Hamish McBeth is back in this short novel where again he is on duty to solve a crime in the usually peaceful town of Lochdubh.
Now for those who have only seen the 1990s TV series with Robert Carlyle in the lead roll I should warn you that the TV series was very loosely based on the characters in the books and the two are far from similar in plots. If I am being truly honest, the TV series had better characters and plots than the books.
As with the rest of my reviews I am trying not to give too
much away.
Plot:
A new couple have moved to Lochdubh and, at first, they seem to be very
stand off-ish and not interested in meeting the rest of the locals. After a
while they do invite people back to their home for coffee after church, as it
turns out very bad coffee. The next day their bodies are found but would they
be killed just for serving bad coffee…..
Hamish is rather puzzled as no one really knew anything
about them and there is no family or other contacts for them it is just as if
they appeared out of nowhere with no background at all. Something just doesn’t
smell right…..
A link is found to a rather ‘happy clappy’ church in a
nearby village where amongst the congregation is a pathological liar who no-one
now believes when she tells the villagers anything but is she telling the truth
this time….
Can Hamish solve this crime before the body count goes up and
also avoid having his police station shut down as part of the reforms the
constabulary are trying to bring in..?
What I thought of it
The novel is perhaps a little twee in that it is not badly
written but there is no real changes of pace in it. It is all a little third
gear at 30 mph along a country road with the odd curve in it. The novel isn’t
badly written but the style is more a light version of Agatha Christie than a
Ruth Rendall. It is part of a series but I
don’t think you need to read them in order as with the exception of
Hamish’s assistant (or in some cases hinderance) most of the main characters
are the same in the whole series.
I do like the descriptive nature of the local areas of the
highlands of Scotland the story is set in as I have seen villages like those in
the novel and the use of the occasional of the Scots dialect is a nice touch. Whilst
the main characters are well described the secondary ones are, at times, a
little one dimensional but as they will only appear in this novel I think we
can forgive that. Perhaps my favourites in the supporting characters are the
nosy holier than thou elderly twins.
The main plot does work well but the only sub plot of note adds
little to the story and only really serves as a way for one of the characters
to exit the book series. Whilst the ongoing battle between Hamish and his
superiors continues in this novel any conclusion to it is glossed over a
little. The use of a former criminal and now reformed (well, almost) character as
someone who is helping Hamish in order to repay Hamish for helping him when he
was in serious trouble does work well even if his involvement does seem to be a
little coincidental with him just happening to be in the right place at the
right time on more than one occasion.
The conclusion of the story does work and given the wilds and
weather of the coast of the Scottish Highlands it is, to an extent, believable.
However, parts of it were a little contrived and I think the author had been watching
a ‘soap box derby’ before writing it.
Summary
A rather light read but suitable for a holiday or whilst traveling long distances on trains or on a flight. Whilst this isn’t what I would call a classic crime novel it wasn’t terrible either. It did fit in well with other books I have read in the series but I do prever a crime novel I can get my teeth into. This book was rather too thin in plots for that.
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