Death of a Glutton: Amazon.ca: M. C. Beaton: Books

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by M C Beaton

3.3 out of 5 stars (12) CDN$ 12.45

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The seventh Hamish Macbeth mystery (after Death of a Prankster ) lacks the series' key strengths: the canny, tousle-haired, beanpole charm of the Scottish highland copper and the dour weirdness of the remote village he lives in are given scant play here. Instead, the author scrambles to assemble her cast, kill her odious and obese victim and have Hamish shyly serve up the solution in the presence of the usual cast of nasty superiors who hate his guts. A motley assortment of desperate souls, members of the Checkmate Singles Club, have come to the village hotel to spouse-hunt. Suddenly, one of the visit's organizers, a hog of a woman, dies with an apple inserted in her sizable gullet. Peta Gore wasn't exactly a lovable sort, and among the gang of timid, mousy secretaries, aspiring yuppies, big-haired bimbos and elderly lawyers, a killer surely lurks. In most Macbeth mysteries, he can be found cadging drinks, walking Towser the dog and trying to come to terms with his feelings for fair Priscilla, daughter of the local fallen gentryman. This time Towser never gets out of the tiny police station, and the Hamish/Priscilla romantic misfires seem to be repeating themselves. A minor addition to a previously winning series.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The latest Hamish Macbeth case occurs near a Scottish Highlands hotel, where someone murders an obnoxious, man-chasing fat woman. A quick read.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

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4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars More Fun If You Find the Suspects Humorous, Jan 31 2007

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)

Death of a Glutton is the eighth Hamish Macbeth mystery. It's the beautiful days of summer in Lochdubh, days that are soon to be replaced with cold and rain. Hamish is looking forward to enjoying these tranquil days while they last. But that hope is soon frustrated.

The Tommel Castle Hotel (formerly the home of Colonel and Mrs. Hallburton-Smythe and their daughter Priscilla before the Colonel lost his capital) is booming. But when a fishing party cancels at the last minute, the Colonel finds he may have to lower his social standards to fill the hotel. This fear is turned into a reality when Maria Worth books the hotel for Checkmate Singles Club, which matches up matrimonial prospects from among the well-to-do. Maria has invited eight people who want to marry well and thinks she has just the prospect for each one. Immediately, each one takes a dislike to the person Maria has in mind for them, but things seem to be proceeding anyway when they strike up conversations with other singles in the group.

Those plans are put seriously awry, however, when her not-so-silent partner, Peta Gore, shows up uninvited with her voluptuous, but self-centered, young niece, Crystal. The men flock to Crystal until they find she's dull. That enrages the women. Peta turns out to be a world-class overeater with the worst possible manners. Colonel Hallburton-Smythe takes his wife and heads out, leaving this troublesome party to Priscilla and Mr. Johnson to tend.

The story builds around Peta's eating. There's a memorable picnic involving a wee trip in the ocean that has humorous consequences. The chef becomes so enraged by Peta's behavior that he takes a bet he can feed her a most unappetizing source of protein and she'll be delighted.

Hamish thinks that all he has to do is to save the hotel's reputation. Things take a different turn when Peta first turns up missing, leaving behind a curious note, and is later found dead . . . with an apple crammed down her throat.

Who did it? And why? Hamish makes a bigger hash out of the investigation than usual . . . but does eventually put his finger on the guilty party.

Hoping for central heating in his wee police station, he ends with up two unexpected surprises instead.

The main appeal of this story comes in the outrageous burlesque of Peta's eating methods. That part is nicely developed. The other characters, by comparison, are pretty uninteresting and not especially attractive either. But their cardboard outlines do help fill out the story line. The mystery isn't very mysterious. The clues are everywhere.

My impression is that M.C. Beaton intended each of these characters to be pretty funny to the readers. I think she missed in that attempt. Instead, I found them all-too-pathetically familiar. The humor needed to be exaggerated more to work.

One of the other good aspects of the book comes in the humorous ways that Hamish and Priscilla mangle their relationship whenever it starts to warm up a bit. Priscilla finds herself becoming more than a little jealous of one of Hamish's admirers which helps set up the fun.

The villagers and Towser take back seat in this book which makes the story seem less authentic somehow.

Watch what you eat!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Slow Moving, quick thinking Hamish at his best., Oct 30 2003

By	S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ce commentaire est de: Death of a Glutton (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. Grant it we didn't get too much of the eccentric villagers in this one, but we still had Hamish. And he is his usual self here. Murder occurs at his beloved Priscilla's hotel when a party of people from a dating agency are in residence. The woman who is murdered is particulary odious. She's a huge, fat woman with terrible table manners, and it's almost a relief to everyone when she is found dead. Hamish needs to solve the murder in spite of Blair's incompetence, and he manages to put everything together to do that. Again, the book is totally carried by Hamish. What a character he is!

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5.0 out of 5 stars This story is like a gun, you hit , you aim, you run..., May 25 2003

By	- Kasia S. (New York City) - See all my reviews

Ce commentaire est de: Death of a Glutton (Mass Market Paperback)

Quirky, funny and fast moving, with a bit of revolting sense of humor on part of Petra's eatting habits, this is a good fast read, that will satisfy those who love mysteries, and those who enjoy a bit of a good humor now and then.
The only draw back is the amount of characters introduced. I had a bit of a hard time remembering who's who, but once I got into the story it all made sense.
I appreciated the fact that by the time the book ended and the guilty was revealed I wasn't saying "who's that?"

Great read, M.C Beaton fans must dive into this one.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dating service invades Tormel Castle Hotel
When a hunting party cancels their reservations to Tormel Castle Hotel, Priscilla takes a reservation from the Checkmate Marital Brokerage, much to her father's dismay. Lisez davantage

Published on Aug 31 2002 by Moe811

5.0 out of 5 stars Death of a Glutton
"Death of a Glutton" is the eighth Hamish Macbeth mystery by M.C. Beaton set in the Scottish Highlands town of Lochdubh. Lisez davantage

Published on Jun 12 2002 by Ricky C. Nelson

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of quirky characters gathered at the manse.
DEATH OF A GLUTTON is great fun. The glutton is immensely repulsive, and by the time the death occurs, you'll be ready to commit the murder yourself! Lisez davantage

Published on Jun 7 2002 by MLPlayfair

4.0 out of 5 stars An tasty bit of stuff for the Hamish Macbeth fan...
For a quaint Scottish town there's plenty of murders that take place there. Luckily, the unaspiring by astute constable Hamish Macbeth is on hand once again to woo the ladies,... Lisez davantage