Product Description

When Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth, along with a new promotion and more money, is given a new partner--young, eager P. C. Willie Lamont--and he and Lamont race to solve a mystery involving a handsome young drifter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #918110 in Books
• Published on: 1993-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 151 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this excellent, eighth Hamish Macbeth mystery, the slightly lethargic, tousle-haired village copper in the Scottish Highlands has been promoted against his will. As Sergeant, he makes more money, but must suffer more work as well, not to mention the enthusiasm of his new helper, Police Constable Willie Lamont. Hamish rescues a young boy from the river and saves some stranded mountain climbers; he listens to a minister confess wavering faith, is plagued by a superior who resents his promotion and has repeated run-ins with a drifter who parks his van behind the minister's manse. The "devastatingly handsome" drifter charms four women out of their money and harasses Hamish's ladylove, Priscilla. When the bounder's body is found after a fatal bludgeoning, Hamish seeks out the young man's rock-singer girlfriend and unhappily discovers a blackmailing scheme that incriminates some locals. Beaton ( Death of a Glutton ) pens a cast of winning characters, even the pesky, malaprop Willie (whose aunt lives "in a condom in San Francisco"). But the star, as always, is the slow-moving, quick-witted Hamish.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Beaton's eighth mystery featuring Scottish police constable Hamish MacBeth is every bit as charming, humorous, and clever as the first seven. This time MacBeth acquires a new sidekick, P. C. Willie Lamont, who has less talent for police work than for cleaning, polishing, and scrubbing. His insistence on keeping the police station spotless is driving MacBeth mad. But Hamish has other troubles: his lady friend, Priscilla, is being standoffish, and a handsome drifter named Sean has arrived in Lochdubh and seems to be a catalyst for evil. When Sean is brutally murdered, Hamish has the difficult task of finding his killer without upsetting Lochdubh's placid way of life or his police superiors in Strathbane. As usual, Beaton makes Lochdubh and its inhabitants come alive; the characters are wonderfully original; the plot is cleverly crafted and intriguing to the end; there's lots of laugh-aloud humor; and even the darker, bleaker parts of the story (and there are some) only add to its overall appeal. Emily Melton

From Kirkus Reviews
Sergeant Hamish MacBeth, until now the entire police force in the Scottish village of Lubdoch (Death of a Glutton, etc.), is feeling beleaguered. By way of promotion authorities in Strathbane have sent him Constable Willie Lamont, to share his duties and his cozy quarters, incidentally destroying Hamish's comfort with his obsessive cleaning and polishing. Moreover, the town has become home to handsome drifter Sean Gourlay and his foulmouthed girlfriend Cheryl Higgins, living on land behind the local minister's manse, with his ill-judged permission. Reports of stolen drugs, money missing from church funds, and Cheryl's sudden departure are preliminaries to the discovery of Sean's battered corpse. Hamish finds motives aplenty as he tries to protect the reputations of several village matrons until he traps the killer, and even manages to become engaged to on-again, off-again longtime love Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. Prosaic solution aside, readers will relish a well-paced, warmly sentimental picture of the people--and the character and rich accents--of Lubdoch, as seen through Hamish's loving eyes. Unpretentious fun for all. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A fun Hamish Mac Beth mystery
Hamish is trying to deal with his promotion and new constable Willie. Willie is a clean freak and is driving the laconic Hamish crazy. The police station is also abnormally busy. Two travellers arrive in the village in a beat up bus. Everyone but Hamish seems to be charmed by the couple. The local reverend even lets him park his bus on the grass next to the manse. Then odd crimes occur. Money is stolen from the Mother's Union fund, and morphine is missing from Dr. Brodie's office. Priscilla's scarf is taken, then found, and finally, the Currie sisters have put their house up for sale. Mrs. Brodie, Mrs. Wellington, and Jessie Currie are miserable. Hamish thinks that it has something to do with the Travelling Man. Soon after, Sean turns up dead, beaten to death with a sledge hammer. Hamish is terribly afraid that one of the villagers committed the crime.

This was a funny mystery. Hamish is lazy on the outside and busy in his mind as usual. Willie's romance with the beautiful Lucia is hysterical. I love the way his scrubs his way into her heart. Hamish's devious solving of the crime without effort or getting promoted is very entertaining.

HAMISH MACBETH STRIKES AGAIN!!!
I have read nearly all the series up to and including this one. I think this may be the best one of all. Hamish now has a side-kick by th name of Willie Lamont. Hamish would love to get rid of him so he could go back to his old way of doing things. The travelling man is Sean Gourlay, a traveller, something like a gypsy. He parks his bus on the Pastors property and Hamish cannot make hom leave. Then things begin to disappear, and people begin to change. Hamish is sure Sean is behind it. Then Sean is murdered. Hamish is really glad but he has to find the killer. Seems Sean was getting close to four ladies in town. Any of them would have done it. Also the restaurant owner wanted to kill him. But who did? Hamish also has to fight Inspector Blair, who wants to discredit Hamish before he gets another promotion. Will Hamish find the right killer? Will he ever propose to Priscilla? Will what the four ladies did be found out? Need to read to find the answers. I think you will enjoy the book. Great Scottish words and country.

A fun, readable story and a likeable character.
This is the 8th Hamish Macbeth novel (c 1993), but the first time I've encountered him. He's drawn with humor and compassion by the author of the Agatha Raisin books. But Agatha is sometimes hard to like, whereas Hamish is very likeable and kind. The mystery follows an unusual path and has a satisfactory conclusion. The little Scottish town is going to be fun to visit, but in this book it's only a skeleton sketch of a place. I'm sure, as with the Agatha books, that it develops more of a sense of place as its description unfolds in the other books. The same goes for the town's characters. Here they are mostly just cutouts. But the "temporary" villains are well done. Still, it's a fun story and a charming character.