Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Grand Central Publishing - Grand Central Publishing
Release date: 2008-01-01
Mass Market Paperback
Author: M. C. Beaton
American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Mystery/ Detective, Mystery/Suspense, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General, Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural, Mystery & Detective - General
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Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Date undefinedAfter Constable Hamish Macbeth wins the cleaning services of Mrs. Mavis Gillespie in a church raffle, he wonders why anyone would hire her. She does a terrible job of cleaning and he suspects she's up to something when a personal letter of his goes missing. Macbeth suspects Mrs. Gillespie is trouble and isn't terribly surprised when she is murdered. He has plenty of suspects including many of her customers and he has to solve the case while ducking the attention of a documentary crew. When he's not trying to solve the murder and avoid promotion, he is wondering about the relationship between his ex-girlfriend Elspeth Grant and Luke Teviot. Who says village life is quiet?
"Death of a Maid" is another nice entry in M.C. Beaton's charming Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery series. I love my visits to Lochdubh and all the familiar elements that make this series so delightful are in this book - Hamish hiding his intelligence in order to avoid promotion; his mooching meals; his odd pets; Blair; the village people; Hamish's tangled love life. Hamish is a multi-layered character - despite his appearance of laziness he is a hard worker who really cares about the people in his village - his reaction when fisherman Archie Maclean is about to lose his boat is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. The mystery itself is well written with plenty of suspects, although I did figure out who the murderer was pretty early on.
There were a couple of things I didn't like about "Death of a Maid". While Hamish's being unwilling to commit to a relationship is a running and sometime humorous theme in this series, it wore thing for me in this book. I was pleased there was no Priscilla in this book, but I felt there was a bit too much Elspeth. Also, the book could have ended earlier, I felt the last few chapters were unnecessary - they felt written just to up the page count. But, despite those flaws, I really enjoyed "Death of a Maid".
Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Date undefinedThis was my first Hamish Macbeth book, and maybe I picked the wrong one to start with, but I just can't see what all the fuss is about. I found it to be poorly plotted, with characters sketched so lightly that I knew absolutely nothing about them. Well, I know one lady liked to wear tweed.
There was no way a reader could figure out the mystery: absolutely NO clues or paths of inquiry were given that the reader could follow or piece together in his or her head. Hamish spends the entire book going from one suspect's house to another, with each conversation lasting a mere page or two before moving elsewhere. He will discover something in each conversation that could not have in any way, shape, or form been figured out by the reader, and frankly in many instances, it was amazing that Mrs. Gillespie was able to figure them out as well. I didn't feel any true motivation from any character. The murderer is discovered with about 45 pages left in the book, and I simply could not believe that the story kept going and going...and....going. The last 45 pages of the book (with the exception of an incident or two that, frankly, were forced and out of place) are concerned mostly with Hamish's personal life and have nothing to do with the mystery at hand!
The writing was just AWFUL. It was so bland and characters behaved in ways that didn't seem true to life at all. Hamish will ask where someone was on the day of the murder, and that person will begin screaming at him to get out of the house. What?? I get that these books are supposed to be kind of comical, but I didn't feel any humor or warmth emanating from a single page. Again, maybe it's because I haven't read any of the previous novels, but nothing will take away from the fact that the writing was painfully amateurish and simple at points. I actually winced at times because plot points were introduced so bluntly and without any exposition.
All in all, I was extremely disappointed with this novel, and I don't think it would be an understatement to say that I ended up hating it in a way I haven't hated a book in years. I love reading mysteries and have been looking for a new series to get into. On the surface, this one seemed to have it all: eccentric policeman, far-off setting, cozy atmosphere, etc. In the end, it was boring, plodding, and (worse than anything) not written very well. I felt like it was less of a mystery and more like "a day in the life of Hamish Macbeth as he does his job."
I'm sure that many will disagree with me, but this book was just not my cup of tea. Or whiskey, as Hamish would probably say.
Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
Date undefinedespcially in a remote location like Lochdubh, a remote village in the Scottish Highlands. When the laid back (lazy?) local PC Hamish Macbeth won the services of one of the local cleaning ladies, Mrs Gillespie he thought it was a good thing. That changed once he realized that Mrs Gillespie spent as much time gossiping as she did cleaning. Hamish did not particularly want all the details of his personal life, or lack thereof, spread about the village and was trying to get rid of her when somebody did it for him, permanently. Soon Hamish was once again on the trail of a murderer, and along the way unearthing more about his sleepy little village than he had ever suspected. To further complicate matters an old flame, Elspeth has returned to the Highlands and Hamish has once again managed to irritate his superiors.
As always with this long running cozy series the mystery takes a back seat to the on going trials of Hamish's life and loves. Many old friends from the village appear to delight long time fans. Those who are familiar with the series will delight in this one, those cozy fans new to this series will probably do better to start at the beginning. Those who are looking for a challenging mystery to solve though would probably do better to look elsewhere.
