Opening Sentence: "...It had been a particularly savage winter in the county of Sutherland at the very north of Scotland..."

Hamish McBeth is sure that the recently arrived artist Effie Garrard would have left her remote cottage after a series of bad blizzards. Not so - she actually went off to spend some time with her sister and has recently returned and fallen in love with Jake - and even newer arrival to the small highland community of Lochdubh. Effie is a bit of a day dreamer and she soon imagines herself engaged and pregnant to Jake - the silly woman tells everyone she comes across and ends up dead on the side of a mountain. Written off as suicide - Effie's sister believes it is murder and asks Hamish to investigate despite the case being closed. To add to the mix - Hamish fancies a new lady in town and then not one, but two of his ex's turn up. Looks like Effie was not the only distracted day dreamer - only Hamish needs to wake up before he turns up as dead as a...well...dreamer!!!

This is the 22nd book of the series and I love each and everyone that I have read. I love the quirky characters, many of the old faithfuls return - and we are introduced to new ones. I did guess who the murderer was - but not because there were any clues, just guessed as being obvious. This did not detract for me as I read them for the whole experience of a remote highland community not to figure out whodunnit. Mind you there are a plethora of zany characters in this community - not sure if you would really get that many in one tiny village - but I would love to find a place just like it one day.

A very enjoyable read. ( )

http://www.cozylibrary.com/default.as... ( )

Hamish just plugs along, righting wrongs, trying to be true to himself. Will Priscilla stay around this time?