This time I thought I’ll
do a book review ….
I stumbled upon this book absolutely by accident and as I started reading I wondered how was it possible that I had not read a single book by this author. There seems to be a series of books, this being 22nd. How uninformed could I be. And I pride myself as a reader!
M C Beaton, born Marion
Gibbons (née Chesney) was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery novels, whose career as a published
author began in 1979. She wrote numerous successful historical romance novels
under a form of her maiden name, Marion Chesney, including the
"Travelling Matchmaker" and "Daughters of Mannerling"
series. Using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton, she also wrote many
popular mystery novels, most notably the Agatha
Raisin and Hamish
Macbeth mystery series.
Both of these book series have been adapted for TV, Wikipedia tells me. She died on December 30, 2019.
Little Brown, Chesney's publisher at the time of her death,
announced that before the author became ill, she continued to write and was
working on new material for her beloved characters, Hamish Macbeth and Agatha
Raisin.
Hamish, the red haired local police man, rued
the day when he had won the services of Mrs Gillespie in the church raffle and devised ways and means
of avoiding her.
Mrs Gillespie, famous for being the best maid
in the northwest of Sutherland is violently struck down by a metal bucket. Hamish
Macbeth, who refuses the lure of promotion for fear of having the local police
station shut down, is aware of the malicious character that Mrs Gillespie is. Knowing
her penchant for ferreting out information about her employers, Hamish Macbeth
is starts with the premise that everyone, whose home she cleaned, is a
suspect.
Though, for all
practical purposes the killer had done a social service and society was a much
better place without the likes of her, duty and a sense of responsibility to
clear then names of his people as also to stop the perpetration of crime and
criminals Hamish takes up the cudgel, at times even defying his higher ups.
There is the arrogant professor who may have passed
a student’s work off as his own; a lady whose husband conveniently fell down
the stairs and died; a mysterious newcomer; and several others. Parallel to the
solving of the crime runs Hamish’s love life and his spats with his bosses
making him a lovable, relatable character. With the help of reporters and using
his own acumen, Hamish learns enough to help him solve the crime and return the
Scottish Highlands and his village of Lochdubh to peace. Once
again, he manages to avoid publicity and promotion and saves his police station
from demolition.
The language of Ms Beaton is the type of language
we have grown up on - easy reading, lovely English, interspersed with Scottish
dialect. Vividly described Highland scenes transport us to experience the
lonely moors, the Gaelic storms, the snowy winters, as we live through the mystery.
Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2007
ISBN: 0-89296-010-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
[Sucharita]
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