Death of a travelling man

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Title:

Death of a travelling man

Author:

Beaton, M. C., author

Series:

Hamish Macbeth ;

Series Number:

Summary:

Lochdubh constable Hamish Macbeth's life is going to pot. He has-horrors!-been promoted, his new boss is a dunce, and a self-proclaimed traveler named Sean and his girlfriend have parked their rusty eyesore of a van in the middle of the village. Hamish smells trouble, and he's right as usual. The doctor's drugs go missing. Money vanishes. Neighbors suddenly become unneighborly. The tension only explodes after the itinerant Sean is found brutally beaten to death. Suspicion quickly falls on his girlfriend, but with nobody willing to talk, the canny Hamish faces the tough task of worming the facts out of the villagers. As he uncovers a bizarre story around the murdered traveler, Macbeth knows he must find the truth soon, before the killer gets away for good."--Page [4] of cover.

General Note:

Originally published: New York : St. Martin's Press, 1993.

Edition:

1st Grand Central Pub. mass market ed.

Physical Description:

254 pages ; 18 cm.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Subject Term:

Macbeth, Hamish (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.

Police -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Highlands (Scotland) -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Grand Central Pub.,

Publication Date:

2013

2009

1993

ISBN:

9780446573511

Publication Information:

Call Number:

BEATON

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003511923	Adult Fiction	BEATON M.C.	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Travel to the Scotland Highlands with this classic Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery from the author of the Agatha Raisin series.

Death of a Traveling Man: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery

Lochdubh constable Hamish Macbeth's life is going to pot. He has-horrors!-been promoted, his new boss is a dunce, and a self-proclaimed traveler named Sean and his girlfriend have parked their rusty eyesore of a van in the middle of the village. Hamish smells trouble, and he's right as usual. The doctor's drugs go missing. Money vanishes. Neighbors suddenly become unneighborly. The tension only explodes after the itinerant Sean is found brutally beaten to death. Suspicion quickly falls on his girlfriend, but with nobody willing to talk, the canny Hamish faces the tough task of worming the facts out of the villagers. As he uncovers a bizarre story around the murdered traveler, Macbeth knows he must find the truth soon, before the killer gets away for good.

Author Notes

M. C. Beaton's real name is Marion Chesney. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1936. She has written over a hundred books under her own name and other pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Helen Crampton, Jennie Tremaine, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester. She started her writing career while working as a fiction buyer for a bookstore in Glasgow.

Working at one time or another as a theater critic, newspaper reporter, and editor, she used her British background to write a series of regency romances set in England and Scotland. Some of her regency romances include The Folly, Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue, and Regency Gold. In 1986, she was awarded the Romantic Times Award for Outstanding Regency Series Writer.

She has also written two mystery series under the pseudonym M. C. Beaton: The Hamish Macbeth Series, which became the inspiration for a television show in England, and The Agatha Raisin Series, about a retired advertising executive. Her title His and Hers made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012.

Marion Chesney passed away on December 31, 2019 at the age of 83.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this excellent, eighth Hamish Macbeth mystery, the slightly lethargic, tousle-haired village copper in the Scottish Highlands has been promoted against his will. As Sergeant, he makes more money, but must suffer more work as well, not to mention the enthusiasm of his new helper, Police Constable Willie Lamont. Hamish rescues a young boy from the river and saves some stranded mountain climbers; he listens to a minister confess wavering faith, is plagued by a superior who resents his promotion and has repeated run-ins with a drifter who parks his van behind the minister's manse. The ``devastatingly handsome'' drifter charms four women out of their money and harasses Hamish's ladylove, Priscilla. When the bounder's body is found after a fatal bludgeoning, Hamish seeks out the young man's rock-singer girlfriend and unhappily discovers a blackmailing scheme that incriminates some locals. Beaton ( Death of a Glutton ) pens a cast of winning characters, even the pesky, malaprop Willie (whose aunt lives ``in a condom in San Francisco''). But the star, as always, is the slow-moving, quick-witted Hamish. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal Review

These two mysteries featuring Lochdubh policeman Hamish Macbeth were written 12 years apart. Hamish has aged about six years, changed girlfriends, and gotten a new dog; however, some things remain the same. Lochdubh is still filled with irrepressible townspeople with little respect for the local lawman. Hamish is still chafed by his superiors in Strathbane, whom he shrewdly manipulates to his own ends. Finally, the plots follow the same successful formula: a stranger comes to town, stirs up trouble, and is murdered. Out of the plethora of suspects, Strathbane targets a local, but Hamish knows that the guilty party must be an outsider. Davina Porter and Graeme Malcolm are both accomplished and entertaining readers; they give amusing portrayals of the malicious folk of Lochdubh, the obnoxious victims, the intelligent, sympathetic girlfriends, and the officers from police headquarters. However, a tale told from a male perspective benefits from being read aloud by a man, and Death of a Bore read by Malcolm is better. Both recordings though are recommended for all mystery collections.--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.