Product Description

Murder on the Telly Lochdubh, a remote village reached only by a one-track lane, nestles serenely amid Scotland's hills...until well-known TV reporter Crystal French races into town in her bright BMW. And Constable Hamish Macbeth, dourly wed to duty instead of the fiancee who dumped him, promptly gives her a summons for reckless driving. Outraged, Crystal makes Macbeth's life a misery with a TV report on policing in the Highlands. When she also rakes up old local scandals for her new hit show, Macbeth notes that someone besides himself might be dead keen to stop her. Then someone does-with stealth and violence. Now, finding out who did it will lead the laconic Macbeth down roads he never envisioned, into a dark story of passion and vengeance...and perhaps a crisis of the heart all his own.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #192007 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780446612043
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
For readers who prefer their whodunits more cute than action-packed, Beaton delivers the 17th installment in his constable Hamish Macbeth series (after 2001's Death of a Dustman). Stodgy "town bobby" Hamish protects and serves the quaint Scottish highlands village of Lochdubh which sees a lot of crime for a one-horse town and outwits the Strathbane big-city police in this story of multiple murders and TV ratings. Seeking better numbers and national notice, the local station hires the glamorous and catty Crystal French, who presents some very nasty programs about what really goes on in a highland village. Needless to say, this doesn't please the local folk, and soon enough, Crystal is found murdered. Suspicion vacillates between the townspeople and the television people (including the woman whose job Crystal had taken), who have quite a few secrets of their own. Hamish sniffs around and formulates theories ("It's because I'm a village constable that I solved your murders for you. I know people better than I know police procedure"), but just when he thinks he's getting somewhere, there's another murder. Things become increasingly complicated, including Hamish's love life: local reporter Elspeth Grant is sweet on Hamish, even if he's too dense to realize it. With teasing epigrams at the start of each chapter, a good dose of Britishisms and light suspense that carries through details both quotidian (Hamish's traffic patrol and his dog Lugs) and faintly exotic (psychics and gypsies), this book is one to be enjoyed with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. (Jan. 9)from Hell (Forecasts, Oct. 1) and other titles in the Agatha Raisin series.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Constable Hamish Macbeth (Death of a Dustman) has theories about who murdered nosy BBC television reporter Crystal French. Although ordered to drop the case, he can't help but see clues in the local astrology column and elsewhere. A great series.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The seventeenth in Beacon's Death of . . . series, set in the Scottish Highlands north of Inverness, goes down like the finest single malt whisky, leaving a nice gasp and glow in its wake. The glow is from setting, surely; the tiny, perennially embattled village of Lochdubh offers charming views of the Highlands and an insider's take on contemporary Scottish life. And part of the glow comes from Beaton's idiosyncratic village policeman, Hamish Macbeth, whose stubbornness and unorthodox methods make him despised by the Edinburgh police powers, but who always comes through with brilliant deductions. Mostly, the satisfaction the reader gets in these mysteries comes from Beaton's sly send-up of the petri dish of village life: the jealousies, maneuverings, and longstanding grudges that crawl just beneath the civilized surface and bubble up into violence. In the latest, an Edinburgh TV researcher, determined to get on air, comes to Lochdubh to do a series on "Highland Life." Her ambush interviews and sensationalistic exposes of the villagers make her the most unpopular woman in town. When she turns up dead in her BMW, an apparent suicide from an exhaust pipe hookup, only Hamish suspects murder, and he must fight police higher-ups and the TV producers who want the incident hushed up. A new Beaton is a cause for celebration. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A fine whodunnit in the heather for the highland's finest...
Death descends into the quiet highland village of Lochdubh once again when a muckraking t.v. presenter is found dead in her car just outside of town. It looks like a suicide but police constable Hamish Macbeth thinks differently and sets off to prove otherwise. Nothing comes easy in the highlands, though, and the more he digs into the crime, the more he discovers that many people had motive to murder....

This book is the quintessential Hamish Macbeth: sharp, witty, brooding, and oh-so-unlucky at love. Beaton offers up the most well-rounded Macbeth mystery ever, propelling her quirky (but nicely defined) characters along a briskly paced plot that's as warm as a wee dram o' whiskey.

A great book
This is the eighteenth in a series of mysteries featuring the detective work of small town, Highland Scottish detective Hamish Macbeth, P.C. When a television star attempts to make a career by exposing all of the secrets hidden in the quiet Highlands, she quickly becomes the most hated woman around. And when she turns up murdered, it's up to Hamish Macbeth to find who the murderer is. But, this is no simple case; suspects abound, and Hamish finds that he is getting the unwanted help of the local newspaper's astrologer! Can Hamish unravel this particularly tough knot? You bet!

I now consider myself something of a Hamish fan (thanks to my loving wife), and I must say that I deeply enjoyed this book. As with all of the other Hamish Macbeth books, I enjoyed the stories, the setting and the interesting characters. I wasn't totally thrilled with the inclusion of a psychic character, but it didn't ruin the story for me. Overall, I thought that this is a great book, and I highly recommend it to you.

More mayhem in Lochdubh
An expose style TV program is threatening the peace of the highlands. The presenter is making a career of raking up old scandals and embarassing the residents of the area. One day the woman is found dead, an apparent suicide, but Hamish MacBeth does not think so. The CID in Strathbane as usual, have no idea where to start and Hamish and his new friend Elspeth decide to investigate.

This is a good addition to the series. Elspeth is a welcome new character as is Carson. I was getting tired of everyone treating MacBeth like the village idiot and himself without a backbone. A very good and fast read.