Death of a Kingfisher

January 2, 2012
Sgt. Hamish Macbeth prefers the peace and quiet of village life, relative solitude, and his own low rank, but is unable to enjoy any of them in bestseller Beaton’s diverting 28th cozy featuring the Scottish policeman (after 2011’s Death of a Chimney Sweep). First, he’s encumbered with lazy deadbeat Constable Dick Fraser. Meanwhile, disturbingly pretty Mary Leinster has transformed beautiful Buchan’s Wood into a tourist attraction called Fairy Glen. Cantankerous Mrs. Colchester has her two awful grandchildren, 12-year-old Charles and 16-year-old Olivia, visiting and causing mischief. The murder of a kingfisher, his mate, and their nestlings is merely the opening salvo in a barrage of events perhaps aimed at ruining the Fairy Glen. Macbeth’s nemesis, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, adds to his woes. A surprisingly high human body count finds Macbeth one step behind, but, as usual, leagues ahead of his nominal superiors in this entertaining entry. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates.

February 1, 2012
An innovative plan to increase tourism in the Highland town of Braikie goes terribly wrong. Mary Leinster, a newcomer to Lochdubh, has turned the beautiful town property of Buchan's Wood into a tourist attraction she's dubbed "The Fairy Glen." At first all goes well. Busloads of tourists swarm over the glen without bothering the nearest neighbor, wealthy, crotchety Mrs. Colchester. But things take a turn for the worse when a young boy almost drowns in the pool and the glorious and popular Kingfisher is found hanged. Lochdubh Constable Hamish Macbeth, called to investigate, is shunted to a minor role when first the bridge in the glen collapses and then Mrs. Colchester, propelled like a rocket through the glass dome of her house, falls to her death. Hamish, the victim of a long string of failed romances, naturally falls for the stunning Mary, who claims to be on the verge of divorce. Still, he must keep her on the suspect list when he learns that Mrs. Colchester left her money for upkeep on the glen at the expense of her hard-pressed daughter and son-in-law, though they do get the house and its valuable contents and appear to have a sound alibi. Not so their two strange children, who have been busy making mischief while staying with their grandmother. Beaton combines an influx of quirky characters with her old favorites (Death of a Chimney Sweep, 2011, etc.), even though the plot this time is a wee bit far-fetched.

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March 1, 2012

The Scottish constable (Death of a Chimney Sweep) tackles a tourism-related murder in the latest installment of the popular cozy series.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2012
The twenty-seventh Hamish Macbeth mystery has all the elements Beaton fans come to expect: murder in a Scottish Highlands village and the semicomic, semiheroic investigation that follows. What makes the investigation swing between the comic and heroic is the tension between Beaton's canny series hero, Police Constable Macbeth, who applies common sense and deep knowledge of the locals to the crime, and the interference from the higher-ups in Strathclyde, obsessed with forensic evidence and closing the case in a hurry. Hamish knows what to look for at a crime scene, certainly, but he also knows far more than the city cops do about what human failings may have led to it. The latest starts with a bit of ecoterrorism: a glen newly publicized as a fairy glen to lure tourists is the site of the hanging of a kingfisher bird from a noose in a tree, the murder of its chicks in the nest, and the nearby vandalism of a bridge over which the tourist buses travel. And then an old, unloved, but very wealthy woman is blown through her home's skylight by a rocket attached to her chair lift. Two more murders, each grislier than the preceding, follow. As Macbeth investigates, his habit of falling in love with the wrong woman once again provides comic relief. An overarching theme of deception makes this an especially gripping episode. The Hamish Macbeth series, like Scotland's locally produced whiskey, only gets better with age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)