Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
by M. C. Beaton
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Book Summary Information
Author: M. C. BeatonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-01
ISBN: 0446615471
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Book Review: the true fan of this series wishes to return over & over again
Summary: 5 Stars
Death of a Maid, by M. C. Beaton (248 pgs., 2007). This is the author's twenty-second novel in the mystery series featuring Scottish Highland Police Constable Hamish Macbeth. Beaton also writes a mystery series featuring Agatha Raisin based in a quaint English village in the Cotswolds. Miss Raisin is Beaton's modern version of Agatha Christie's inimitable Miss Marple. While two mystery series each containing over twenty published novels would seem to be enough for any one person, M. C. Beaton is just a pseudonym for the equally prolific Marion Chesney. Some people can simply write & write & write. Out of the entire Chesney/Beaton oeuvre I prefer the Hamish Macbeth series over all the other titles.
Macbeth loves the Highlands. He resists promotion after promotion so that he can remain a mere Constable in the small (fictional) Highland village of Lochdubh. His love of the Scottish Highlands & its often lovingly eccentric people mirrors my own love for this part of Scotland. A tiny Highland village of some 40 people helped soothe my volcanic anger & broken heart mere months after the too early death of my own Dad at the too young age of 55. I spent parts of two years living in a home right on the coast of a sea loch. This country helped ease me back into the land of the living.
Beaton must love the Highlands as much as I do; because, her main character, Hamish Macbeth, loves it dearly. I've read all 22 books in this series. The writing isn't a masterpiece of literature. However, the author can create wonderfully believable supporting characters who help or annoy Macbeth in book after book. One looks forward to catching up with these characters. She is also quite good at plotting. Not too complicated; but, mysterious enough so that the reader doesn't solve the mystery until often the very end.
It's incongruous that so many murders would take place in or around the wee village of Lochdubh; but, Beaton makes all her murders quite believable. It seems incongruous that a brilliantly intuitive natural born detective would choose to remain a mere constable in a small village stuck away in the middle of nowhere. Yet, Beaton makes Macbeth's choices not only seem believable; but, she makes them seem normal.
In this novel, we have another couple of murders. Hamish must deal with an old love. His animals. The mad jealousy of his immediate & incompetent superior on the police force. The desire of higher ups in the police & of media people to reward Hamish with promotion. Hamish's sly fight to remain at his post in Lochdubh. Hamish solving convoluted murders & deflecting the glory so that he wouldn't be promoted. Hamish eating meals at his ex-fiancé's fancy hotel, cadging them for free. Hamish going around to all his neighbors & friends in the community to find info. & just to chat & have some tea or stronger stuff. All, or most of these things, happen in every novel featuring Hamish Macbeth. The true fan of this series wishes to return to this world over & over again.
Summary of Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Mrs. Gillespie is famous around the northwest of Sutherland for being the best charwoman ever. Of course, if anyone has any social pretensions one does not say charwoman, one talks about "my maid". Hamish Macbeth wins Mrs. Gillespie's services in a church raffle but spends most of the day trying to avoid her. She is a malicious gossip and she bangs around the furniture and clanks pots--he wonders how on earth she managed to get such a good reputation. Then she is found dead in a large house belonging to a retired professor who was out the day she was killed. She has been struck down by a metal bucket of water. Remembering Mrs. Gillespie's malicious gossip, Hamish is sure she delighted in finding out secrets and probably searched through the drawers of the houses she cleaned, which means everyone whose home she cleaned could be a suspect.Literature & Fiction Books
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