Death of an outsider

There's something of Compton McKenzie's Whisky Galore and the films of Bill Forsyth (Local Hero and Gregory's Girl) in M. C. Beaton's offbeat, utterly endearing series of Hamish MacBeth mysteries. Hamish's beat is a far-from-sleepy village in the Scottish Highlands-- the kind of introverted, naturally suspicious hamlet that just seems to invite murder. A know-it-all Englishman is killed, his body stripped clean of flesh in lobster tanks and then removed from the tanks by the town drunk, who panics in the midst of a reckless bender. Several days later Hamish finds the drunk's decomposing body. As a mystery, Death of an Outsider is competent enough, although Beaton has to bend the rules toward the conclusion, whipping up an accomplice from nowhere. The real pleasure, however, is Hamish himself-- his agile mind hidden within Old World manners, his sly smile, and his gangly frame. While his superiors consider him close to senile, Hamish has a lethal effect on certain members of the opposite sex. A very welcome entry in a series that also includes Death of a Gossip [BKL Mr 1 85] and Death of a Cad [BKL F 1 87]. PLR.

The endearing Constable Hamish Macbeth (of Death of a Gossip and Death of a Cad ) is sent to the Scottish Highlands town of Cnothan, a place of ``dark hates and enmities'' whose inhabitants cordially loathe outsiders. Cnothan hospitality is mingy even toward the incoming constable, who finds his cupboard bare and his furnace set on a short timer. In view of the town's bad manners, few people display surprise when Mainwaring, an annoyingly brusque Englishman who settled eight years ago on his late aunt's estate, is reported murdered. There are plenty of suspects, among them the dead man's browbeaten widow, forced to wear mail-order-catalogue dresses. Suspicion falls on Sandy Carmichael, the drunken watchman for the nearby Fish and Game Company. And what of the two town ``lookers,'' glamorous Helen Ross or Jenny Lovelace, a young painter, possibly former mistresses wreaking revenge? Matters grow complicated when Hamish and Jenny become lovers. The characterization is wryly humorous, while a horde of ravenous lobsters give the plot a wildly ghoulish twist. Jaundiced views on love and marriage abound, and the visiting constable finds himself doubling as the local psychiatrist among this amusing cast of eccentrics. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Another case for charming Scottish constable Hamish MacBeth (Death of a Cad, etc.), this time away from his beloved village of Loch Dubh, doing a three-month stint as relief to Sergeant MacGregor in the gray, bleak crofting town of Cnothan. Homesickness and longing for the unattainable Priscilla Halburton-Smythe are soon overtaken by a strong attraction to another outsider, landscape-painter Jenny Lovelace--and by the gruesome murder of William Mainwaring, an Englishman the whole town loves to hate. The bizarre circumstances of his death pose a public-relations problem for boorish, not-too-bright Detective Chief Inspector Blair, brought in to direct the investigation. He's eager to pin the murder on town-drunk Sandy Carmichael--until Carmichael is found dead, a second victim. Meanwhile, Mainwaring's boozing wife; realtor Harry McKay; Mrs. Struthers, the minister's wife; and Jamie Ross, prosperous owner of the local fish-and-lobster plant, all had reason to hate and fear Mainwaring--but Hamish carries his inquiries to Edinburgh and returns with a solid case against a double killer. The puzzle is a little too patly solved, but some vividly drawn characters, a sharp evocation of a sour town, and Hamish's warmth and dry wit make for easy-going enjoyment. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.