Death of a Poison Pen [Hardcover]

British author Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series remains reliable on several fronts: her Scots police officer Hamish will solve the crimes in an appropriately heroic and entertaining way; he will be as clueless as ever in regard to the women who set their caps for him; and he will continue to resist both promotion out of his remote village of Lochdubh and restrictions imposed by his nominal superiors. In this, the 20th entry (after 2003's Death of a Village), a series of poisoned pen letters have the townspeople of the nearby town of Braikie on edge, and rumor and suspicion threaten to lead to violence. Hamish faces danger of another sort, when Jenny Ogilvie, a London friend of Hamish's old flame Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, decides that romancing Hamish would be a delicious way to bother Priscilla. The author adeptly limns her village characters' foibles and frailties, and the poisoned pen letters set them off in high relief. Set pieces abound, from detective Jimmy Anderson's cadging of drinks, to Detective Chief Inspector Blair's ineptness and animosity, to the endless misunderstandings that separate Hamish and reporter Elspeth Grant. While the tunes Beaton's characters dance to may be familiar, they vary just enough to keep fans turning the pages.
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Adult/High School–Poison pen letters have been appearing all over the Scottish Highlands town of Braikie–and then a spate of murders and suicides ensues. Hamish Macbeth, the local constable of a nearby village, must get to the bottom of things without drawing too much attention to himself. If he sorts out another local mystery, he risks being promoted, and that would take him away from all that he loves in sleepy Lochdubh. As the Highlands' weather veers wildly from one extreme to another, Hamish dodges pesky superior officers and follows his own paths among the people he understands better than any outsider can. The place has no shortage of eccentrics but most of Lochdubh's regulars take a back seat to several 20-somethings who become an integral part of the story as it develops. They include a vacationer from London with dangerously poor judgment; an enterprising local reporter as unconventional as Hamish himself; another reporter, a caddish but "charming Irishman"; a bullied young secretary at the local school; and away in London, but never far from Hamish's mind, his star-crossed soul mate. Readers unfamiliar with the series can easily begin with this volume, but if they do, they are likely to seek out the earlier novels. This fictional world–part cozy, part unsparing–can be highly addictive.–Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
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Lochdubh, a fictive tiny village in the Scottish Highlands, has been visited by every conceivable type of murder in the long-running series starring local cop Hamish Macbeth. In this, the twentieth entry, the weapon of choice is the poison-pen letter. A spate of letters (including one accusing the stolid rector's wife of having an affair with the much younger Macbeth) spreads bad will, uncovers old secrets, and leads directly to two homicides. Beaton's cozies (she also writes the Agatha Raisin series) are a bit on the old-fashioned side. There is very little police procedure, much romance, and sometimes too much village minutiae. What rescues the Macbeth series from being Agatha Christie retreads are Macbeth's quirks, the deft social comedy, and the wonderfully realized Highlands atmosphere. This time, by bringing an outsider to the village (a woman up from London expressly to seduce Macbeth), Beaton effectively opens up the social comedy. A first-rate cozy. Connie Fletcher
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Poison pen letters lead to murder in this new Hamish Macbeth mystery from M.C.Beaton. When the townspeople of Lochdubh begin receiving poison pen letters, no one takes them very seriously, even if they are full of wild accusations. But Hamish fears that they might lead to something deadly. His instincts prove correct when the town's postmistress is found hanging from a rope with a poison pen letter at her feet. Though it appears to be a suicide, Hamish suspects something more sinister. Attempting to trace the letters, the last thing Hamish needs is any distractions, but soon Jenny Ogilvie arrives in Lochdubh determined to seduce him. Realizing that she is unable to take Hamish's mind off his case, Jenny decides to do a little investigating of her own. Now, Hamish finds himself in a race to solve the mystery of the poison pen letters before someone else dies, including one likely target-Jenny.

M. C. Beaton worked as a Fleet Street journalist. She is the author of the Agatha Raisin novels, the Hamish Macbeth series and an Edwardian murder-mystery series. She divides her time between Paris and the Cotswolds, where she lives in a village very much like Agatha Raisin's beloved Carsely. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

As the latest Hamish Macbeth mystery opens, tensions are mounting in Lochdubh over a series of poison pen letters received by residents. The Scottish constable fails to take the letters seriously until they lead to the murder of a postmistress and a schoolteacher. The real delight here is the interaction of the characters as Macbeth pines for a lost love while two new romantic possibilities appear on the horizon. Graeme Malcolm reads the story with a light touch, and emphasis on the offbeat characters. He gives the Lochdubh residents Highland accents that are recognizable but not heavy. Newcomers and longtime readers alike will enjoy this stop in M.C. Beaton's Lochdubh. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.