This latest installment of the Hamish Macbeth series by author M.C. Beaton finds our intrepid police sergeant at odds with his superiors. Hamish Macbeth has managed to keep his little station at Lochdubh open so far, but if Chief Inspector Blair has his way, Macbeth and the station will go the way of the dodo. Blair insists that Macbeth does nothing important on his beat, but the people of the small communities surrounding his station rely on him to settle disputes, look in on those who have no one, and to generally put up with all manner of nonsense from the locals. Blair has decided to send policeman Cyril Sessions to spy on Macbeth and gather as much evidence as he can to shut down the Lochdubh station. However, Macbeth is onto Cyril's game almost from the moment he arrives and he is having none of Cyril's nonsense. The only trouble is that Cyril is murdered while following Macbeth in the countryside. At first, it looks like Cyril is killed by a criminal drug ring operating in the highlands. Even while trying to solve Cyril's murder, Macbeth must try to save his station, deal with his lovesick policeman Dick, and his own pitiful attempts at romance.
The author, Beaton, excels at her descriptions of the Scottish Highlands as well as the myriad of colorful local characters she uses to populate her books. While the ending is a bit of an out-of-nowhere twist, the last part of the book does seem a little hurried. Some may say that this series is getting a little tired, but fans of the series will not be disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for what it is: a fun, cozy mystery and an easy read.
Flesh House by Stuart McBride is a dark mystery set in Aberdeen, Scotland. This mystery is suspensful and twisted and involves lots of scary moments. Detective Sergaent Logan McRae heads the investigation of the case featured in this book, which begins when body parts show up in a cargo container in Aberdeen's harbor. Detective McRae's last manhunt involved searching for Kenneth Wiseman, a brutal killer who terrorized the country until he was finally caught but acquitted eleven years later on a technicality. Now, Wiseman is missing, the killings have begun again and Detective McRae is convinced Wiseman is responsible. As the investigation becomes more involved, Detective McRae is forced to work with the senior officers assigned to the original case to try to figure out where Wiseman is hiding and if he is responsible for Aberdeen's newest round of killings. This book is not for the sqeamish--there are elements of cannibalism in the book as well as some gruesome descriptions of crime scenes. The plot is quick and the characters are well written, and Detective McRae is a tough, no-nonsense hero. I did enjoy the book's exploration of different places in Aberdeen and reading the Scottish dialect. This is the fourth book in this series: the other books are Cold Granite, Dying Light and Bloodshot.
