16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
M.C. Beaton scores again!, January 15, 2010
In Death of a Valentine, the 25th Hamish Macbeth mystery, M.C. Beaton gives us a detective cozy with a romantic comedic subplot set in Lochdubh, a picturesque Scottish village. The tone, pace, and setting take you to a fictional village where everyone knows each other and each other's business quite well. Even if you're new to M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series as I am, you'll easily figure out Lochdubh's characters, from Angela Brody, the doctor's wife and good friend of Hamish Macbeth, to crotchety Mrs. Wellington, who rents out rooms to the new constable Josie McSween, to Sir Andrew Etherington who lends out the diamond tiara for the annual fair day parade.
Hamish Macbeth, our lead character and a perpetual bachelor, is clearly set in his ways. Hamish wants to keep his pets, his police station/home, his village and his personal life just the way it is. But the sudden murder of a young beauty queen, Annie Fleming, disrupts Hamish's routine. The murder draws Hamish and Josie into a complex investigation, full of twists and turns, and unexpected discoveries. Things are never as they seem, even in this small Scottish village.
A mystery cozy of the best sort, M.C. Beaton's Death of a Valentine, is a fun, entertaining read. If you're looking for a mystery of the Agatha Christie sort with the quirks of Scotland, I recommend Death of a Valentine!
ISBN-10: 0446547387
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 12, 2010), 256 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Death of a Series, July 27, 2010
I enjoyed the earlier Hamish books, but I think Beaton has run out of steam with this series. This latest entry is so ham-handed as to be almost a parody. I figured out very early on who did it and the plot is silly. The charm has worn thin--all the regular characters have remained static, so no surprises are in store for the reader; you know exactly how each will behave. The new characters have zero nuance; they're either bad people or featureless filler. Also, the copy I read had so many errors that it was distracting (floor when it should have said door, etc.) Beaton's Agatha Raisin series has followed a similar trajectory. She should either create a new detective or find a new line of work.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
My first M.C. Beaton and probably my last, July 31, 2010
I have read some of M.C. Beaton's romances under her real name of Marion Chesney. I thought they were passable, with a good sense of the Scottish setting. However, this "mystery" was so uninspiring and two-dimensional, I doubt I will read more of her work. Detective Hamish Macbeth may have been fleshed out earlier in the series, but here he just seemed like a cardboard cutout with a few quirks as shorthand for a personality. The female police officer who is hot for him tries to drug him in order to seduce him, but of course inadvertently ends up drugging other people. When she fails at her first attempt, she tries the same technique again, as if that makes it more amusing. He is supposed to be a detective, but he doesn't figure out what she's up to. If this were a film, it would be predictable slapstick. There are many mysteries out there that are not only much more interesting but much better written. Skip this one.
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