Death of a Bore [Hardcover]

A Macbeth utterly lacking in ambition and a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands that is murderously hard on outsiders form the witty premise of this series. Through 20 mysteries, Hamish Macbeth, police constable of tiny Lochdubh, has retained his stout common sense and disdain for those who scramble after power. Macbeth's stolid character serves as perfect counterpoint to both the scheming, sneering higher-ups in the police and his sometimes hysterical villagers. The virus that sets off the latest fever in Lochdubh is a visiting fiction writer who promises fame and fortune for those who enroll in his writing class. Writer John Heppel, however, soon alienates everyone with his arrogance and condescension. After publicly humiliating several would-be authors in his writing circle, Heppel is found dead in his cottage, his tongue symbolically blackened. Macbeth dexterously paddles through myriad motives, a media blitz, and police power plays to find the murderer. Delightful. Connie Fletcher
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Scotland’s most laconic, low-tech policeman, Hamish Macbeth, is back to solve his most confounding case yet: the seemingly motiveless murder of the most boring man in town. When John Heppel, a visiting writer to Lochdubh, first proposes forming a writers’ circle, the idea is met with much enthusiasm from local residents. However, once the classes get underway, attendance quickly falters due to one undeniable fact: John Heppel is a long-winded, consummate bore. But is dullness a motive for murder? Hamish Macbeth wouldn’t ordinarily think so. So when Heppel is found dead, Hamish begins looking for deeper meaning in the writer’s stories, including a strange, unfinished soap opera script that seems to suggest a more sinister motive behind its author’s unhappy ending.

M C Beaton was born in Scotland. She worked for many years as a journalist on Fleet Street. As well as the bestselling Agatha Raisin series, she is the author of the acclaimed Hamish Macbeth mysteries. She divides her time between the Cotswolds, where she lives in a village very much like Agatha's beloved Carsely, and Paris. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

It is shocking how pleased one is when someone in Hamish Macbeth's Scottish village gruesomely murders the mean, pretentious, and self-obsessed writer who offered classes to the villagers and then mocked their hopes and their attempts to interrupt his song of himself. Hamish's former flame arrives to cover the murder story, her fellow reporter falls for a local school teacher, a visiting English television crew filming a script by the deceased offers multiple nutball suspects, and the new, overbearing female chief inspector is chronically drunk and sexually harassing Macbeth. What a joy. Graeme Malcolm's cool, dry chameleon voice moves from one well-thought-out choice for a character to the next, giving not just their many different lilts but also their personalities, with the deftest of touches. B.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.