3.5/5 ⭐️

This is not bad for a cosy mystery it was a quick listen between books

Cute but not very substantial. I’ll probably read another book or two in the series, but I’m not sure it will grab me.

I've been reading this series through the library for a few years, although was unable to find some of the earlier books in the series. Now our library has finally received most of them in e-book form. Yeah!

This is the first book of the rather quaint cosy mystery series by Scottish author Marion Chesney alias M.C. Beaton, featuring loveable highland detective Hamish Macbeth who lives in the fictional village of Lochdubh in Sutherland.

In this story a group has arrived for a fly-fishing trip with the Lochdubh School of Casting. The group has a merry mix of snobbish English aristocrats, loud Americans and meek secretaries. Most annoying of all is Lady Jane Winters who begins to antagonise the group with her vicious jibes and seeming ability to reveal all their closely held secrets. She winds up dead, beginning the kind of investigation where anyone could be a suspect.

Hamish bumbles along through the investigation to the irritation of his superior, the irascible Chief Inspector Blair, the local Bobby proving more shrewd than he appears. Hamish is assisted by his beautiful and aristocratic friend Priscilla Halburton-Smythe.

This was a fun and charming read featuring village Highland life and an Agatha Christie style whodunnit mystery.

4 stars for the Scottish landscape alone.
I’ll read on, I’m interested to see how things progress along.

4 ⭐ =Good. 
The first in the series and my first Hamish Macbeth read.
Good fun!

I can not even begin to explain how awful this book is. That's why I'll explain just how awful it is.

The plot: I did not even notice it. And it makes no sense. Everyone has some secrets in their closet, sure enough, but most of these are not worth killing for. And the only one that seems to somewhat be, but wouldn't be in a realistic setting, is made plausible by twisting a character to a sociopath. When will it finally dawn on these amateurs and posers that making the bad guy a sociopath is, in 9 of 10 cases, only a sign of bad writing and a lazy author?
Honestly, this is worse than The Cuckoo's Calling.

The characters: Puppets. No life whatsoever. Unrealistic paper puppets, designed to keep an unrealistic plot going by hinting at oh-so-horrible-secrets, when actually no one makes sense, at all.

Alice: Dear pasta, I just wanted to chop off her head. I consider it physical assault and emotional cruelty to have this thing as one of the major narrators. Most of my newborn hate for M.C. Beaton can be boiled down to this one so-called character: I felt like I was being tortured every time I read a sentence in her point of view. Lady Jane was bad? Alice was worse. Just leaves me wondering why the more bearable character was murdered. Then again, I wanted them all to die.

Lady Jane: Even more stupid. Darling Beaton, you do know that undercover research would require to keep a somewhat low profile? As in, not to spill people's secrets and not to alienate them, in order to obtain more information? No one tells their secrets, or part of them, to a jerk.

Hamish Macbeth: I swear, I started thinking he was mentally deficient in some way. Not that I stopped. Then again, I will never like a character who pinches people's asses for a "joke". No, not even jerk's asses. You just don't do such a thing to a person, it's disgusting. Ever heard of sexual harrassment?
Not to mention that all he did was guesswork, and he only went by motive to look for the murderer. Everyone always has a motive. It is the one who has the opportunity that is most suspicious. Which only tells me that M.C. Beaton wouldn't touch research with a ten foot pole. I hate those authors most of all. Those who don't do research do not belong among authors.

Amy Roth: I said it once, I will say it again: Twisting a before unimpressive character to a sociopath is bad writing and sheer laziness on part of the author.
"Oh, I can't draw a plausible murder mystery. Let's just make the murderer a sociopath!"
Yes, why should you even try to make an effort at your job, showing your job some respect? You can just as easily cheat your way out of the work, now can't you?

It just makes me rage. Unrealistic plot, unrealistic characters, and on top of that this subtle misogyny that makes me burn as though I was a Fantastic Four member or an X-Woman. It starts on page two, "Heather tactfully hid her greater skill [from her husband]", and it only tumbles downward from there. Alice is a character that can only be written with misogynystic thoughts - she's like a caricature of everything a woman-hater hates in women.

I better stop here, for I am ready to hurt someone or something. I can not believe how much this book angers me. I better burn my copy. If only I could demand my money back. Not that it'd make it any better. Not as long as M.C. Beaton is still out there, scarring unsuspecting book-lover souls who were only looking for a nice read.

I won't even say "Please, Beaton, stop writing". There are those authors that write bad books who deserve to be asked nicely. And then there is Beaton.

Don't read it. Save yourself. And if you do read it, keep an Agatha Christie novel nearby for emergencies. Trust me, you'll need it.

The mystery was lame and the characters all acted in ways that seemed totally unrealistic. I am a little surprised I made it all the way through this one because it took forever for the story to get started what with having to have each and every character mutter threats under their breath that seemed to be totally out of proportion to the situation. It is hard to believe this is the same author as the Agatha Raisin series.

Gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters rubs everyone up the wrong way when she joins a fishing class in the quiet village of Lochdubh. Her scathing comments prompt many of the group members to wish her ill will, and local constable Hamish Macbeth isn’t surprised when she turns up dead. But when detectives arrive to take over the case and try to push the young copper’s nose out, Hamish decides to carry out his own investigation…

Marion McChesney had already penned dozens of romantic novels by the time she turned her talents to creating the Hamish McBeth series. Written in 1985 under one of her many pen names, ‘Murder of a Gossip’ is the first of these and was apparently inspired after the author witnessed a squabbling group of would-be anglers in the Scottish Highlands.

If you’re expecting something along the lines of the TV series (Hamish Macbeth, starring Robert Carlyle), you’ll be disappointed. In fact, Ms Beaton herself was not happy with the production and when you read you books it’s easy to see why. Her hero is a very laid-back and slightly work-shy individual who has an appealing and comic sense of dialogue. However, McBeth himself is one of the few shining lights in this first novel – the plot is achingly slow to get going and by the time an actual murder occurred I was beginning to wonder if I’d misunderstood the title. Apart from the canny copper, the rest of the cast seem stuck in a bygone age of repressed emotions and romantic ideals that would have been perfect if set in the 1950s, but stand out like a row of sore thumbs in this scenario.

Having said that, it’s an enjoyable tale and McBeth’s witticisms had me laughing out loud. The book fits well in the ‘cosy’ theme often associated with this type of writing, so will have wide appeal, and given that the author has topped twenty million sales worldwide, I don’t think she has anything to worry about.

This book felt like it was set in the 1930s or something, it felt SO old-fashioned. It's portrayal of Alice was so unbelievable, what person would think someone was going to propose after only sleeping with them a couple times.
And the copper says that one of the reasons he was suspicious of the killer because of a "tightening of their eyelids, which is common in killers" what the heck???
Not going to bother with the rest of the series.
At least it was a quick read.

This is a refreshingly simple, direct murder mystery in an interesting setting with some eccentric characters. The setting is the highlands of Scotland at a vacation school that teaches tourists how to fish for trout and salmon. The guests all despise the obnoxious, intrusive Lady Jane who seems to find the vulnerable areas of each guest. When she is reeled in dead instead of a large flopping salmon, the small village policeman, Hamish Macbeth, begins an investigation. Lady Jane has fishing line tied around her neck and chains wrapped around her legs so it appears to be a murder case. Everyone hated her so suspects abound. Macbeth is quickly displaced, however, by Detective Chief Inspector Blair and two other detectives from the city who treat Macbeth like a lazy, stupid, bungler. Macbeth is indeed, rather lazy and something of a moocher but he understands people and is quite clever in his humble way. He is an appealing character who will continue as a protagonist in many subsequent Beaton murder mysteries.

The plot could be more complex. We could have been offered some clues or information that might have allowed us to make an informed guess regarding the identity of the murderer. Some of the characters are rather stereotyped such as the superficial love seeking secretary and the callous manipulative playboy. But I was looking for an enjoyable, escapist novel and not a Jane Austen masterpiece, and this is what was delivered. The highlander small town constable, Hamish Macbeth, was developed enough to arouse my interest in other novels featuring him so I will explore some more Hamish Macbeth Murder Mysteries as they are called.

I read this book because one of my favorite writers, Jack Vance, in his autobiography, indicated that M.C. Beaton was his favorite author. Vance was a master writer of science fiction and fantasy but also wrote fourteen mystery novels and he read mostly mysteries. Beaton is also famed for her Agatha Raisin series, which features a Cotswold's setting rather than a Scottish one. I'm glad to have encountered M.C. Beaton (Marion Chesney) and look forward to exploring some of her other novels. My rating: 3 "Liked it"