Ultimately feeling a bit meh on this one--would give the next book in the series a try. I wanted more of Hamish! The audio version with all the accents was great for listening.

Content warnings: some open-door moments one that was unpleasant--slimy aspiring politician and naive young woman who thinks he's going to marry her, though he's stringing several women along, it was just so very cringe

The first Hamish Macbeth mystery and a fun read. A disparate group of people come to the Highlands for a fishing holiday; one woman is nasty, brutish, and mean to everyone and (shockingly) she winds up dead. No one cries. Hamish Macbeth solves the mystery, despite being dismissed as a rural, not-too-bright constable. Key structural elements and plotting show Christie’s influence on M.C. Beaton, and overall, it’s an entertaining weekend read. I’ll definitely look for more in this series.

So very quick read! Agatha type mystery and maybe be a detective who will show up to the big shoes of the name! Murder of a reporter of tabloids! Wow it’s funny that anyone cares! I will read a few more of this series before I really give a big review!

Autre série de M.C. Beaton. C'est léger, ça se lit facilement, et cette fois, l'action se déroule dans les Highlands, en Écosse.

Fantastic! What a story, so intelligently told! The difference between Death Of A Gossip and the first Agatha Raisin book is that the former doesn't concentrate on the main character's details. That only helped to improve on what was a nice murder case. The gathering of suspects in a library was something of a throwback to Christie books. The final showdown with the suspects was very well presented. Hamish is such a decent chap. His traits are realistically displayed, and you believe him, his upbringing, his motives. He is the most alive detective I've come across since Sleeping Murder's Jane Marple. I enjoyed reading about things that moved me. Yet despite the fact that I could have been swept away emotionally, I wasn't. The book gave me control of my thoughts. I was aloof and impartial, while still cared very much for Alice, Charlie et al. I was very surprised by the quality of this book. And it seems, and I hope, that I have a lot of good things to discover of the Hamish Macbeth series.

I must admit that M.C. Beaton is growing on me. I like this very first Hamish Macbeth mystery.

A group of vacationers have gone to MacBeth's village in the Highlands of Scotland to learn how to fish. They're a fairly innocuous group it seems, with the exception of one odious individual. Lady Jane has managed to make herself hated almost from the get go. Every single thing she says is calculated to make the others feel small and stupid and to provoke them into a state of angry humiliation.

It gets worse. Apparently Lady Jane has done her research and has found out unsavory details on each of them. She delights in letting them all know just to watch them squirm and become frightened. Apparently the sense of power gives her an adrenaline rush and she thrives off of it.

Which of this group is going to be murdered isn't so much of a mystery as when someone was finally going to bump the malicious witch off.

Someone finally does and Hamish MacBeth is determined to find out who. But first he must find out who Lady Jane really was, how she acquired her information and why as well as uncover the dark secrets of each member of the fishing party.

Decentish introduction to village bobby Hamish Macbeth. For such a short book there were a stack of stereotypical suspects. Cozy.

This was my first Hamish Macbeth novel, and I found it enjoyable. It reminded me a bit of the Rhys Bowen Constable Evans books - a small town constable who beats the detectives at their own game.
This book was a bit lighter in tone than Bowen's books, but a fun read nontheless.

I started with the Hamish Macbeth television show and enjoyed it immensely. I couldn't find the first two books of the series, so I started with #18, #19, and #20. By accident, I did stumble upon the first two books in this series. (I knew that would eventually happen because I like to browse used book stores and yard sales, etc.) But I'm glad I started with #18, as this first one is on the weak side as far as plot and characterizations. I don't know if Beaton had written earlier books, but this does feel like a debut. I'm certainly no prude when it comes to books, but it felt to me that Beaton threw in more sex (and sexual innuendo) than is normally found in this genre: a cozy. But maybe that's what she needed to get this first work published. And I'm glad it was published, as Beaton's later Macbeths are better. And now, on to Macbeth #2 through #17! Hamish is a fascinating character.

The beginning of a wonderful series. I'm in love with Hamish Macbeth (I didn't start with #1 but it was fun to go back to the beginning).

Question for Beaton/Hamish Macbeth fans: Are they all like this?

I like a good murder mystery/detective story, and with the Hamish Macbeth series at 32 books and still going strong, I thought this might be my next favorite series to launch myself into. So I started at the beginning and gave Death of a Gossip a go.

This book is a jack of all trades. It's a little bit romance, a little bit mystery, and a little bit comedy. It does all of them adequately to erratically, and never did it wow on any level for me. I'm not a big romance fan to begin with, so take this review with a grain of salt. I love Austen's stuff, but that's about it. A rom-com I can manage now and then, if the com is particularly strong.

I was really looking forward to this one. Sadly, it's been a disappointment.

The characters, with the exception of Macbeth, are awful people with the women being the absolute worst stereotypes imaginable. The misogyny just went on and on and ruined the pleasure of the mystery. I have the next one in this series but I don't know if I'll bother reading it.