken engagement (has he truly finished with Priscilla Halburton-Smythe?) and a demotion from sergeant to constable have lowered the usually cheerful spirits of Hamish Macbeth, the entire police force of Lochdubh village in Scotland (Death of a Charming Man, 1994, etc.). For this 11th outing, he decides to cheer himself up by spending overdue vacation time in the seaside town of Skag, settling, with dog Towser, into a very modest boardinghouse on the beach. The food is terrible, and the other guests are unprepossessing: nasty Bob Harris and dispirited wife Doris, who's the chief target of Bob's verbal abuse; spinsterish retired teacher Miss Gunnery; June and Dermott Brett with their three children; retired military man Andrew Biggar; and Tracey and Cheryl, a pair of tough-talking, heavily made-up twentysomethings from Glasgow. It's a dreary, boring scene for Hamish until, walking on the town pier one day, he spots the body of Bob Harris in the water--drowned after a blow to the head. Within days, there's another killing, and the local police ask Hamish to help. There are prime suspects among his fellow guests, none of whom are quite what they seem. But imaginative sleuthing and Hamish's on-target intuition again provide the neat solution, and our hero returns thankfully to Lochdubh, serene again despite an unexpected loss of his own. One of the better outings in this comfy-as-an-old-shoe series.