The Hamish Macbeth Mysteries #15
Author: M.C. Beaton
Reader: Shaun Grindell
Length 5.8 hrs • Unabridged
℗ 2014 by Blackstone Audio, Inc.


Hamish uses his 2 weeks off the beat in the Scottish Highlands to pursue drug lords following the death of a young drug addict. Hamish takes an unexpected step into the drug world impersonating a druglord then realizes his need for department assistance to back his claims. A female Detective Inspector is sent out from headquarters. They head to Amsterdam, making acquaintances and impressions that lead to deep and dangerous peril back in Scotland.

High adventure ensues when their cover is blown and villains take the upperhand. Great twists keep the story moving to a satisfying conclusion and readers can look forward to more of Hamish Macbeth's Highland adventures.

Shaun Grindell does an excellent job creating personalities for the wide cast of characters. His voice is age perfect for Hamish as well as his authentically portrayed Highland accent. Grindell's timing and speech rhythm is exceptional in delivering Beaton's wit and humour adding much to the enjoyment of listening to the story.

Blackstone's recording is clear and uninterrupted .



Appreciation to Blackstone Audio and Audio Jukebox for the mp3 for review.


AUTHOR BIO :
M. C. Beaton has won international acclaim for her bestselling Hamish Macbeth mysteries and the Agatha Raisin mystery series. She is also the author of more than one hundred romance titles and a series of romantic suspense novels, the Edwardian Mystery series. Born in Scotland, she now divides her time between Paris and the English Cotswolds.

READER BIO :
Shaun Grindell was born and raised in Southampton, England. His training includes the Calland School of Speech and Drama and the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in London. He has been seen on stage in London and Las Vegas and currently resides in New England with his wife.

Death of an Addict by M.C. Beaton

Blurb

Former drug addict Tommy Jarret rents a Scottish chalet to check out reports of a sea monster. But when he is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, constable Hamish Macbeth suspects foul play. Teaming with Glasgow Detective Inspector Olivia Chater, Macbeth goes undercover and dives into the underworld to root out a cartel secretly entrenched in the Highlands.

My Opinion

This is different to the rest of the books in the series that I have read so far, it almost feels as though this book was written in a rush. This has been my least favourite book so far but still it had an entertaining plot.

Rating 3/5

Can't top her writing. The plot hops quickly in this fairly short but well developed novel. It features romance in a tasteful way. Nature and Crofters are described in such wonderful detail that I long to snap my fingers and instantly be in my ancestral homeland! I want to read everything M.C. has written. It sounds a lot like where I live--she mentions a place where palms grow, yet Scotland is quite far north.

COMMENTS
In the previous novel, Death of a Scriptwriter, a symbolic suicide took place, promising big changes to the future of this series, implicating the 'high-jacking' of an author's work by new forces in the word games, so to speak. M C Beaton's novels were getting 'adulterated', and she was outspoken about it.

In this novel, the transition from the traditional Lochdubh villagers to new characters are in the works, and the results is a lukewarm introduction to a 'more acceptable' new political agenda in the structure of the series.

Hamish Macbeth is still the anchor character and must bow down to a new superior. In this case Chief Inspector Olivia Chater. Together, acting as a married couple, they must solve a drug case and it gets messy when the jealous, mean-spirited Detective Chief Inspector Blair is using his underworld connections to thwart their efforts. In his frame of mind, it is essential to prevent Hamish Macbeth from becoming an international hero.

On the positive side, Hamish Macbeth is determined to remain in his beloved Lochdubh, and refuses to accept the death of the young Tommy Jarret, who rented a cottage from Parry McSporran where he was trying to stay clean and write his story. There's a green-eyed monster in the Drim loch, attracting tourists to the struggling village of Drim. Somewhere outside the community, a new religious cult is established, called the Church of the Rising Sun, which inspires Hamesh to take his two-week break and paint the church as a depressed outcast, sleeping in his old Volvo—the rusty, dusty old vehicle, rented from Sean Fitzpatrick, the recluse. His superiors are once again convinced that Hamish has lost a few marbles, but get their act together when his instincts convinces them of bigger, more sinister shenanigans in the communities.

Come to think of it, Hamish becomes a jobless / homeless outcast, as well as the James Bond of Scotland in one go. Imagine our beloved constable in an Armani suit, designer jeans, suede and leather jackets, silk underwear, shirts from the famous Jermyn Street shirt-maker, gold cuff links, gold Rolex, wraparound sunglasses, and a camelhair coat! My oh my! He finally travels outside his comfort zone to Amsterdam and, well, expands his horizons in more ways than one ...

Death of an Addict is an adventure to die for ... (in more ways than one) ... for both reader and protagonist. However, the villagers of Lochdubh is not to be underestimated ... :-)

214 pages.