Death of an Honest Man

December 18, 2017
At the start of bestseller Beaton’s diverting 34th Hamish Macbeth mystery (after 2017’s Death of a Ghost), the Lochdubh, Scotland, policeman and his amiable sidekick, Constable Charlie Parker, drive to the neighboring village of Cnothan to welcome a new resident, retired banker Paul English, whose first words to Hamish are: “You gay men are always dyeing your hair.” Hamish protests that his deep red hair is natural. He and Charlie endure further insults from English before their abrupt departure. After someone murders English and dumps his body in a bog, the police have plenty of suspects, since most everyone who was a target of his insults hated him. Hamish navigates the various traps and trappings of his job with his usual ease. Beaton keeps this lighthearted series fresh by introducing several important changes for some recurring characters and assigning Hamish a surprising new assistant. Series fans will eagerly await the next installment. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates.

January 1, 2018
Honesty may not be the best policy if it makes your acquaintances want to kill you.Sgt. Hamish Macbeth is enjoying the beauty of the Scottish Highlands along with his constable, Charlie Carter, when a trip to see a newcomer to the area ruins their day and many more. Although banker Paul English has only recently retired to the village of Cnothan, he's already made an impressive number of enemies. Hamish soon sees why when English accuses him of dyeing his hair red. A youngster from Cnothan claims to have seen English in a compromising position with minister Maisie Walters, but she denies the story. All the while, the list of people English has insulted or defamed grows every day. DCI Blair, whose hatred for Hamish knows no bounds, is delighted to visit English when he calls to complain that the local police have been harassing him, only to be insulted and threatened himself for drinking on duty. The discovery of English's body in a bog flushes out a legion of suspects. When Charlie, who's giving up policing to move with his love to a croft in South Uist, departs, Hamish's new constable is a reluctant spy for Blair. Hamish, who's never gotten over having to release Sonsie, his wild cat, into a sanctuary, has found the company of Lugs and Sally, his two dogs, an incomplete substitute. So when a wild cat is shot, he rescues it, certain that it's Sonsie even though everyone from his former girlfriends to the veterinarian says it's not. The rescue fills Hamish with joy and makes him doubly determined to solve the murder of the man everyone loved to hate.One of the most convoluted and striking in this venerable series (Death of a Ghost, 2017, etc.), whose fans will relish the newest complications in the hero's chaotic life.

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January 1, 2018
Longtime readers of the Hamish Macbeth series, set in a fictional village in the Scottish Highlands, don't keep coming back for the fresh plotting. The plot is nearly always the same: a stranger comes to the tiny fictional village of Lochdubh, speedily becomes wildly unpopular, and is murdered. The fun lies in the way Beaton depicts the different annoying, conniving, villainous victims. There's also the Highlands scenery to enjoy, along with a great deal of humor and the engaging series star, Sergeant Macbeth, who is unwillingly thrown into the murder investigations when he'd much rather be fishing or hiking. In this thirty-fourth installment, the stranger is a retired London banker who insults everyone he meets. And, of course, he's found in a peat bog, stabbed to death by a broadsword. Macbeth has a whole village of suspects on his hands, of course, but this time mystery deepens when Macbeth's detested, sadistic superior, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, turns up as one of the possible killers. Satisfying for both established and new Macbeth fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)