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Hamish Macbeth #20
Death of a Bore
From the author of the Agatha Raisin television series...DEATH OF A BORE: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery Minor writer John Heppel has a problem--he's a consummate bore. When he's found dead in his cottage, there are plenty of suspects. But surely boredom shouldn't be cause for murder, or so thinks Constable Hamish Macbeth.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 23, 2005
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About the author
M.C. Beaton
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Learn more on her website!
Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
Learn more on her website!
Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 401 reviews
April 22, 2020
A mystery about a writer, a mediocre one. The titular bore's a writer, who talks only about himself. Delightful. The first of several murder attempts disguised as suicides—and not the only successful one. Set in northern Scotland, Sunderland, where I’ve not travelled, though I’ve seen Edinburgh, Stirling, Loch Lomond, and Rabbie Burns’ birthplace cottage in Alloway, Ayrshire, near the arched bridge he made famous. Like peasant cottages all over Europe (say, Rijas in Latvia) Burns’ housed animals at one end, whose heat gathered under the low ceilings better than in my grandfather’s hayloft barn on Crockett Ridge in Norway, Maine. We visited Burns’ cottage in ’68, when there were still fields in back. Beaton quotes Burns in epigraphs, as in her penultimate chapter, “Good Lord, what is man!…All in all, he’s a problem must puzzle the devil”(196).
The writer charges for his class where he dumps on all the paying locals who would like to write, offering him their manuscripts. This poor writer has landed a TV episode because he had a childhood friend in Glasgow now the main director. TV newsmen and actors combine with the usual newspaper journalists like Hamish’s former girlfriend Elspeth. Still the book’s filled with M.C.’s (Marion Chesney’s) staple figures—1) Hamish MacBeth, the witty highland copper who does not take credit for his crime solving because he would be promoted to the city he abhors, 2) his associate detective Jimmy, and 3) his replacement CID, Heather Meikle, a female drunk driver as well as sexual abuser. Up-to-date for 2005.
There’s the Doctor’s wife Angela, a poor cook, but helpful with Hamish’s dog Lugs, and the Reverend Wellington’s wife, a better cook and entertainer. There’s Nessie and Jessie Currie, twin sisters and gossips. And several former girlfriends from Patricia, the former owner of the hotel when it was a private mansion, to Elspeth, now a Glasgow reporter. There’s the seer Angus who seems to know everybody, probably through gossip.
And in this novel only, Hamish’s dog is stolen. This provokes Hamish more than the thefts and murders do.
Wonderful details of daily life, like Angela’s offering Hamish some sherry they’d brought back from Cyprus some years back, “Ah, here it is, right behind the rat poison.”(147) Or the parsonage / manse has a large kitchen, “a relic of the days when ministers had large families”(86). I have seen several large Church of England parsonage-manses, and always assumed they reflected the social status of the Anglican reverend. For instance, George Herbert’s in Bemerton, north of Salisbury: his parsonage appears larger than his church. Of course, Scotland would feature Presbyterian ministers, perhaps slightly more men of the people.
Our copy, a dogeared paperback we've read three times. This time I aloudread to my wife in two days, 156 pp the first day. It’s that good. Years ago, she aloudread to me, dozens of mysteries. As in those mysteries, the good detective has bosses who do not appreciate him—here Chief Inspector Blair, whose boss Superintendent Daviot has more respect, but also knows the Lochdub cop less. Beaton, a woman writer, creates very credible, complex men; but she also has the stupid Blair replaced by a man-eating woman boss, Inspector Meikle.
Some personal connections. Our well depends on electricity, so without a generator, we lose water if a tree falls on power lines; contrast Dr. Wellington, who starts his generator when Hamish comes to get an injured wild cat repaired. At our home, we share a nightly hot chocolate with brandy; whereas the tall Hamish bringing the wild cat cries for the first time, though Angela, Mrs. Wellington, gives him a “stiff brandy” as a bracer—hoping he’s not in shock, where it would do damage. (230) Another vestige of the past I know is the wash basin with water delivered by pitcher every morning—this prior to running water, at the old Oceanic Hotel on Star Island off Portsmouth, N.H (150).
Hamish has a couple former girlfriends, both of whom show up in this novel, one throughout, now a reporter for the big Glasgow newspaper, Elspeth. She assesses him clearly, “That’s why you’ll never get married, you’re married to your dog [Lugs]”(205).
Up in rural Scotland some credit witches, and many feel hostility from a place, like Standing Stones Island or a cottage where a murder took place (187).
As with most of my reviews now, I find zinging insights into our US Liar-in-Chief, vain, unstable and like a kid. “What made some writers so dangerously vain and unstable? Maybe they were like actors, always craving attention, not quite grown up.”(224) The puzzle of our Baby Blimp Trumpty-Dumpty, oldest ever behaving like a child, excepting those truly demented with age.
The writer charges for his class where he dumps on all the paying locals who would like to write, offering him their manuscripts. This poor writer has landed a TV episode because he had a childhood friend in Glasgow now the main director. TV newsmen and actors combine with the usual newspaper journalists like Hamish’s former girlfriend Elspeth. Still the book’s filled with M.C.’s (Marion Chesney’s) staple figures—1) Hamish MacBeth, the witty highland copper who does not take credit for his crime solving because he would be promoted to the city he abhors, 2) his associate detective Jimmy, and 3) his replacement CID, Heather Meikle, a female drunk driver as well as sexual abuser. Up-to-date for 2005.
There’s the Doctor’s wife Angela, a poor cook, but helpful with Hamish’s dog Lugs, and the Reverend Wellington’s wife, a better cook and entertainer. There’s Nessie and Jessie Currie, twin sisters and gossips. And several former girlfriends from Patricia, the former owner of the hotel when it was a private mansion, to Elspeth, now a Glasgow reporter. There’s the seer Angus who seems to know everybody, probably through gossip.
And in this novel only, Hamish’s dog is stolen. This provokes Hamish more than the thefts and murders do.
Wonderful details of daily life, like Angela’s offering Hamish some sherry they’d brought back from Cyprus some years back, “Ah, here it is, right behind the rat poison.”(147) Or the parsonage / manse has a large kitchen, “a relic of the days when ministers had large families”(86). I have seen several large Church of England parsonage-manses, and always assumed they reflected the social status of the Anglican reverend. For instance, George Herbert’s in Bemerton, north of Salisbury: his parsonage appears larger than his church. Of course, Scotland would feature Presbyterian ministers, perhaps slightly more men of the people.
Our copy, a dogeared paperback we've read three times. This time I aloudread to my wife in two days, 156 pp the first day. It’s that good. Years ago, she aloudread to me, dozens of mysteries. As in those mysteries, the good detective has bosses who do not appreciate him—here Chief Inspector Blair, whose boss Superintendent Daviot has more respect, but also knows the Lochdub cop less. Beaton, a woman writer, creates very credible, complex men; but she also has the stupid Blair replaced by a man-eating woman boss, Inspector Meikle.
Some personal connections. Our well depends on electricity, so without a generator, we lose water if a tree falls on power lines; contrast Dr. Wellington, who starts his generator when Hamish comes to get an injured wild cat repaired. At our home, we share a nightly hot chocolate with brandy; whereas the tall Hamish bringing the wild cat cries for the first time, though Angela, Mrs. Wellington, gives him a “stiff brandy” as a bracer—hoping he’s not in shock, where it would do damage. (230) Another vestige of the past I know is the wash basin with water delivered by pitcher every morning—this prior to running water, at the old Oceanic Hotel on Star Island off Portsmouth, N.H (150).
Hamish has a couple former girlfriends, both of whom show up in this novel, one throughout, now a reporter for the big Glasgow newspaper, Elspeth. She assesses him clearly, “That’s why you’ll never get married, you’re married to your dog [Lugs]”(205).
Up in rural Scotland some credit witches, and many feel hostility from a place, like Standing Stones Island or a cottage where a murder took place (187).
As with most of my reviews now, I find zinging insights into our US Liar-in-Chief, vain, unstable and like a kid. “What made some writers so dangerously vain and unstable? Maybe they were like actors, always craving attention, not quite grown up.”(224) The puzzle of our Baby Blimp Trumpty-Dumpty, oldest ever behaving like a child, excepting those truly demented with age.
October 25, 2019
I liked it well enough to make it 3.5 Stars but a bit of "bore" in the middle with a better ending. Will Hamish ever quit dithering with a love interest?!
August 13, 2025
The titular bore, the pompous, arrogant John Heppel, would be better characterized as a jerk in American-speak, a wanker in Brit-speak, than as a bore. To no one’s surprise, Heppel ends up murdered after antagonizing nearly everyone in Lochdubh. PC Hamish Macbeth proves himself lucky in criminal deduction, but, as always, unlucky in love. A quick, fun read!
December 28, 2025
Mimo, że czytam książki o Hamishu w chaotycznym "porządku", to nie mam w głowy mętliku. Przyglądam się tej małej szkockiej wiosce z różnych perspektyw czasowych. I - jak przystało na klasyczny angielski kryminał - mamy przerysowane ludzkie przywary, które ostatecznie doprawadzają do zbrodni. W tle życie uczuciowe głównego bohatera.
February 1, 2009
I am absolutely HOOKED on this series. The author's wit and humor are just what I love--clever and subtle. I listened to this book on tape and the actor who reads it is wonderful! He knows just how to interpret the lines and has all the accents perfect. The story is the death of an author who moves to a small town in northern Scotland. Hamish Macbeth is the local "bobby" who is actually a great detective who doesn't want to "move up" in his career, but enjoys looking out for the locals in the town of Lochdubh. His love interests and his pets add to the entertainment. I've read them "out of order", but it really didn't matter. It just makes me want to go back and read them all!
September 20, 2022
Don't read if spoilers upset you.
MC Beaton creates atmosphere and ambiance with her crisp descriptions of the constant changing weather, from serene to dramatic, and add wit and humor to hold the reader's attention by doing so all through this series.
Although some of the descriptions have by now (in the series) outstayed their welcome, there are still a constant parade of new characters being introduced to keep the mystery and murder investigations compelling, and even exciting.
A Felis silvestris gampus enters as a new character and becomes the second love in Hamish's life, besides Lugs. The wild cat makes herself at home in Hamish's heart after he finds her with a broken leg in front of his back door. The cat was larger than a household one, with a big proud head, tabby markings and a bushy tail with two black rings at the tip. Not only does she invite herself in, she soon becomes more than soulmate for Lugs; she becomes our beloved constable's second bodyguard. Even the vet, Hugh Liddesdale is upset.
While the residents of Lochdubh are upset with, Sonsie, Macbeth's new pet, he is more annoyed with the writer who settles in the nearby village. Hamish thought John Heppel was a cancer eating into local society—a dangerous foreign body introduced into the highland system.
Talking about when a book becomes a magical boomerang. John Heppel gifts his inscribed book to Hamish, who tries very hard to get rid of it. First he tries to 'forget' it at the author's home. It is handed to him again. Then with a jerk throws it out of the Land Rover window, into a bin, but Callum McSween, the dustman, retrieve it and brings it back. Then he hurls the book so hard it flies straight across the waterfront and over the sea wall. Only to be retrieved by Clarry Graham: To Hamish’s dismay, he was clutching That Book. ‘It’s quiet up at the Tommel Castle Hotel at the moment,’ said Clarry plaintively. ‘I was out fishing in the loch when this book fell out o’ the sky and right into my boat. It’s inscribed to you.’
He decides to read it after all.
*******************************
Says Hamish: It was one of those pseudo-literary stream-of-consciousness books set in the slums of Glasgow. The ‘grittiness’ was supplied by four-letter words. The anti-hero was a druggie whose favourite occupation seemed to be slashing with a broken bottle anyone in a pub who looked at him the wrong way. The heroine put up with all this with loving kindness. Hamish flicked to the end of the book, where a reformed anti-hero was preaching to the youth of Glasgow. No one could accuse the book of being plot-driven. Hackneyed similes and metaphors clunked their way through the thick volume.
****************************
However, the residents all pitch up for John's classes, until he starts insulting, ridiculing and belittling them.
Elspeth Grant (now reporter for a big Glascow paper) and Priscilla Halburton-Smythe (daughter of the owner of the Tommel Castle Hotel) are still his citizen sleuths, his support team, when his police seniors are more interested in being on television than solving cases. Suffice to say, the television team is in town to shoot a soapie, based on an episode written by John Heppell.
But more female characters are filling up the back door of the police station, one of them a senior detective and man-eater, trying to introduce Hamish to casual romps in the hay. Extremely funny.
Alistair Taggart is suppressing his wife; Dan Buffort has opened a new pub on the Lochdubh-Strathbane road, called Dimity Dan's; and someone is spray-painting racist messages against Mr. Patel's shop wall. These issues expand Hamish's days considerably with more hours than he can find, and calls for action.
Yep, 272 pages of pure coziness, dotted with satire, sweetness and sorrows. A great entertaining escape from our own hardships and challenges.
There is a clown in all of us. We make people laugh while our lives are tougher than we hoped for here back in Reality-land. Then an author grabs our imaginations, and let us relax for a few hours in time. Perfect. A blessing, when we need it.
MC Beaton creates atmosphere and ambiance with her crisp descriptions of the constant changing weather, from serene to dramatic, and add wit and humor to hold the reader's attention by doing so all through this series.
Although some of the descriptions have by now (in the series) outstayed their welcome, there are still a constant parade of new characters being introduced to keep the mystery and murder investigations compelling, and even exciting.
A Felis silvestris gampus enters as a new character and becomes the second love in Hamish's life, besides Lugs. The wild cat makes herself at home in Hamish's heart after he finds her with a broken leg in front of his back door. The cat was larger than a household one, with a big proud head, tabby markings and a bushy tail with two black rings at the tip. Not only does she invite herself in, she soon becomes more than soulmate for Lugs; she becomes our beloved constable's second bodyguard. Even the vet, Hugh Liddesdale is upset.
While the residents of Lochdubh are upset with, Sonsie, Macbeth's new pet, he is more annoyed with the writer who settles in the nearby village. Hamish thought John Heppel was a cancer eating into local society—a dangerous foreign body introduced into the highland system.
Talking about when a book becomes a magical boomerang. John Heppel gifts his inscribed book to Hamish, who tries very hard to get rid of it. First he tries to 'forget' it at the author's home. It is handed to him again. Then with a jerk throws it out of the Land Rover window, into a bin, but Callum McSween, the dustman, retrieve it and brings it back. Then he hurls the book so hard it flies straight across the waterfront and over the sea wall. Only to be retrieved by Clarry Graham: To Hamish’s dismay, he was clutching That Book. ‘It’s quiet up at the Tommel Castle Hotel at the moment,’ said Clarry plaintively. ‘I was out fishing in the loch when this book fell out o’ the sky and right into my boat. It’s inscribed to you.’
He decides to read it after all.
*******************************
Says Hamish: It was one of those pseudo-literary stream-of-consciousness books set in the slums of Glasgow. The ‘grittiness’ was supplied by four-letter words. The anti-hero was a druggie whose favourite occupation seemed to be slashing with a broken bottle anyone in a pub who looked at him the wrong way. The heroine put up with all this with loving kindness. Hamish flicked to the end of the book, where a reformed anti-hero was preaching to the youth of Glasgow. No one could accuse the book of being plot-driven. Hackneyed similes and metaphors clunked their way through the thick volume.
****************************
However, the residents all pitch up for John's classes, until he starts insulting, ridiculing and belittling them.
Elspeth Grant (now reporter for a big Glascow paper) and Priscilla Halburton-Smythe (daughter of the owner of the Tommel Castle Hotel) are still his citizen sleuths, his support team, when his police seniors are more interested in being on television than solving cases. Suffice to say, the television team is in town to shoot a soapie, based on an episode written by John Heppell.
But more female characters are filling up the back door of the police station, one of them a senior detective and man-eater, trying to introduce Hamish to casual romps in the hay. Extremely funny.
Alistair Taggart is suppressing his wife; Dan Buffort has opened a new pub on the Lochdubh-Strathbane road, called Dimity Dan's; and someone is spray-painting racist messages against Mr. Patel's shop wall. These issues expand Hamish's days considerably with more hours than he can find, and calls for action.
Yep, 272 pages of pure coziness, dotted with satire, sweetness and sorrows. A great entertaining escape from our own hardships and challenges.
There is a clown in all of us. We make people laugh while our lives are tougher than we hoped for here back in Reality-land. Then an author grabs our imaginations, and let us relax for a few hours in time. Perfect. A blessing, when we need it.
June 29, 2024
This is the very best one as finally I learn where Hamish got his Scottish wild cat and how it happened. I think I read that it is a hybrid and it had a broken leg and was wailing in Hamish's front yard so he took it to the doctor who later took it to the vet. It is named Sonsie from a poem by Burns which is so appropriate.
May 27, 2016
These villagers of Lochdubh will one day drive Hamish completely mad. The lengths he's willing to go to to protect them is sometimes shocking - and yet they always forget what he's done for them soon after. Tut tut!
Another murder involving a writer and a television show. We're treading similar ground to that of Death of a Screenwriter, but this time it's the original author who turns up dead.
Before his demise, he manages to rile up the villagers. This provides for some great comedic moments, as the proud locals defend their own. Pah - that incomer should've known better than to try to damage the egos of this lot.
Speaking of comedy, there's quite a lot of it in these books: little throwaway lines of Hamish's self-deprecating thoughts, Angela's sly wit, Willie's outlandish malapropisms, and lots of minor gossipy misunderstandings. They create an overall feeling of familiarity, establishing the characters as frustrating yet endearing.
The solving of this case was rather haphazard. Hamish's luck wins the day as opposed to any concrete evidence. Unlike the previous book's culprit, I didn't guess this one - but then, I didn't feel particularly invested in the case itself. Hamish's misadventures in clubbing, his fear of following the wrong lead, and the latest details on his love life were far more interesting than the demise of some puffed-up little toad of a writer.
Another murder involving a writer and a television show. We're treading similar ground to that of Death of a Screenwriter, but this time it's the original author who turns up dead.
Before his demise, he manages to rile up the villagers. This provides for some great comedic moments, as the proud locals defend their own. Pah - that incomer should've known better than to try to damage the egos of this lot.
Speaking of comedy, there's quite a lot of it in these books: little throwaway lines of Hamish's self-deprecating thoughts, Angela's sly wit, Willie's outlandish malapropisms, and lots of minor gossipy misunderstandings. They create an overall feeling of familiarity, establishing the characters as frustrating yet endearing.
The solving of this case was rather haphazard. Hamish's luck wins the day as opposed to any concrete evidence. Unlike the previous book's culprit, I didn't guess this one - but then, I didn't feel particularly invested in the case itself. Hamish's misadventures in clubbing, his fear of following the wrong lead, and the latest details on his love life were far more interesting than the demise of some puffed-up little toad of a writer.
April 24, 2021
Macbeth and the Boring Writer
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2007) of the Mysterious Press hardcover original (2005)
Death of a Bore has yet another incomer disturbing the quiet village of Lochdubh and the life of village constable Hamish Macbeth. A pretentious writer starts up supposed writing classes which mostly consist of him promoting his own book and criticizing the efforts of the village hopefuls. Predictably the bore is murdered and Hamish must rouse himself to solve yet another village mystery. This book also introduces wildcat Sonsie to Hamish's household menagerie.
This edition on Audible Audio is narrated by Graeme Malcolm.
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2007) of the Mysterious Press hardcover original (2005)
Death of a Bore has yet another incomer disturbing the quiet village of Lochdubh and the life of village constable Hamish Macbeth. A pretentious writer starts up supposed writing classes which mostly consist of him promoting his own book and criticizing the efforts of the village hopefuls. Predictably the bore is murdered and Hamish must rouse himself to solve yet another village mystery. This book also introduces wildcat Sonsie to Hamish's household menagerie.
This edition on Audible Audio is narrated by Graeme Malcolm.
July 29, 2012
I listened to this book on CD and I think the story was definitely enhanced by having a narrator who could do the Scottish accent as it really makes you feel like you are "there" in the story with the characters.
Hamish MacBeth, the local constable in a tiny Scottish highlands village (which I am not going to even ATTEMPT to spell) must investigate the murder of an obnoxious author who had taken up residence in the village, offered classes to the locals on how to get published, and then proceeded to insult, belittle and humiliate everyone in the class.
Poor Hamish must contend, not only with hunting for the murderer, but with his bullying, attention seeking superiors, with a TV crew filming a soap opera in the vicinity, Hamish's former girlfriend, now a reporter and in town looking into the murder as well, and the entire female populace of the village, who believe the constable should have been married to one of the villagers long ago and intend to remedy Hamish's oversight forthwith!
All in all, the number, variety and quirkiness of the large cast of characters, main and supporting, make for a delightfully engaging, funny and clever story as Hamish navigates through the clues, the people and the events that appear on his way to solving the murder.
The interactions and conversations between Hamish and various other characters are extremely entertaining, and I found myself laughing out loud frequently as I listened to the back-and-forth among the very straight-talking Scots in the story. I highly recommend this to any mystery lovers!
Hamish MacBeth, the local constable in a tiny Scottish highlands village (which I am not going to even ATTEMPT to spell) must investigate the murder of an obnoxious author who had taken up residence in the village, offered classes to the locals on how to get published, and then proceeded to insult, belittle and humiliate everyone in the class.
Poor Hamish must contend, not only with hunting for the murderer, but with his bullying, attention seeking superiors, with a TV crew filming a soap opera in the vicinity, Hamish's former girlfriend, now a reporter and in town looking into the murder as well, and the entire female populace of the village, who believe the constable should have been married to one of the villagers long ago and intend to remedy Hamish's oversight forthwith!
All in all, the number, variety and quirkiness of the large cast of characters, main and supporting, make for a delightfully engaging, funny and clever story as Hamish navigates through the clues, the people and the events that appear on his way to solving the murder.
The interactions and conversations between Hamish and various other characters are extremely entertaining, and I found myself laughing out loud frequently as I listened to the back-and-forth among the very straight-talking Scots in the story. I highly recommend this to any mystery lovers!
September 7, 2016
Beaton is pretty good at making unlikable characters and Death of a Bore is no exception. The titular bore was a pompous jerk who was very easy to hate. I worry that this book might be the last book featuring Elspeth, who I really like, since she has apparently given up on Hamish. I'm not sure who I'm rooting for between her and Priscilla. That being said, there are a few ideas that I think Beaton is recycling way too often: Hamish's avoidance of promotions, the town's ungrateful attitude, the countless misunderstandings that ruin Hamish's chances with a girl. All of these are becoming a bit tired by book 20.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2015
Hamish Macbeth murder mystery set in the Scottish Highlands. This one let me down a little. The author repeated herself several times, and explanations were sometimes out of place. It was almost like the author wasn't paying attention while she wrote, or someone else wrote it, taking parts of her former books. There was plenty of deja vu in this book.
February 28, 2025
This was an odd one - many pieces I enjoyed, both with the mystery and the longer story that runs through the books. However, some of Hamish’s actions and choices in this one are really over the top illogical. The ongoing struggle by Hamish to simultaneously get credit and avoid credit (to avoid promotion and thereby transfer) is getting very old too,
January 15, 2019
Death of a Bore: another Highland fling with Constable Hamish Macbeth. I've come to really enjoy this series by MC Beaton. They are always entertaining, they're great popcorn, and Beaton knows how to mix humor into her books in just the right proportion. Plus the Scottish Highlands are a great setting I almost want to visit them myself. So happy there are still a few more of these to track down.
June 8, 2025
pleasant
March 6, 2016
Another cozy Hamish mystery on the shores of the loch, with all the town characters we love--and the great characterizations of the, like of the vicar's wife, Mrs. Wellington: "He could not imagine Mrs Wellington out of her tweeds. He sometimes wondered madly if she wore a tweed nightgown." We also get a little history of Sutherland, and why it is so empty--early in the 19th century the Duke really messed things up. Very interesting plot twist in this one, with authors and theater people mixing it up, the usual intruder into the village who stirs a mean pot, and Hamish figures out the kink in it all and follows the twist to the solution, rather like Poirot or Nero Wolfe. Thoroughly enjoyable!
July 9, 2018
3.5 out of 5 - Light and fun summer read.
Hamish McBeth is the sole police officer of the (mostly) peaceful Scottish Highland village of Lochdub. He likes his life in Lochdub and prefers to keep a low profile to avoid a transfer to a different jurisdiction by his superiors. When a visiting writer visiting Lochdub to teach a writing workshop is found murdered, Hamish feels compelled to investigate.
Hamish's world is filled with interesting a quirky characters, many of which you grow to like. There is an often understated humor that is enjoyable to take in and makes the Hamish books distinctive.
It is a great summer read, light and fun. Plus 1/2 star because of the BBC Scotland adaptation of Hamish Mcbeth that introduced Hamish to me and helped bring Death of a Bore to life.
Hamish McBeth is the sole police officer of the (mostly) peaceful Scottish Highland village of Lochdub. He likes his life in Lochdub and prefers to keep a low profile to avoid a transfer to a different jurisdiction by his superiors. When a visiting writer visiting Lochdub to teach a writing workshop is found murdered, Hamish feels compelled to investigate.
Hamish's world is filled with interesting a quirky characters, many of which you grow to like. There is an often understated humor that is enjoyable to take in and makes the Hamish books distinctive.
It is a great summer read, light and fun. Plus 1/2 star because of the BBC Scotland adaptation of Hamish Mcbeth that introduced Hamish to me and helped bring Death of a Bore to life.
June 1, 2022
6/1/22 - Sonsie! Sonsie! Sonsie! I found the mystery takes quite a backseat to the villagers in this one, and that’s fine. I especially adore Archie Maclean and Angela Brodie, but Sonsie is my favorite part of this book.
8/31/09 - The books just keep getting better and I loved the end of this one! The new addition to Hamish's life is awesome!
8/31/09 - The books just keep getting better and I loved the end of this one! The new addition to Hamish's life is awesome!
January 27, 2022
Lots of characters, lots of insanity, lots of Hamish going his own way (as usual) to try to solve a murder case. Also more concern from the villagers about getting Hamish properly married ;) As always, a quick, fun read.
June 13, 2013
I'm a little sad that I'm getting to the end of the Elkton library's Hamish Macbeth audiobooks. I have never read any of them in print format, but it looks like I will have to start.
August 18, 2017
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Hamish is such a kind and compassionate man. I have really enjoyed this series and getting acquainted with him.
Looking forward to more adventures through his eyes.
Hamish is such a kind and compassionate man. I have really enjoyed this series and getting acquainted with him.
Looking forward to more adventures through his eyes.
June 24, 2016
Beaton pokes fun at TV (again). This book got me through a bad headache and I am grateful.
March 31, 2016
Another great and funny little read.
March 29, 2024
I’d say this was a rather better Hamish Macbeth episode - I love MC Beaton but sometimes the plotting is rather haphazard with some flights of fancy that really don’t have any sense of truth in them. But I liked this story of a boring man poisoned by mothballs! As always, the familiar characters and location are comforting and the story as a whole was enjoyable.
August 10, 2024
#20 in the ongoing series of Hamish Macbeth and his continuous search for the love of his life. Along the way he solves another mysterious murder. There are lots of familiar characters and a few new ones to keep your attention. In this book we do find out exactly how Sonsie, the wild cat, came to live with Hamish. I’m hooked on the redheaded Macbeth and his interesting community.
Giving this 3*s.
Giving this 3*s.
September 17, 2021
Audiobook
August 25, 2020
Another very enjoyable book in the Hamish Macbeth series. Quick reads but enjoyable.
November 29, 2025
3. The older books are really the best.
Graeme Malcolm is also the best narrator of this series.
Graeme Malcolm is also the best narrator of this series.
February 11, 2019
Humorous but with a dark undertone. Very good
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