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Hamish Macbeth #22
Death of a Maid
Mrs. Gillespie is famous for being the best maid in the northwest of Sutherland. But to Hamish Macbeth, she is a malicious gossip who bangs around the furniture and clanks pots. When Hamish wins Mrs. Gillespie's services in a church raffle, he spends most of the day trying to avoid her. He doesn't understand how she managed to gain such a fine reputation.
Then she is found dead, struck down violently by a metal bucket of water. Knowing Mrs. Gillespie's penchant for gossip, Hamish is sure she delighted in finding out her clients' secrets -which means that everyone whose home she cleaned is a suspect.
Then she is found dead, struck down violently by a metal bucket of water. Knowing Mrs. Gillespie's penchant for gossip, Hamish is sure she delighted in finding out her clients' secrets -which means that everyone whose home she cleaned is a suspect.
5 pages, Audio CD
First published February 1, 2007
280 people are currently reading
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About the author
M.C. Beaton
348 books6,028 followersLike her on Facebook!
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 450 reviews
March 2, 2020
An almost 5 stars for this book-I believe it has been my favorite so far! I "chust" love Hamish! The ferreting out of the reason behind the maid's murder was just what Hamish does best. The regular cast of characters, (including his nemesis Blair), and his beastie pets make for a wonderful series set in Scotland
July 17, 2024
This one has too many characters so at times I got confused. It also has too many girlfriends but at least Sonsei is back. Hope I spelled her name right. I looked it up on google and it means good luck or good fortune. Can't wait for the next one as I enjoy these so much.
September 27, 2020
I would like to have read these books in order, but I'm not buying them, since my library has them all. The catch is I have to wait until they are available and apparently Hamish Macbeth is very popular here in East Texas. I have heard the first couple of Hamish Macbeth that I suppose were written in the nineties and have jumped to one of the last MacBeth's.
Some of the internal dramas are spoiled this way, but the mystery is still good. In fact, I would say that actual story line is more developed, more complex, and involving a few more twists and turns than the earlier ones I've read.
MacBeth may be a little older and more cynical as well, but nothing to detract from a good mystery.
If you want to know what Death of a Maid is about you can read the blurb, but I will simply say that a nasty old char woman has found a way to intimidate and bully her clients. Why? To get rich? Maybe another reason. She finally threatens the wrong person and ends up with her head bashed in. The rest of the story is Hamish hunting and gathering clues.
It's interesting to me how many of these mysteries, not just M.C. Beaton's but many mystery writers make the murder victim out to be someone that everyone wants murdered. In real life, of course, perfectly innocent people get murdered as well, but I think for a cozy mystery, it's much more comfortable if the victim was someone everyone, including the reader, is glad to have dead.
Some of the internal dramas are spoiled this way, but the mystery is still good. In fact, I would say that actual story line is more developed, more complex, and involving a few more twists and turns than the earlier ones I've read.
MacBeth may be a little older and more cynical as well, but nothing to detract from a good mystery.
If you want to know what Death of a Maid is about you can read the blurb, but I will simply say that a nasty old char woman has found a way to intimidate and bully her clients. Why? To get rich? Maybe another reason. She finally threatens the wrong person and ends up with her head bashed in. The rest of the story is Hamish hunting and gathering clues.
It's interesting to me how many of these mysteries, not just M.C. Beaton's but many mystery writers make the murder victim out to be someone that everyone wants murdered. In real life, of course, perfectly innocent people get murdered as well, but I think for a cozy mystery, it's much more comfortable if the victim was someone everyone, including the reader, is glad to have dead.
April 11, 2010
I gave it a 3 because it kept me interested enough to keep me reading. But I won't be picking up another of this author's books. The novel was short, but it should have been shorter. The mystery itself was rather thin, and solved by the time the book was 2/3 over. The rest of the book was just this wandering chain of events...it's like the editor told Beaton he had to make it to 300 pages or something, so he just kept making up things.
Also, I heard way too much about all the arrangements Macbeth (main character) had to keep making for his PETS...I'm sorry, but it really slows the plot down if you have to describe every time the protagonist feeds his animals for finds someone to watch them so he can go do detective work. Who cares? It's not like the pets had personalities or were actually part of the story at all.
And I only sort of liked the main character. His maturity with regards to his relationships with women leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand, the cleverness with which he kept his stupid boss happy and kept himself out of the spotlight was pretty fun.
Also, I heard way too much about all the arrangements Macbeth (main character) had to keep making for his PETS...I'm sorry, but it really slows the plot down if you have to describe every time the protagonist feeds his animals for finds someone to watch them so he can go do detective work. Who cares? It's not like the pets had personalities or were actually part of the story at all.
And I only sort of liked the main character. His maturity with regards to his relationships with women leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand, the cleverness with which he kept his stupid boss happy and kept himself out of the spotlight was pretty fun.
January 28, 2016
L just love Scottish Policeman Hamish MacBeth!
He is as changeable as the weather: if he thinks a girl no longer wants him, he wants to marry her; if he thinks she is keen, he wants nothing to do with the idea. Poor Elspeth was on the receiving end of Hamish's vacillating affections again in this, the 22nd in M.C.Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series. He can be sulky and surly; but he has a heart of gold as evidenced by his popping in to see the old folks living up in the highlands, just to make sure they are okay.
The Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh would be the last place, along with the Midsommer district, I would ever want to move to. It has an alarming murder rate!
Hamish wins the services of cleaning lady Mrs Mavis Gillespie in a church fundraiser. Mrs Gillespie is a thoroughly unpleasant woman, more prone to snooping than to cleaning, so when Hamish finds her dead, having had her head bashed in with her bucket, he is not really surprised. In fact, no one is surprised or even sorry, for she was not liked at all, not even by her husband whose life she had made a misery, nor her daughter whose marriage she had caused to break up.
With no shortage of suspects for the murder, is this the case that will finally beat Hamish's deductive powers?
He is as changeable as the weather: if he thinks a girl no longer wants him, he wants to marry her; if he thinks she is keen, he wants nothing to do with the idea. Poor Elspeth was on the receiving end of Hamish's vacillating affections again in this, the 22nd in M.C.Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series. He can be sulky and surly; but he has a heart of gold as evidenced by his popping in to see the old folks living up in the highlands, just to make sure they are okay.
The Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh would be the last place, along with the Midsommer district, I would ever want to move to. It has an alarming murder rate!
Hamish wins the services of cleaning lady Mrs Mavis Gillespie in a church fundraiser. Mrs Gillespie is a thoroughly unpleasant woman, more prone to snooping than to cleaning, so when Hamish finds her dead, having had her head bashed in with her bucket, he is not really surprised. In fact, no one is surprised or even sorry, for she was not liked at all, not even by her husband whose life she had made a misery, nor her daughter whose marriage she had caused to break up.
With no shortage of suspects for the murder, is this the case that will finally beat Hamish's deductive powers?
December 31, 2014
Up until the wind-down section, the plot was pretty engaging. The last 20-30 pages, though, left me first scratching my head that the story hadn't ended, and then shaking it at the increasingly preposterous and implausible events. It almost felt like Beaton's first draft didn't quite make the desired word count, or that the final section was tacked on in a rushed final edit. It's still largely a better book than some of the weakest in the series, but I'm frankly a little disgruntled that Beaton -- and her editors -- didn't give the final section more work.
Because they didn't, the book ends up like a house with decent bones to the core structure, which get almost entirely ruined by a series of thoughtless, poorly constructed additions that include extra closets and a randomly located toilet near the front of the house. Beaton would set a murder victim in a house like that.
Because they didn't, the book ends up like a house with decent bones to the core structure, which get almost entirely ruined by a series of thoughtless, poorly constructed additions that include extra closets and a randomly located toilet near the front of the house. Beaton would set a murder victim in a house like that.
May 2, 2021
Macbeth and the Blackmailing Cleaner
Review of the Blackstone Audio audiobook edition (2008) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2007)
Review of the Blackstone Audio audiobook edition (2008) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2007)
February 21, 2021
I thought about giving this a 3 because it’s very meandering at the end, but I decided I liked enough to stick with 4. The mystery is complicated with lots of branches.
September 21, 2022
To be honest, I don't want to waste time writing down my thoughts about these novels. I just want to continue reading the one book after the other in this series. Is it fair to say that everyone who has read the series is addicted to PC Hamish Macbeth and the village of Lochdubh in northern Scottish Highlands, where summers are intense but short, and winters, long, dark, and harsh. The villagers are eccentric, but unique, and the outside world mostly a faraway thought, and for young people, a dream.
The blurb: Armed with a bucket and mop, blackmailer Mrs Mavis Gillespie brings misery to constable Hamish Macbeth when he wins her maid services in a church raffle. She is more likely to snoop than clean, and soon turns up bludgeoned by her own pail. Plus Macbeth's former girlfriend Elspeth Grant holidays in Scottish Highland Lochdubh village with her new boyfriend.
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive’
~ Walter Scott in his poem Marmion
My word, how true it is about MC Beaton's murder mysteries. The more entangled the weaving gets, the more determined the readers are to stay committed to her fun-filled, satirical plots.
In this case Mrs. Gillespie worked for various people:
In Braikie: Professor Sander; Mrs. Flemming; Mrs. Styles;
In Lochdubh: Mrs. Wellington;
In Styre: Mrs. Barret-Wilkinson.
When trouble came, all these people had to be investigated, their pasts dugged up, and their secrets exposed, and then buried again.
Inside the police enclave, more intrigue was added, with Inspector Detective Blair setting traps to get Hamish Macbeth out of Lochdubh and his police station closed, while acting brutish and misogynistic towards Police Inspector Mary Gannon.
This time around I had trouble keeping up with all the sub plots and plethora of names, and the repetitiveness of the plot. Not much local color. A lot of boring police procedures with the different officers back-biting each other. Blair is a pain the neck. The excessive drinking became stale bread.
Then the perpetual emotional warfare between Elspeth, Hamish and Priscilla were predictable and underwhelming.
However, I still wanted to see the denouement, and appreciated this cozy experience. Perhaps I'm too tired, had a busy week, but this one really felt meh-ish. Sorry.
The blurb: Armed with a bucket and mop, blackmailer Mrs Mavis Gillespie brings misery to constable Hamish Macbeth when he wins her maid services in a church raffle. She is more likely to snoop than clean, and soon turns up bludgeoned by her own pail. Plus Macbeth's former girlfriend Elspeth Grant holidays in Scottish Highland Lochdubh village with her new boyfriend.
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive’
~ Walter Scott in his poem Marmion
My word, how true it is about MC Beaton's murder mysteries. The more entangled the weaving gets, the more determined the readers are to stay committed to her fun-filled, satirical plots.
In this case Mrs. Gillespie worked for various people:
In Braikie: Professor Sander; Mrs. Flemming; Mrs. Styles;
In Lochdubh: Mrs. Wellington;
In Styre: Mrs. Barret-Wilkinson.
When trouble came, all these people had to be investigated, their pasts dugged up, and their secrets exposed, and then buried again.
Inside the police enclave, more intrigue was added, with Inspector Detective Blair setting traps to get Hamish Macbeth out of Lochdubh and his police station closed, while acting brutish and misogynistic towards Police Inspector Mary Gannon.
This time around I had trouble keeping up with all the sub plots and plethora of names, and the repetitiveness of the plot. Not much local color. A lot of boring police procedures with the different officers back-biting each other. Blair is a pain the neck. The excessive drinking became stale bread.
Then the perpetual emotional warfare between Elspeth, Hamish and Priscilla were predictable and underwhelming.
However, I still wanted to see the denouement, and appreciated this cozy experience. Perhaps I'm too tired, had a busy week, but this one really felt meh-ish. Sorry.
June 3, 2022
06/02/22 - I love it when the murder plot is more complicated and there are some parts solved and other mysteries spring up. One of my favorite parts of this one is when the husband is told of his wife’s death - it’s horrible, but sort of great. I really like Hamish’s insights about the world and enjoy the dangers in this plot.
9/10/09 - Some very amusing situations develop because of Hamish's dating life. This was a great one - I loved it!
9/10/09 - Some very amusing situations develop because of Hamish's dating life. This was a great one - I loved it!
December 3, 2021
Oh Hamish, you mischievous scamp. Hamish gets word that a local TV show would like to run a special on him and his police-solving skills, but Hamish doesn't want the attention so he turns it around and gets them to follow Blair.
When a mean old gossip winds up dead, Blair comes blustering in with the TV crew following at his heels. They soon learn that Hamish is the better bet but he keeps eluding them.
Hamish learns that Mrs. Gillepsie was a mean old grouch who found out secrets and used them against people. One of these people was obviously mad enough to destroy the blackmailer before they could be blackmailed.
I just can't get enough of Hamish. I love these books so very, very much. They always feel like coming home.
When a mean old gossip winds up dead, Blair comes blustering in with the TV crew following at his heels. They soon learn that Hamish is the better bet but he keeps eluding them.
Hamish learns that Mrs. Gillepsie was a mean old grouch who found out secrets and used them against people. One of these people was obviously mad enough to destroy the blackmailer before they could be blackmailed.
I just can't get enough of Hamish. I love these books so very, very much. They always feel like coming home.
March 9, 2025
In all of the books, there is an epilogue (sometimes titled 'Epilogue') - a longer or shorter chapter with a bit of an aftermath following the resolution of the case(s). And mostly concerned with Hamish losing the girl (very same girls for many of them). In this, the case was wrapped up with almost a quarter book to go. First I was intrigued, but then I felt the developments brought the enjoyment down - it felt a bit equivalent to a horror movie where the bad guy/monster just wakes up a few times too many.
January 12, 2019
Always a fav audio series go to for Scottish accented narration and the likeable Hamish Macbeth investigating Highlands' crime.
Graeme Malcolm narrator.
Graeme Malcolm narrator.
November 17, 2022
2,5 ✨ for me. Maybe reading book 22 in a series first is not the best way to appreciate it.
June 21, 2023
Hamish being Hamish, of to confront a maid he won in a raffle finds her body with her head bashed in instead. Now he must unravel her blackmailing schemes, her life and a long list of highland suspects who had reason enough to terminate the maids life and her services.
March 2, 2014
One of the weaker entries in the esteemed Hamish MacBeth series. The murder is solved with the usual twists and turns, but there is a little too much of Hamish as a superhero. That diminished my enjoyment of the book. I like my characters to feel like real people.
Probably the biggest weakness in the novel is that it is about 30 to 40 pages too long. Once the case is solved, Beaton tacks on a few extraneous subplots that add nothing to the book and made me feel she was getting paid by the word.
I will continue to explore this series, but I feel now that Hamish is on trial. I am not sure I have room in my reading schedule for any more books as weak as this one. Too many outstanding novels out there to invest time in froth like Death of a Maid.
I want and need books that are nourishing and address real-life issues. This novel was too cartoonish for me.
Probably the biggest weakness in the novel is that it is about 30 to 40 pages too long. Once the case is solved, Beaton tacks on a few extraneous subplots that add nothing to the book and made me feel she was getting paid by the word.
I will continue to explore this series, but I feel now that Hamish is on trial. I am not sure I have room in my reading schedule for any more books as weak as this one. Too many outstanding novels out there to invest time in froth like Death of a Maid.
I want and need books that are nourishing and address real-life issues. This novel was too cartoonish for me.
November 22, 2020
I don’t know what to make of “Death of a Maid.” This book has one of the longest dénouements of any in the series so far. The murder mystery is solved, but the repercussions continue. Hamish sees some pretty intense action, and is rewarded with a new Land Rover.
Other items of note (in no particular order):
- Hamish meets a constable named Constable
- Elspeth has a moment of psychic intuition and stops Hamish from doing something stupid
- Elspeth’s own moment of stupidity is only stopped by a serendipitous moment of equal stupidity by someone else
- Both male and female sex workers appear in the story
- Of two retired female sex workers, both have done well, but only one “married a punter”; the other saved her money and put it into property
- There is more than one female police officer and they are less stereotypical than in previous books and more like fully rounded characters
- The villagers, collectively, rescue Hamish a couple of times
- A famous model visits the Highlands and for some reason decides that Hamish is the one to talk to about “what to do in Lochdubh”
- This story covers a lot of ground, geographically (though not quite as much as “Death of an Addict”); shout out to a cameo appearance by a suburb of Toronto
- Hamish recognizes Angela Brodie’s (incompetent) baking even when presented to him by a stranger (I LIKE Angela; I cannot bake or keep the cat off the counter either)
- Hamish discovers casual sex is a thing
So there you have it: a recommended book in a recommended series.
Other items of note (in no particular order):
- Hamish meets a constable named Constable
- Elspeth has a moment of psychic intuition and stops Hamish from doing something stupid
- Elspeth’s own moment of stupidity is only stopped by a serendipitous moment of equal stupidity by someone else
- Both male and female sex workers appear in the story
- Of two retired female sex workers, both have done well, but only one “married a punter”; the other saved her money and put it into property
- There is more than one female police officer and they are less stereotypical than in previous books and more like fully rounded characters
- The villagers, collectively, rescue Hamish a couple of times
- A famous model visits the Highlands and for some reason decides that Hamish is the one to talk to about “what to do in Lochdubh”
- This story covers a lot of ground, geographically (though not quite as much as “Death of an Addict”); shout out to a cameo appearance by a suburb of Toronto
- Hamish recognizes Angela Brodie’s (incompetent) baking even when presented to him by a stranger (I LIKE Angela; I cannot bake or keep the cat off the counter either)
- Hamish discovers casual sex is a thing
So there you have it: a recommended book in a recommended series.
January 13, 2023
Death of A Maid by M. C. Beaton, another in the Hamish McBeth "Cozy"series that features the adventures of a quirky Scottish policeman in a small Highland village. A light mystery novel? I recommend it.
The mystery of a maid "done in" is the latest that Hamish the policeman must solve, looking for anyone with "means, motive, and opportunity." And the motive for murder is a popular one in British cozies - blackmail. But which of the ones being blackmailed did the dirty deed. The popularity of the series lies as much in the plots, I think, as with the pictureque Highland setting and the character of the policeman himself.
In every book in the series, Hamish sidesteps being drawn into marriage by a girlfriend or pushed into the arms of someone by the villagers who want to see him happily married. He also avoids notoriety, letting his boss take the credit for all the crimes he solves, and avoiding promotion and being sent from the quiet of his beloved village.
Hamish's quirkiness endears him to his readers. He likes living alone with his wild lynx-like cat, his dog, and the sheep and hens he raises in his backyard. He has a perfect view of the ocean and the rough landscape from his living quarters in the police station. And he is known and liked by just about everyone in the village and the nearby towns. Thr maid in question is not missed by many, even by those she works for. But Hamish solves the crime, once again removes an offender from the village scene, and sends the perpetrator off to prison elsewhere. At the end of each novel, peace descends again on the village, thanks to Hamish. As it should, in a Cozy mystery.
The mystery of a maid "done in" is the latest that Hamish the policeman must solve, looking for anyone with "means, motive, and opportunity." And the motive for murder is a popular one in British cozies - blackmail. But which of the ones being blackmailed did the dirty deed. The popularity of the series lies as much in the plots, I think, as with the pictureque Highland setting and the character of the policeman himself.
In every book in the series, Hamish sidesteps being drawn into marriage by a girlfriend or pushed into the arms of someone by the villagers who want to see him happily married. He also avoids notoriety, letting his boss take the credit for all the crimes he solves, and avoiding promotion and being sent from the quiet of his beloved village.
Hamish's quirkiness endears him to his readers. He likes living alone with his wild lynx-like cat, his dog, and the sheep and hens he raises in his backyard. He has a perfect view of the ocean and the rough landscape from his living quarters in the police station. And he is known and liked by just about everyone in the village and the nearby towns. Thr maid in question is not missed by many, even by those she works for. But Hamish solves the crime, once again removes an offender from the village scene, and sends the perpetrator off to prison elsewhere. At the end of each novel, peace descends again on the village, thanks to Hamish. As it should, in a Cozy mystery.
September 13, 2018
I’ve listened to two Hamish MacBeth books out of order. This is the 22nd book in the series and I love it. If it’s this fresh on the 22nd book, it has to be a great series. I will start from the beginning and read the series. I love the cozy small town feeling and the colorful characters. This is the epitome of a cozy mystery. The writing flows beautifully as you drift from one scene to the next. I love it.
June 17, 2022
This was my first time reading Hamish Macbeth, though I'd been contemplating it for a while. I warmed to Hamish very quickly, and I found some of the other characters and their behaviour amusing too. I liked this story, and think I would read another one. My only complaint is that I wish I'd started with the first book.
June 8, 2024
This book was so boring. It was the first and last one I will read by this author. Hamish Macbeth wins a maid service from a church raffle. That maid winds up dead. The author will tell you MANY times how the maid was a blackmailer and did not clean well. Hopefully others will enjoy this book more than I did.
February 24, 2025
I enjoy the Audible editions of this series with Graham narrating. This was not my favorite as it rambled a bit and the ending was a little strange. But the characters were quirky and fun and the story was good.
December 14, 2017
Hamish Macbeth mysteries are always quirky, as is Macbeth himself. I enjoyed this volume because Macbeth was at his best. The story wasn't predictable so I enjoyed it unfolding.
September 25, 2020
Another enjoyable book in the Hamish Macbeth series. There are so many murders in this area of the Scottish Highlands that there soon will be nobody left alive.
April 3, 2022
Another entertaining audio book in the Hamish MacBeth detective series.
November 9, 2025
I really like when Elspeth and Hamish solve crimes together but that’s where it should stop. Why couldn’t they just be friends!! Ugh. Less romance more solving crimes!!!
October 21, 2020
This one was particularly delightful, including more action and relationship issues after the main crime was solved.
November 19, 2022
Not as well told as other Hamish MacBeth stories, but I do love the audio version with the reader's attention to local dialect. I could listen to it all day! Story is 3 stars, 4 stars for the Highland accent.
May 22, 2022
Hamish is still solving cases and experiencing the woes of romantic relationships. In this installment, the story continues on for awhile after the current case is solved, tying up a few loose ends.
August 21, 2023
Hamish never disappoints. I think that they just keep getting better. Loven this series. Awesome book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 450 reviews