Friday, June 23, 2017

Death of a Gossip

Death of a Gossip. M.C. Beaton. 1985. 179 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: 'I hate the start of the week,' said John Cartwright fretfully.

Premise/plot: Death of a Gossip is the first mystery starring Hamish Macbeth. The series is set in Scotland. The setting of the first book is largely a fishing school/club and its surrounding rivers and lakes. John and Heather Cartwright manage the school, most of the students are out-of-town tourists. The students this eventful week are: Marvin and Amy Roth, Lady Jane Winters, Jeremy Blythe, Alice Wilson, Charlie Baxter, Major Peter Frame, and Daphne Gore. By the end of the week, one of these guests/students will be dead. Though technically Chief Inspector Blair is the detective on the case, it is really Hamish Macbeth, local constable, that gets the job done.

My thoughts: My mom hasn't read this first book, but she has been LOVING the later books in the series. I remember reading this one and not being all that impressed. But. I wanted to give Hamish Macbeth another try. I hope to see the television series soon. I am still not all that impressed. SO MUCH FISHING. I'm hoping that the series will improve as it goes on.


© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Jean said...

I know lots of people love these books, but I found them exasperating and stopped trying to read them. Fun fact though: M. C. Beaton is also Marion Chesney, writer of a zillion Regency romances. There are other pseudonyms too but I think those are the big ones.