Customer Reviews

Death of a Dustman

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having just read a heart-thumping page-turning thriller, I felt the need to read something that would bring my blood pressure back to its normal rate. "Death of a Dustman," the most recent installment in M. C. Beaton's series about Hamish Macbeth, a police officer in a small village in the Scottish Highlands, was the perfect choice.

This book has just the right mix of suspects, clues, romance and local color to keep you interested while not taxing your heart. Don't expect deep character analyses, complicated plots or dastardly villians. The darkest thing about this book is probably the weather.

I have to give the book 5 stars because it delivered exactly what I expected...about three hours of non-stressful pure reading enjoyment.

This is the perfect book to tuck into your beach bag or carry on luggage.

You won't be able to put the book down is the reason it will gather no dust. I really enjoyed this one. I have read them all up to now and am looking forward to the next one. Hamish is quite a character. He is trying to find out who killed the dustman and another murder takes place. Did the same person do both??? Hamish wades through the various people of his village asking questions and putting his thoughts together. He has a new assistant in this one but will he keep him and is the assistant someone who could have committed the murders? His true love Priscilla is around and pretty as ever. Of course Inspector Blair is always causing trouble for Hamish. A good book, you can feel like you are there. You can see the village in your mind and if you are like me, wish it were possible to live in a place like this.

Isn't it fun to imagine that somewhere across the pond, lurks a lady who can churn out books one after another, in the same basic formula, but each a uniquely clever and original read? And she probably wanders about and no one knows of the mischief, mayhem and murder lurking behind the eyes of the deceptively normal lady? Once again, Ms. Beaton takes us along to meet the ever unambitious Hamish as he casts about the idyllic village of Lochdubh in the farthest northern part of the Scottish highlands. Where the people have their charms, secrets and nasty grudges, and there is almost always trouble simmering. To the usual wonderful cast of characters, the faithful reader meets Hamish's new constable Clary the Cook, the frightful Freda Fleming, Officer of the Environment, Lugs the Dog, a rich Greek reopening the Lochdubh hotel, as well as the Fergus McLeod and family. Ms. Beaton beautifully communicates a sense of place, a cadence of language and a refreshingly original formula cozy.

What I would give to live in a place like Lochdubh where the local bobby actually cares for his fellow villagers! This is the deepest I have been able to see into Hamish in a long time. I have read all of this series and just finished this one last night. Couldn't put it down! The end has a twist to it, not something I was expecting. And Priscilla is back! Lucky Hamish. Ms. Beaton has given much more depth to our "bobby" than in previous books and I appreciate it. Having been to Scotland, I can see how realistic this story can be and how closely woven the Highlanders are. Looking forward to the next volume. But WHY aren't the 6 episodes of Hamish Macbeth made for British TV available here? I would love to see Robert Carlyle lumbering about the village. What's up, BBC? When does America get Hamish in the flesh (so to speak)?

I must admit to being rather addicted to the "cozy mystery" genre. They are a source of relaxation for me. These, the Hamish Macbeth series by M.C. Beaton, are some of my favorites. As other reviewers have pointed out, each of the twenty or more books are much the same. Same plot, same characters, same locations, etc. etc. That is okay though. I find this rather comforting. The various characters in Beaton's stories sort of become friends as you keep reading her books and this is always nice.

With this offering, Beaton again delivers her large cast of quirky (and some not so quirky)folks who live in N. Scotland. This time we have a rather nasty "wee man" who happens to be the village trash collector. Through circumstances not of his doing, the village dustman is given a great amount of power, and naturally becomes quite a hated man in the local area. Needless to say, he turns up dead in one of his own dust bins. There are two nicely done murders in this one and for our hero, Hamish MacBeth, a very long list of likely suspects, in this case, most of the village.

As with her other novels in this series, we are treated to a fimiliar cast of characters, some interesting twists, and a wee bit of dark humor thrown in for good measure. Hamish's love life remaina about the same..i.e. he is still clueless.

As with her other novels, I enjoy this authors discription of the country side, food and people. She is a very good story teller and this is just the sort of work you need to read to sort of wind down. I do recommend it highly.

Fergus the dustman or garbage man is the most hated man in town. He drinks, he beats his wife, and since he was promoted to enviromental supervisor and given a new uniform, he's turned into a tyrant. People are required to sort and recycle and if they don't, their garbage is left. Fergus has also started to blackmail various members of the community. One day, he is found in one of the wheelie bins with his head bashed in, and Hamish has to find out who killed him.

This is another excellent Hamish Mc Beth mystery. All of the usual Lochdubh characters are involved and we meet a few new ones also. This is a really quick read.

This is the seventeenth installment in the Hamish Macbeth series of cozy mysteries. In this book, our beloved Highlander is busy going about his business in the village of Lochdubh in northern Scotland, when a council woman decides Lochdubh should go green and recycle. She appoints the local dustman (garbage collector) as Lochdubh's Environment Officer in charge of Lochdubh's new recycling center.

The dustman, however, is a nasty drunk, who beats and bullies his wife and kids. So, it is no surprise to anyone that with his new found power, he becomes a total despot, bullying all whom he comes across and indulging in a dangerous little sideline. Consequently, it is of little surprise to anyone when his dead body is found in a villager's rubbish bin. Though no one is sorry to see the dustman gone, few are willing to talk, leaving Hamish Macbeth at a temporary loss as to who committed the murder until violence strikes again. With no end of suspects in sight, he certainly has his work cut out for him.

In this book, village life, replete with quirky characters, takes center stage, giving the book that cozy feel. The book is also laced with sly humor throughout that is engaging, keeping the mood of the book light and highly enjoyable. As with all cozy mysteries, it is not so much the mystery that is of import but the characters that revolve around the mystery. While the mysteries are intriguing, they are the framework around which the characters evolve. In the endearing character of Hamish Macbeth, the author has created a sure fire winner, who is bound to win many fans. This is a most enjoyable and utterly addictive cozy mystery series.

This is the seventeenth in a series of wonderful mysteries featuring the detective work of small town, Highland Scottish detective Hamish Macbeth, P.C. In this book, local dustman (garbage collector to us Yanks) Fergus Macleod has suddenly started making himself a very unpopular man in Lockdubh, and when he suddenly turns up dead nobody is particularly surprised. But, it's up to Hamish to figure out who murdered Fergus and why. It turns out that a lot of people have secrets they want to protect, and as such they want to leave Hamish as in the dark as possible. Can Hamish untangle this mystery and figure out who caused the death of a dustman?

This is another very good Hamish Macbeth book, and another feather in the cap of M.C. Beaton (pseudonym of Marion Chesney). The characters are interesting, and the mystery quite...well, mysterious. No new ground was broken here, it's Hamish and Jimmy Anderson and Priscilla Halburton-Smythe and Lugs the dog, walking around Lockdubh, solving another murder. But, that said, it is a very good book, and if you are a Hamish Macbeth fan then you will really like this book, as I certainly did.

This is a great installment in the Hamish Macbeth series. This series continues to delight and surprise and I always can't wait to read the next one. In this one a rather unsavoury dustman (garbage men are still called dustmen in Britain), is found dead in one of his refuse bins. No one in Lochdubh is really sorry because this man was not well-liked by anyone in the village. But Hamish has to set out to find the murderer, especially after another body is found. Once he begins investigating he finds there are more suspects than he knows what to do with, but he continues in his very unorthodox way to try to put the pieces together. There is a scene in the book with a helicopter and a hammer thrower that is absolutely hilarious. Ms. Beaton is a master of black comedy, and her Hamish is the most likeable sleuth out there. He's so real that he leaps off the page. I love this series!

Indeed, "predictable" is the word (or words!) for any of the Hamish Macbeth series by M.C. Beaton, and "Death of a Dustman" is no exception. Ms Beaton has, of course, worked out a very successful "formula" for her Macbeth books, but her fans don't really care! What's fun is reading them! Macbeth is the local policeman in the Scottish Highlands village of Lochdubh, and, if nothing else, Beaton's characters (primarily Hamish) and the local color (of the setting) are enough to get one going!

In "Death of a Dustman," Beaton's inimitable policeman must find the killer of one Fergus Macleod, local villager only recently appointed as the town's new dustman, in charge of a renewed campaign to keep the area environmentally friendly. Macleod is a real pain, and, thus, when he is found dead, no one really cares! Besides turning into a real tyrant--and impossible to deal with--with his silly and petty (but legal) fines of his townsfolk--he is a wife-abuser and into some blackmail as well. And when his body's found, it's poetic justice, indeed: he was left in a recycling bin. (If that's not a metaphor, what is!) But, the law's the law and a murder's a murder. And Hamish must do his duty--regardless of his personal feelings for Macleod!

As usual, Beaton provides us with suspects aplenty, and Macbeth's resilience pays off, one more time! Beaton's books are delightful to read! (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)