I adore M.C.Beaton’s books and her latest Hamish MacBeth is out in hardback, so I have had many hours catching up on life at Lochdubh, in Sutherland, the northwest of Scotland, but all the while trying not to finish it too quickly.
It features an honest man, you know, the type that destroys your confidence by feeling they must be honest and tell you that you look dreadful in that skirt, or quite frankly, you are boring. Well, I’m sure no-one has said that to you, but you know the sort I mean.
You want to kill them.
Aahhh. And someone does, but who?
As usual Hamish, that most laid back and unambitious of policemen digs away until he sees beyond the smoke churned up by the ghastly Blair, and sometimes aided, sometimes not by his sort of pal, Jimmy Anderson. And don’t forget Charlie who has resigned, and what about the animals… Well, his big cat, Sonsie, is no longer part of the pack, and instead Sally the poodle keeps Lugs company.
So what’s Death of an Honest Man about?
This review is a taster, because like all good things, it must be read slowly and lovingly, savouring every page.
Paul English the honest man has set about the inhabitants of the villages from Lochdubh to Cnothan with his brutal tongue. Harsh feelings are aroused, but who takes their fury to heights that leads to the murder of his horrid little man, who ‘speaks as he finds’.
Who indeed? As Hamish struggles to come to terms with his big cat, Sonsie’s departure, the chaos of his hunt for a murderer, Charlie’s love life, and the lack of Hamish’s own, we drift along with him, noting the glorious descriptions of the highlands, the depth of love for a pet that can trick you into believing something that all others feel is not the truth, and of course, the murder, the solving of which must not end up dragging Hamish away from Lochdubh to Strathbane.
Read it, love it, and hate it when it’s over, then wait for the next one, or what about the next Agatha Raisin. When, oh when is that due?
The Death of an Honest Man by M.C. Beaton. Pub Constable. Hb£16.99