Lochdubh Is Spared a Murder Spree
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With a series that requires a murder for each story, a small town like Lochdubh can find itself quickly depopulated by that plot requirement. Fortunately for the fictional residents, M.C. Beaton sends Hamish Macbeth off for a fill-in assignment in the Highland town of Cnothan so that town can be depopulated instead.
Hamish isn't happy to learn that he's off to Cnothan. The residents there are more taciturn and unfriendly than most Highlanders. What's more, he'll be away from Priscilla Hallburton-Smythe the whole time.
The assignment is soon off to a rocky start when it turns out to be difficult to find the police station in Cnothan. What's more, Hamish is replacing a family that doesn't really want him in their home.
But Hamish rouses himself when he discovers that one of his new neighbors is a friendly, unattached Canadian woman. But his job doesn't look promising since he doesn't even know where he's supposed to be patrolling. The locals decide that Hamish may have a yen for other men, which sets up some good humor. But some of the humor is at Hamish's expense as he's called out to investigate a mysterious body.
Later, the town drunk has a close encounter with a corpse that causes great problems for all of the police.
You'll enjoy seeing Hamish operate in new surroundings, with many new challenges to overcome.
The motive for the murder is unusually obscure. If you can spot it . . . and the murderer, you're a lot sharper than I am. I thought that the premise for the murder was so obscure as to be a negative and graded the book down accordingly. I don't think our author played fair with us in this story.
But you'll find lots of chuckles . . . and food for thought the next time you dine on lobster.
Enjoy!
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Lochdubh Is Spared a Murder Spree
|
With a series that requires a murder for each story, a small town like Lochdubh can find itself quickly depopulated by that plot requirement. Fortunately for the fictional residents, M.C. Beaton sends Hamish Macbeth off for a fill-in assignment in the Highland town of Cnothan so that town can be depopulated instead.
Hamish isn't happy to learn that he's off to Cnothan. The residents there are more taciturn and unfriendly than most Highlanders. What's more, he'll be away from Priscilla Hallburton-Smythe the whole time.
The assignment is soon off to a rocky start when it turns out to be difficult to find the police station in Cnothan. What's more, Hamish is replacing a family that doesn't really want him in their home.
But Hamish rouses himself when he discovers that one of his new neighbors is a friendly, unattached Canadian woman. But his job doesn't look promising since he doesn't even know where he's supposed to be patrolling. The locals decide that Hamish may have a yen for other men, which sets up some good humor. But some of the humor is at Hamish's expense as he's called out to investigate a mysterious body.
Later, the town drunk has a close encounter with a corpse that causes great problems for all of the police.
You'll enjoy seeing Hamish operate in new surroundings, with many new challenges to overcome.
The motive for the murder is unusually obscure. If you can spot it . . . and the murderer, you're a lot sharper than I am. I thought that the premise for the murder was so obscure as to be a negative and graded the book down accordingly. I don't think our author played fair with us in this story.
But you'll find lots of chuckles . . . and food for thought the next time you dine on lobster.
Enjoy!
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