With all the usual twists, turns, and red herrings, M.C. Beaton has created another completely readable cozy featuring my favorite ginger-haired Highland police sergeant. While this volume does seem to slow down in a few places, series fans will be delighted and newcomers will find it absolutely charming.
Long-suffering police sergeant Hamish Macbeth winds up with multiple murders on his hands in the latest installment of this cozy mystery series. Hamish and his partner Dick Fraser are called to the small village of Cromish in the Scottish Highlands. A middle-aged woman named Liz Bentley has called claiming that she has been raped. When Hamish and Dick arrive, they convince her to have the local doctor to examine her for the sake of evidence. The doctor pulls Hamish aside and tells him that Liz is a virgin and that there is absolutely no sign of her being raped. The doc also informs him that Liz is know to be a compulsive liar. Upset with having his time wasted by the attention-seeker, Hamish gives Liz a stern warning that she not call him again. In the meantime, the unfriendly couple who claim to be from London and have purchased the recently vacated local elementary school, are found murdered. The wife is half buried in the front garden and the husband is found some miles away stuffed in the trunk of his car. Such a high profile crime brings Inspector Blair and Superintendent Daviot up from Strathbane. Hamish is relegated to house-to-house inquiries.
After a long day of knocking on doors, Hamish gets another call from Liz Bentley in Cromish. She claims that someone is in her home and the call is interrupted before she can finish. Thinking that Liz is up to her old lying ways, Hamish ignores the immediacy and turns in for the night. The next day, he and Dick head back to Cromish. The pair find Liz dead in her back garden. A terrible storm the night before seems to have prevented anyone from hearing anything. Blair convinces Daviot to assign Hamish to the murder in Cromish; which is just fine with Hamish.
Both murder scenes are pristine and there is very little forensic evidence found. Hamish becomes convinced that these two murders are connected, but he can't seem to make the connection. Perhaps, if he would stop crushing on the polish baker, he'd actually get some work done. These two cases stall and Hamish becomes worried that they may never get solved, which doesn't sit well with him.
I won't give away the ending, but I will say that this book will keep you guessing and even give you a chuckle when the climax of the story rolls around. Hamish puts up with a lot to keep his little police station, but as he puts it, "who will look after the folks who live in all the little crofts and out-of-the-way places?" Hamish may not be lucky in love, but he knows how to take care of his Highland neighbors.
