We’re not surprised at the mixed reaction to “Addict”, the 15th entry in the charming light mystery series featuring Constable Hamish Macbeth and his Highlands Scotland village of Lochdubh. Most all these stories feature an unusual murder that Hamish eventually solves, mostly through sharp wits and everyday common sense, often to the dismay of his police superiors who thinks he’s an unambitious dolt. However, the familiar townsfolk and places are thrown aside in this particular tale, as Hamish pairs up with a female higher-up inspector, going undercover as a married couple to chase out some drug dealers. While spending several nights together in hotel rooms, they also pair up in other ways, which seemed out of character for both. And, uncharacteristically, the pair traverse the nearest big city, even other countries, posing as drug dealers in a weak attempt to fool some bad guys. Meanwhile, solving the addict's murder got hardly a mention; and a silly sub-plot about a religious cult did little but serve as an unwarranted detour.

The trouble with a series with which readers “know” what to expect, is that when we don’t find it, some are pleasantly surprised and others are disenchanted. We per se are not tired of the “normal form” of these light-hearted tales and don’t want far-fetched action with new characters stealing the show. While not at all deterred from Beaton’s future novels, count us among the disappointed.

When a former drug-addict is found dead of an overdose, Hamish wonders if the young man's old habits caught up to him again or if something more nefarious is afoot. His search for answers leads to him straight to undercover operation in the hard core drug scene with the lovely Inspector, Olivia.

While this book had a lot of the signature Hamish humor and smarts, I missed the small town setting and the fun town folk. It also wasn't much of a whodunnit. The whole undercover operation wasn't as fun for me.

When I reread the series I'll definitely still read this one but it's been my least favorite so far.

Skip this one. The murder investigation was good, but Macbeth makes ridiculous romantic choices that ruin the whole story.

A rather far fetched bit of nonsense even for Beaton, with Hamish gallivanting to Amsterdam, via Strathblane, Inverness, and London, (flights to Amsterdam do actually fly from Glasgow and Edinburgh) pretending to be a flashy drug baron...and her penchant for misogyny rears it's ugly head, with a student prostitute and an ice queen DI who is, for absolutely no reason at all, given breast cancer on the last page.

This one really felt like Beaton was just tired to writing Macbeth books, but needed one to fulfill some contractual obligation. So she had this idea for another book and pigeon-holed it into a Macbeth story. Yeah. My least favorite so far.

I’m continuing my literary de-tox with Hamish Macbeth audiobooks. I thought I’d read them all but must have missed this one, as it seemed completely unfamiliar. It’s also one of the most far-fetched in the series but was still enjoyable.

A former drug addict is renting a small chalet to work on a book. Hamish meets him while examining the reported appearance of a sea monster on the owner’s property. Soon after, said reformed addict is found dead of an apparent overdose. His superiors accept the obvious but Hamish is sure there’s more to the young man’s death. He’s so certain that he takes personal time to quietly investigate and he manages to shake things up enough to attract the attention of a lovely but distant DI from Glasgow struggling to crack a drug smuggling ring. He finds himself working undercover, posing as a foreign crime boss looking to infiltrate the Highlands and forcing him to travel abroad for the first time in his life.

There are some entertaining moments, especially in Hamish’s fish-out-of-water experiences in Amsterdam, however, the whole scenario is so far-fetched that I could never immerse myself fully in the story. (Hamish Macbeth wearing Armani and posing as a sophisticated drug-boss???) I also missed the comforting familiarity of Lochdub and its accompanying atmosphere, just as Hamish himself does over the course of the narrative.

The book is entertaining but not MC Beaton at her best. The initial murder is driven into the background by the drug ring detour and, although she eventually gets back to it, it’s too little, too late. The wrap-up is simple but unsatisfying as if the book is aspiring to be more than a cozy and failing at both cozy and serious novel.
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I enjoyed the case - it was nice for Hamish to get out of Lochdubh for a bit. The ending was kind of sad. :(

I enjoyed this book much better than the last one in the series! It was also the first time I listened to one of this series, and really liked the Scottish accent. The scenery was beautifully described and I always like the characters. The way the author describes the Scottish Highland natives reminds me a lot of the people where I now live. I guess country folk are the same worldwide! Poor Hamish falls in love with a policewoman who doesn’t want to marry him as she doesn’t want to live in the boonies. At the end she’s waiting to see if she has breast cancer. If she does, I think she’ll change her mind and at least give him a go. I’m rooting for Hamish as he lives an enviable country life

I enjoyed this mystery which is kind of a cozy and kind of not (Hamish sleeps with a prostitute in one chapter). I never knew what to expect and find Hamish an interesting person, someone who just enjoys life and doesn't want to be promoted at his job or live anywhere else but his highland village. There are plenty of eccentric villagers and some romantic interests for Hamish (not prostitutes). Enjoyable read overall.

Way too far afield for Hamish -- judgy and trite.

One of the better stories in the Hamish MacBeth series.
This one involves quite a bit of undercover work for Hamish with a new colleague. It annoys me that he is always wanting a woman to be his wife and seems to turn relationships in his head, very serious, very quickly.
However, he is less hot headed in this book but also seems to have no pets.
The story is good, more meaty than some others and he has a few near misses.
We get to see Blair's hatred of Hamish start to seriously ramp up too.
All in all well worth the read.

Hamish faces a life-threatening situation when someone in the constabulary feeds information to the bad guys about an undercover operation. Usually this series is a little more light-hearted, even though there is at least one murder in each book. The tone in this one took a bit of a turn. The series is keeping my interest.