Death of a Glutton (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 8) - Hardcover

Beaton, M. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312087616 ISBN 13: 9780312087616

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1993

Synopsis

The arrival of a gluttonous woman at the Tommel Castle Hotel in the Scottish Highlands has the hotel's staff and guests thoroughly disgusted, especially when the woman is later found murderd.

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Reviews

The seventh Hamish Macbeth mystery (after Death of a Prankster ) lacks the series' key strengths: the canny, tousle-haired, beanpole charm of the Scottish highland copper and the dour weirdness of the remote village he lives in are given scant play here. Instead, the author scrambles to assemble her cast, kill her odious and obese victim and have Hamish shyly serve up the solution in the presence of the usual cast of nasty superiors who hate his guts. A motley assortment of desperate souls, members of the Checkmate Singles Club, have come to the village hotel to spouse-hunt. Suddenly, one of the visit's organizers, a hog of a woman, dies with an apple inserted in her sizable gullet. Peta Gore wasn't exactly a lovable sort, and among the gang of timid, mousy secretaries, aspiring yuppies, big-haired bimbos and elderly lawyers, a killer surely lurks. In most Macbeth mysteries, he can be found cadging drinks, walking Towser the dog and trying to come to terms with his feelings for fair Priscilla, daughter of the local fallen gentryman. This time Towser never gets out of the tiny police station, and the Hamish/Priscilla romantic misfires seem to be repeating themselves. A minor addition to a previously winning series.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Maria Worth, half owner of an exclusive matrimonial agency called Checkmates Singles Club, has set up a weeklong stay for a small group of members at Tommel Castle Hotel in the Scottish Highlands. The hotel is run by Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, longtime unrequited love of P.C. Hamish MacBeth, one-man police force of nearby Lubdoch village (Death of a Prankster, etc.). Maria's careful plans are disrupted, however, by the unexpected appearance of her unwanted business partner, Peta Gore, with sultry airhead niece Crystal in tow. Peta, a widow with millions, has refused Maria's attempts to buy her out. An obese glutton, she proceeds to instill unease and disgust in guests and staff. No surprise, then, when she's found dead in a nearby quarry, and certainly none when Hamish--working, as always, around his thickheaded superior Inspector Blair--solves the case, aided by a trumped-up last-minute stratagem. Beaton's cleareyed skewering of the locals and her way with the Scots dialect are right on--but the paper-thin major characters, the caricature of a victim, and the silly plot just don't make it. Harmless diversion for Hamish's fans, but unlikely to make new ones. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The latest Hamish Macbeth case occurs near a Scottish Highlands hotel, where someone murders an obnoxious, man-chasing fat woman. A quick read.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312087616
• ISBN 13: 9780312087616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152