M.C. Beaton
Death of a Bore (2005)
Author: M.C. Beaton
Genre: Mystery (Police Detective/Cozy)
Plot Summary:
When an announcement is made that the writer John Heppel will be teaching writing classes, police constable Hamish MacBeth is convinced that no one in his village would be interested in signing up. He turns out to be wrong, although the writing classes are disappointing. Heppel is more interested in getting his face on TV and talking about himself and his writing than he is in teaching. The villagers turn on him, and their complaints and tomato-throwing are caught on film. In a stroke of bad luck, Heppel is found dead in his home soon after this, meaning that the entire village of Lochdubh is on the list of suspects. Hamish is convinced that no one in his village is responsible, and his intuition leads him to investigate a TV station and a script that Heppel wrote for a Scottish soap opera. During the course of his investigation, Hamish finds that he must work with his former lover, Elspeth, a situation that is awkward at best, since Hamish has missed her but still isn’t quite sure that he wants to commit. SPOILER: Luckily for the village, the murderer was not a villager, but rather the director of the soap opera, who could not work with Heppel’s awesomely bad script - Hamish’s intuition was correct. Also, on the personal side, Hamish and Elspeth do not get back together in this book.
Geographical Setting: Scotland (small village of Lochdubh)
Time Period: Contemporary (2005)
Series: Hamish MacBeth series, Book 21
Appeal Characteristics:
This book has strong and often amusing characterization. Hamish, for instance, has absolutely no ambition and does his best to make sure others get the credit for his successes, so that he can avoid being promoted out of Lochdubh. He also has a dog he spoils rotten, as well as, by the end of the book, a wild cat that seems to have adopted him. There are many amusing details, such as the villager whose TV appearance leads to his Gaelic book being published, even though hardly anyone ever reads that language, and Hamish’s bumbling superiors. The setting, a beautiful Scottish village, is also a draw. In addition, the hints of romance may attract some readers. Hamish’s methods are also an appeal factor: although the police in this book do look for more modern clues (computer analysis, finger printing, DNA), Hamish is not personally involved in that aspect of the investigation. Instead, his intuition and common sense prompt him to question various anyone who might be a suspect or have information about the crime. Because the villagers trust him, and because of his sensitivity towards people, he does a better job at questioning than others, especially his superior.
Read-alikes: Those who’d like to try more by M.C. Beaton can read another book in this series (the next one is Death of a Dreamer) or try her Agatha Raisin series, beginning with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death. This witty series is set in a small English village and features hints of romance, although Agatha is much more aggressive and eager to impress than Hamish. Readers who like this book’s strong characterization, subtle humor, and depiction of village life may want to try Evans Above by Rhys Bowen, the first in the Constable Evans series. The setting is a Welsh village rather than a Scottish one, and Evans is a newcomer to the village, but he deals with some of the same personal issues as Hamish, such as superiors who don’t trust his hunches and villagers who’d like to see him paired off with someone. Readers who liked Hamish’s methods for solving the mystery – often using his insider status in the village and his sensitive attention to how others react to his questioning to find out information that others could not – might want to try Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage, the first of her Miss Marple books. Fans of quirky characters, a quiet location (aside from all the murders), and Hamish’s soft spot for animals might want to try Lillian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who books, such as The Cat Who Blew the Whistle. Another possibility is Caroline Graham’s Written in Blood (a Chief Inspector Barnaby book), which also has a crime involving writers, well drawn and sometimes odd characters, and is set in a small English village.
Red Flags: Although the book contains drinking and alcoholism, a drug bust, and a villager who had been abusing his wife, all these topics are given a fairly gentle treatment.
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