Publisher's Weekly Review
In bestseller Beaton's devilishly droll 24th mystery to feature police constable Hamish Macbeth (after 2008's Death of a Gentle Lady), the Scottish Highlands' most stubborn (and romantically challenged) bachelor returns to his home village of Lochdubh from a disappointing vacation to discover a witch stirring up trouble. To Macbeth's annoyance, the sex-starved local men have fallen under the spell of Catriona Beldame, who turns out to be a runaway bride with a shady past. Macbeth longs to prove she's selling illegal (and bogus) remedies for sexual dysfunction, and warns her to stop if she is. Macbeth gets a shock when someone murders Beldame and sets her house on fire-soon after Macbeth is overheard to say he'd like to kill her. Three more murders of other women quickly follow. Could a serial killer be loose in sleepy Lochdubh? As usual, Beaton's crisp plotting and effervescent humor complement Macbeth's deft crime solving. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Hamish Macbeth, a hulking Highlander cop somewhat akin to James Herriott's Yorkshire veterinarians in his attachment to the land, has refused or resigned from every promotion offered over the past 23 novels, so that he can stay in his beloved village, Lochdubh, with its harsh beauty and eccentric inhabitants. But the outside world keeps intruding, adding bite to Beaton's cozies in multiple ways: the vicious police hierarchy; the effect of Strathbane, an ugly city, spreading its tentacles into the Highlands; and the horrific nature of contemporary crime, such as the importation of Eastern European prostitutes/slaves. In Beaton's latest, Macbeth investigates the murder of a woman who dispensed kidney-inflaming herbal aphrodisiacs to a string of Lochdubh men. More murders follow in the village, against the usual backdrop of Macbeth trying to sort out his love life. Lochdubh has a ridiculously high homicide rate for a tiny village, but it provides readers with a great deal of atmospheric fun.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2008 Booklist
Kirkus Review
The picture-postcard village of Lochdubh once more becomes a mecca for murder. Police Constable Hamish Macbeth (Death of a Gentle Lady, 2008, etc.) returns from a disappointing holiday in Spain to discover his beloved Highland village sunk in a miasma apparently caused by newcomer Catriona Beldame, dispenser of herbal potions and suspected witch. Fighting an unwanted attraction to Catriona, Hamish is furious when the local doctor tells him that she's been dispensing Spanish fly to many of the town's menfolk, and even threatens her when she won't heed his warning to stop. After Hamish discovers Catriona stabbed to death, her house goes up in smoke while he's waiting outside for the forensics team. The newest member of the team, smitten by him, joins the long line of women who want to further his career, not knowing that Hamish constantly weasels out of promotions in order to stay in his beloved Lochdubh, where he's now officially a murder suspect. As the bodies pile up, Hamish gets help from another of his ex-loves, reporter Elspeth Grant. Hoping against hope the murderer is not one of his villagers, he learns a lot more than he wants to know about the sex lives of the residents before he can figure out who's been on a killing spree. A sound mystery featuring a generous portion of Hamish's complicated relationships and the usual delightful Highland descriptions. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
The New York Times best-selling author's 24th Hamish Macbeth mystery; Graeme Malcolm reads. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
