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4.0 out of 5 stars
Holiday House of Horrors, April 10 2007
This is the 11th Hamish Macbeth mystery. At the end of Death of a Charming Man, Hamish breaks his unofficial engagement with Priscilla. It wasn't just that she tried to run his life; she was too good at it! Also, Priscilla couldn't warm up to him at male-female level which left him feeling bereft. Naturally, the sturdy citizens of Lockdubh and his police colleagues think that Hamish must have lost his mind. He gets full blame for the breakup. Hamish is also demoted back to police constable for his mistake at the end of Death of a Charming Man. Feeling pretty bad, he decides he needs a wee holiday. Finding a low-priced boarding house in Skag, Hamish heads off with Towser.
Arriving in Skag, Hamish finds that he's jumped out of the pot into the fire. The boarding house (so-called Friendly House) serves inedible food that seems spoiled, and the owners are openly hostile. Not only that, someone has been into his things. His next-door neighbors never stop arguing, and the husband is always nagging his wife about something or the other. The only respite comes when Hamish slugs the nag in self-defense and threatens to kill him if he doesn't stop on his wife. Naturally, the husband calls in the local constabulary. Hamish is saved from jail by the wife's willingness to defend him. After that contretemps, Hamish tries to organize outings with the more amiable of the fellow guests and starts to have a good time . . . when he suddenly spots the nag's body in the water. Naturally, Hamish is suspect number one . . . until a retired teacher gives him an unexpected alibi.
Hamish finds himself drawn into the investigation, but he's got a tagalong, police constable Maggie Donald, who wants to use her female wiles to get ahead. Through some pretty unusual detective methods, Hamish begins to uncover the secrets of his fellow boarders . . . and plenty of motives for murder.
Before the book is done, Hamish has suffered another great loss. The book concludes on a sad note that strikes against optimism about love conquering all.
In many ways, this story has better development than most of ten books that preceded it. But the book lacks charm and appeal. Frankly, it's a bit of a downer.
But for a continuing series, this story fits nicely and lays the groundwork for further series developments that I'm sure will reward readers in the future.
But if you don't feel like you need to read every book in the series, you could skip this one.
I usually devour one the Hamish Macbeth books at one sitting. In this case, I found myself going very slowly. It was just such a downer. I give Ms. Beaton great credit for being able to capture that mood and transmit it to me.
Ultimately, the story's weakness is that the characters aren't very attractive. Even the ones you don't like in a normal Hamish Macbeth story are interesting enough that you want to know more about them. In this case, I didn't find any of the new characters to be particularly interesting.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A good mystery, Jun 2 2003
This is the eleventh in a series of mysteries featuring the detective work of small town, Highland Scottish detective Hamish Macbeth, P.C. In this story, Hamish sets out for a quiet (and cheap) vacation at the North Sea resort town of Skag. However, when he discovers the body of one of his fellow vacationers (a loud-mouthed nag of a husband), Hamish suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation. And so, with his faithful dog Towser in tow, Macbeth sets out to find out who caused the death of a nag.My wife has been a big Hamish Macbeth fan for years, and she has now brought me into the fold. This was not my favorite Hamish Macbeth novel, in particular I found the ending sadly cynical, but I did enjoy reading it. I liked the setting and the characters, and think that M.C. Beaton is an excellent. So, if you are interested in a story set in modern Scotland, or just a good mystery, then I highly recommend this book to you.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Great plot but not my favorite MacBeth, Nov 3 2002
As with all of this series, it was a good, entertaining read. Because of something that happens within the story that wouldn't be fair to share to those who haven't read the book, I just didn't enjoy this MacBeth story as much as I've enjoyed others. To be honest, the actual mystery is better than some of the other stories. It's the dreadful thing that happens to Hamish on a personal level that bothers me.I'm reading this in sequence and understand that Hamish is going through some changes...so was perfectly fine with the things happening to him prior to this book. Just don't understand why the author chose to make this particular situation happen...
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by M. C. Beaton
