Death of a Gossip (Hamish Macbeth Mystery, #1)

by M.C. Beaton

[elvinagb]

It was interesting to go back and read the first Hamish Macbeth novel by M. C. Beaton. You get a look at Hamish and his early relationship with Priscilla and can already see how it will always be complicated by their jobs, families and the class differences. You also see just how people view Hamish and his acceptance of his job as a lowly constable in a small village, how they don't understand that he doesn't want a promotion to work in a big city and enjoys his life. Hamish's skirmishes with Blair and where that goes in future books is beginning to play out. Their hatred and distrust of each other begins as one member of a fishing party is murdered and the case is handed to Blair and his team from Strathbane.
Like Beaton's Agatha Raisin novels, the deep undercurrents of small village life are exposed by crimes committed from within and by visitors to the idyllic surroundings. Against a backdrop of fly fishing, a gossip columnist from a big London newspaper gathers information on the potential scandalous behaviour of other guests and manages to make everyone of them wish her dead. When she is found dead at the bottom of a pool of water, the police have many suspects and very little in the way of clues to follow. By using his resources and relatives spread out in Scotland, England and New York, Hamish must find a way to expose the murder but keep himself in the background and not make his superiors promote him away from his home.