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Summary
Summary
Occasionally, the rugged landscape of Scotland attracts dreamers who move north, wrapped in fantasies of enjoying the simple life. They usually don't last, defeated by the climate or by inhospitable locals. But it looks as if Effie Garrand has come to stay.
When local constable Hamish Macbeth calls on her, he is amazed to find the small woman still in residence after a particularly hideous winter. Unfortunately, Effie is also quite delusional, having convinced herself--and everyone else--that local artist Jock Fleming is in love with her and that they are engaged. After a huge fight with Jock, Effie is found in the mountains, poisoned by antifreeze. Now, it's up to Hamish to find the dreamer's killer--before any more nightmares unfold.
Author Notes
M. C. Beaton's real name is Marion Chesney. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1936. She has written over a hundred books under her own name and other pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Helen Crampton, Jennie Tremaine, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester. She started her writing career while working as a fiction buyer for a bookstore in Glasgow.
Working at one time or another as a theater critic, newspaper reporter, and editor, she used her British background to write a series of regency romances set in England and Scotland. Some of her regency romances include The Folly, Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue, and Regency Gold. In 1986, she was awarded the Romantic Times Award for Outstanding Regency Series Writer.
She has also written two mystery series under the pseudonym M. C. Beaton: The Hamish Macbeth Series, which became the inspiration for a television show in England, and The Agatha Raisin Series, about a retired advertising executive. Her title His and Hers made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012.
Marion Chesney passed away on December 31, 2019 at the age of 83.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Beaton's flawless 21st installment in her popular Hamish Macbeth series (after 2005's Death of a Bore) boasts amusing local color and singularly savvy sleuthing. Macbeth, constable in the Highlands village of Lochdubh, thinks the apparent suicide of Effie Garrard, an artist who's arrived in town only recently, is suspicious. Following the murder of a nosy American tourist, Macbeth digs a little deeper and learns that Effie couldn't paint to, er, save her life-she was passing off another artist's work as her own. Macbeth's personal life is also consuming: two old flames turn up in Lochdubh within a few days of each other. Of course, Macbeth solves what turns out to be a double murder-but resolution of his romantic contretemps will have to wait for the next novel in this charming series. Beaton, who's also the author of the Agatha Raisin mystery series, will be the British guest of honor at the 2006 Bouchercon. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
A wine bottle loaded with antifreeze. A Scottish dance party interrupted by obsessive jealousy. A Brigadoon-like setting in northern Scotland that quickly turns Hitchcockian. Beaton is a masterful mixer of disparate elements that result in crime novels that are part police procedural and part psychological thriller. In this, the twenty-first in the Hamish Macbeth series, Beaton positions the stolid Constable Macbeth, sole lawman in the tiny village of Lochdubh in the Highlands, at the end of a winter marked by a series of spectacular blizzards. Macbeth is certain that the newcomer to the village, Effie Garrard, an artist under the influence of the usual romantic baggage about life in the Highlands, will have long abandoned her isolated cottage. But Effie seems to be in fine fettle, even talking about another newcomer artist falling in love with her. Then spring arrives, and Effie is found dead on a hillside. Macbeth's higher-ups rule the death a suicide, but he is bothered by the scene of the crime and the psychology behind the woman's death. A clear-cut case of murder follows, with Macbeth trying to discover a connection between the two. While the plotting itself is intricate and absorbing, Beaton, a Scot herself, excels at giving readers a taste of Highland life and creating a believable character in the lonely, brilliant, continually frustrated-in-love Macbeth. A treat. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2005 Booklist
Kirkus Review
The arrival of two artists in the peaceful Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh leads to a picture-perfect murder. Effie Garrard appears to be a talented painter and potter. But her rich fantasy life could be the motive for her murder. Soon after she invents a romantic scenario involving another newcomer, charismatic painter Jock Fleming, her body is found in the mountains along with a bottle of wine laced with antifreeze and a note that leads everyone but local constable Hamish Macbeth to call her death suicide. A second corpse, that of offensive, prying American Hal Addenfest, found on the beach felled by the ubiquitous blunt instrument, gives clever Hamish the chance to reopen the first case. The suspects include Effie's sister, the talented artist Effie pretended to be; Jock's ex, a lady of the night; his charming agent; and Hal's recently divorced wife, who was extremely lucky that Hal hadn't changed his will. On the domestic front, Hamish, a wannabe husband/uncommitted bachelor, is embroiled with a number of women, including longtime love Priscilla Halburtin-Smythe, reporter Elspeth Grant and attractive Betty Barnard, Jock's agent. Digging until he discovers the truth, he manages once again to pass off the credit so he can remain in his beloved Lochdubh. Fans of Hamish (Death of an Outsider, 2004, etc.) will love this combination of mystery and romantic escapades. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Lanky police constable Hamish Macbeth is surrounded by a number of women in this excellent installment of the series. Hamish begins to dread the arrival of any newcomers, as they always seem to bring crime and murder with them. Charismatic artist Jock Fleming attracts the attention of delusional Effie Garrard, who quickly turns an innocent conversation into an imaginary engagement and pregnancy. Sure enough, a bottle of wine laced with antifreeze leads to the discovery of Effie's body on a cliff overlooking the isolated Highland village of Lochdubh. Of course Hamish is the only one who doesn't think Effie's death is a suicide. Meanwhile, Jock's agent Betty, the ambitious young detective Elspeth, and Effie's sister arrive in the Lochdubh area. All the flavor of the Scottish Highlands can be heard in the narration by actor Graeme Malcolm. As is often the case, the least successful episodes are Malcolm's attempts at an American accent. There are several laugh-out-loud moments and an especially good plot in this latest Hamish Macbeth mystery. Recommended for all public libraries. B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Lib., Sag Harbor, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
