It's been a while since I read a Hamish MacBeth book and I really enjoyed the ease in which I was once again transported back to the Highlands.
The series is very easy to read, each book can be read as a stand alone so it is easy to pick one up at any time. The books are also relatively short so a fairly quick read too.
I enjoyed this one more than others, with a very good plot and not being able to guess who the murderer was.
I give no spoilers in my reviews, just take it from me this is one of the better Hamish books.
I felt sad that he got constantly stood up but his sudden awful temper and bad moods were not so in evidence in this tale which for me made it all the better.

From the author of the Agatha Raisin television series...DEATH OF A SCRIPTWRITER: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery HOLLYWOOD IN THE HIGHLANDS

With the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe away in London, Lochdubh Constable Hamish Macbeth pines for company during the long Scottish winter. He gets his wish -- and more -- when a troupe of flashy, urbane filmmakers clamors into the nearby town of Drim. Before long bedlam erupts around their make-believe mystery ...and culminates in the sudden appearance of one very real corpse.

The initial suspect in the killing is one Patricia Martyn-Broyd, the aging mystery writer furious that her musty old cozies are getting a risque face-lift in their TV reincarnation. Yet, going behind the scenes, Hamish soon finds a town full of locals bitten by the movie bug and a cast of quarreling show business types, all harboring their own secrets, lies, and hidden agendas. And as the culprit strikes again, Hamish must quickly find the right killer -- or script the wrong finale to a show gone murderously awry.

198 pages

COMMENTS

In a skillful way, M C Beaton is telling the tale of how her own books became a television series and how the gross adaptation of her own work disturbed and annoyed her.

Hamish Macbeth is his own unmotivated, contented, unambitious self, when he is tasked by the author in the story, to find the killer(s) of the members of the television crew.

We will have to see what lies ahead in the next novels, since the tone of this one was slightly different than before. I love the author's presence in all her books. She disguises herself in the characters with often comical results.

If her books were found dull previously, I currently don't experience them as such at all. Perhaps this novel is a warning that her work will now be different: more risque, more spicy, to suit the television masters. The old style of wit and honest earthiness of the Scottish Highlanders will be gone.

She warns "What you need to do is take framework of the plot, all those tides and things," said Fiona, "and then add some spice."

Well, her novels, obviously will also be spiced up, as this one indicated.

We will have to see, right? Looking forward to the next one.

Hamish Macbeth is unlucky in love and under a cloud of professional disdain in Death of a Scriptwriter. It was the first book from this series which I've read, and I listened to it in audiobook format rather than reading it. The reader did a wonderful job, especially with the accents, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to the spellings of names, so I'm going with spellings I read in other reviews.

A film crew comes to the area of Drim and Lochdubh to shoot an adaptation of a horrible book by Patricia Martin-Broyd. The town becomes obsessed with the filming: some people want to get roles in it, some are outraged by the perceived lack of morals of the crew and their film, and Patricia is furious when she discovers that they're changing her story and characters. Naturally all this anger results in murder. The solution seems rather simple, but Macbeth is not satisfied. He keeps investigating, despite the risk to his own career.

Overall it was an enjoyable mystery. The epilogue was rather long. I enjoyed the subplot about the local pastor's wife, and I think I would like to read the series from the beginning.

Whenever I want to read a light entertaining humorous cozy mystery, I select a M.C. Beaton book. There are many synopsis of this book so I will say what I enjoyed. First of all, there is Hamish a constable in the Scottish Highlands. He is perfectly happy with his position and the town he lives in. He is very good at solving crimes and he often gives credit to others as he does not want to be promoted. Of course, his boss has it out for Hamish but Hamish always prevails at the end. He has his quirks which the reader comes to know and they endear him to me as a reader.

His love life is always up and down. He has had many short relationships but his love relationship with Priscilla who he was engaged to is no longer active. Hamish does care for her but she tried to change his life and habits. I thought the mystery was quite good. There were many suspects and I did not have the mystery solved until the author chose to let the reader in on "who" was the murderer.

I like this series because it is fun and relaxing. It is always good to go back and revisit Hamish.

It's no secret that Beaton absolutely hated the TV adaptation of her Hamish Macbeth series and I have a feeling this is at the heart of this book.
When a local writer sells her book to be filmed for TV it's not long before a crew is rolling into town and all the locals are dreaming of stardom. It's also not long until the bodies start to pile up and Hamish is on the case. At first it looks like a simple case and his superiors are happy to wrap everything up but Hamish isn't convinced.
The TV people are shown in the worst possible light especially the person who adapted the book for screen. This is completely Beaton getting her own back but is also quite fun. The mystery is good and the ending very fitting.
This series continues to get better but this one was not quite as good as the last two probably due to Beaton having another motive for writing it. Still it was perfect for a sunny day of reading.

Another reviewer pointed out that at the time Beaton wrote this book, she would've already witnessed her own Hamish Macbeth become a television character...in a series that apparently bares little resemblance to the original.

That adds a nice extra twist of humor to a book that's rife with big, clashing egos and heaps of vanity. The television cast and crew are all terribly ambitious, most of them blustering about and making power plays whenever they can. Even the most relatable among them forgets simple kindness when presented with a chance of success. They're catty and scandalous and horrible - in a marvelous way. Beaton also throws in some self-deprecating humor in her descriptions of the prissy, old-fashioned mystery author whose creation is being destroyed by the theory that sex sells.

And then there's those very strange folks over in Drim, still viciously competitive and prone to throwing bricks through windows. Grim Drim - a perfect setting for murder.

With so many self-aggrandizing personalities about, Hamish has no end of suspects. But what he lacks in ambition, he makes up for in tenacity and curiosity. He continues to be endearing, amusing, and kind - even when his own ego is being battered by fussy villagers, contemptuous colleagues, and arrogant television people.

Thank heavens something keeps Hamish humble - because with a shrewd mind like his, it's a wonder he hasn't sought promotion purely to spite them all.

And this series is on the upswing again for me. I admit that I have relatively low expectations for this series because the books can be so hit and miss for me, but this one was pretty unique and the film-making aspect did make the story interesting. I didn't particularly enjoy the way it was wrapped up and I will admit that I'm getting a bit tired of the constant "women are sheep who are easily swept up in minorly exciting events" themes that run through this series.

Patricia Martyn-Broyd had not published a new novel in decades, not since 1965’s publication of The Case of the Rising Tides, which showcased her Scottish amateur detective, Lady Harriet Vere. She had moved to the Highland village of Cnothan with the hope that a change in scenery would jump start her creativity once again, but so far nothing has happened. So when a television company contacts her with the aim of adapting The Case of the Rising Tides, she is thrilled. Unfortunately, she soon finds that the scriptwriter, Jamie Gallagher, is set on “tarting up” the story, setting it in the 1960s with a swinging Lady Harriet and pot-smoking and lots and lots of nudity and sex. She is appalled, but cannot do anything about it - or can she? Patricia just needs to enlist the help of other people, including police constable Hamish Macbeth and some of the television crew….The 14th entry in the long-running Hamish Macbeth series bears many of the hallmarks of the series: a set of new characters, most of whom are quite unpleasant people, the unhappy love life of Hamish Macbeth, the jealousy of his superior Detective Chief Inspector Blair, and, of course, the villages and villagers of various places in the Highlands, creating an atmosphere all its own. I liked this one, even though I found the resolution a bit far-fetched; still, recommended.

I'm not sure why I decided to torture myself by trying to read this book. I love some bubblegum pop mysteries, but M.C.Beaton isn't one of them. Unbelievably bad writing, plodding over-descriptiveness -- this is a classic wall-banger. Except since this was supposedly the author's dig at her own books being turned into a BBC series, I had to try and suffer through since I do love the BBC series. Sadly, I was hoping by page 10 that the mystery writer in the plot would just get offed, and the entire film crew would be heroes. I'm not sure Beaton did a good job with her supposed "revenge" against those who produced her books for the small screen.

This was quickly read. Poor Hamish as he has a bad time in this one.

Better than some other outings for the Highlands super sleuth and interesting in that Beaton seems to be slyly criticising the early 90s adaptation of her Macbeth novels which bore little if any resemblance to the original characters and plots. Unlike Beaton's tall, fiery headed PC, the BBC incarnation was the slight framed and relatively short Robert Carlyle who ran Lochdubh almost as a Wild West sheriff who was not adverse to the partaking of illegal substances. Similarly, here we have elderly detective writer Patricia Martyn-Boyd initially delighted to discover that BBC Scotland are adapting one of her novels only to see that the ridiculously tyrannical script writer (and a plagiarist to boot) adds pot-smoking, a hippy commune and a lead actor known only for her naked flesh appearances as the aristocratic Lady Harriet (tribute to Harriet Vane anyone?). Naturally, the vile scriptwriter is quickly despatched with a blow to the head, crows remove his eyes (possibly as he could not see what damage he was doing)and he is swiftly followed by leading lady Penelope Gates' drunken husband as well as the pneumatic and speed addict Penelope herself.
Usual mix of nonsense but and engaging read over a snowy day.

Poor Hamish, a great detective but unlucky in love