Death of a Macho Man

Randy Duggan has come to Lochdubh and is initially welcomed by all; he’s a huge man with tall tales to tell, but all his bragging is forgiven because he is always generous at the pub, buying rounds for everybody. But soon the villagers notice that nobody else can get a word in edgewise when Randy starts talking, so they take their trade to the Tommel Castle Hotel, where Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, the proprietor’s daughter, has to quietly move them on before the wealthy guests are too upset with the peasantry in the parlour. Police Constable Hamish Macbeth, trying to keep the peace in the village, somehow finds himself scheduled to fight Randy, a public brawl that he will certainly lose and that might cost him his job as well. But show more the man doesn’t show up for the fight, and for good reason - he’s dead, having been shot in his cottage. Hamish is worried that one of his neighbours might be a killer, and when another death occurs, this time of a woman romance writer, he is even more concerned. A bit of police work soon fingers a suspect, who confesses to both killings,and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Except for Hamish, of course; he thinks there’s something fishy about the whole thing….I’m very much enjoying this series set in the Scottish Highlands, and here we have even more complications than usual, which is always fun. I like how everybody sees Hamish as lazy and unambitious, yet he is the only one who can see through the lies and solve the case. Recommended! show less

M.C. Beaton's 12th installment in her uneven Hamish Macbeth series finds the lanky, lazy Highlands constable dealing with Randy Duggan, a boastful incomer from Glasgow who begins bullying those who’ve grown tired of his narcissistic and farfetched monologues. Eventually, Duggan challenges Hamish to a boxing match at midnight with villagers as audience. When Duggan turns up dead just hours before, the entire village of Lochdubh is thrown into a tizzy.

Death of a Macho Man should have been titled Death of a Bully or Death of a Bore (Beaton saved the latter title for the 21st book), but that’s the least of the novel's problems. Hamish’s superior, the ever-spiteful and jealous Chief Inspector Blair comes across as too stupid and show more choleric to ever have made rank. Beaton depicts the villagers not as colorful, but as cartoons. The mystery is cleverly plotted — Beaton’s mysteries nearly always are — but Hamish relies on his knowledge of the Lochdubh villagers and human nature and preternatural intuition, as usual, rather than the usual methods. He’s so over the top in this novel that readers will actually sympathize with Hamish’s boss’ boss, the exasperated Superintendent Peter Daviot in Strathbane, who’s tired of the shenanigans by now and just wishes Hamish gone from the police force.

The tiresome on-again, off-again relationship between Hamish and the icy English transplant Priscilla Halburton-Smythe continues fraught with avoidable misunderstandings and bouts of stubbornness and pique that serve to keep them apart. They’re both so immature that they don’t deserve to be together — or with anyone else, for that matter. Beaton clearly intends the mishaps to add comic relief from the mystery but instead just detract from the novel.

All in all, readers should only turn to Death of a Macho Man if they’re full-fledged Hamish Macbeth fans — and then only if they can get it at the public library. show less

"... Now 'one of the warmest and quirkiest mystery series around' pits Constable Macbeth against a belligerent newcomer to Lochdubh, a bully flaiming to be a professional wrestler, who soon finds himself KO'd into the next world ...

"Everybody in Lochdubh knew about the pro who dubbed himself the Macho Man. The huge, tattooed, mean-looking stranger won a willing audience for his bragging and tall tales by buying round after round at the local pub. But his nasty insults led to some vicious fights. His sneaking about the village aroused angry suspicions that he was fooling with some Lochdubh wives. And his sneerintg challenge to policeman Hamish Macbeth to a public bout triggered the constable's own temper, not to mention an epidemic of show more bookmaking.

"As the day of the big fight approached, excitement engulfed Lochdubh. At least half the village was betting on the Macho Man, eagerly anticipating Hamish to take a bloody pounding and perhaps lose his job. Then, on the night of the great event, the wrestler was found shot to death in his cottage. Hamish was both off the hook and in the doghouse.

"To save both his career and his life, Constable Macbeth has to delve into the shadowy --and unsavory -- past of the Macho Man. The trail leads to the unexpected: the hidden lives and buried secrets of a salty fisherman, a reclusive romance writer, a respectable matron, a restauranteur'[s wife, and even Hamish's ex-fiancee Priscilla Halburton-Smythe and her newest boyfriend.

"Hamish is sure that the murder of the Macho Manh was a crime of passion. He just isn't sure whether the passion was lust, greed ... or vengeance. One thing is certain, thought. M.C. Beaton has written another outstandingt mystery that exp0ertly peruses the pleasures of Scotland and the landscape of the human heart."
~~front and back flaps

Great mystery read, even if a bit far-fetched in places. Those who seem too good to be true often are, and those who seem too gullible to live often don't. And those who don't know how to listen to their own hearts often suffer heartache. show less

Hamish Macbeth is one of my favorite characters. The unconventional Scottish constable never ceases to entertain me.

Randy Duggan, recently arrived in the village, impresses fellow pubgoers with his size and tales of wrestling in America, but soon his blustery tune grows tiresome and the locals become restive at not being able to get a word in edgewise at their own pub. When the abrasive newcomer challenges the constable to a fight, Hamish is shocked to hear himself agree. By the appointed time, spirits are high-children are up late, bets have been placed, even the minister and his wife are in attendance. But Duggan, a no-show, is found murdered in his rented cabin. Hamish's nemesis on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, can show more barely contain his glee as he names the policeman as prime suspect.

And from there it just gets more enjoyable.

I believe this is number 12 in the series show less

Central to this mystery is the death of a hulking, bragging, bodybuilding type. Randy Duggan styled himself an American professional wrestler. He spends his nights boasting in the pub. He ends up drugged and stabbed in the back. In comes the incompetent Blair, delighted because Hamish is in trouble for challenging Duggan to a fight.

I generally enjoy these books, but in this one I found Hamish to be annoying and incompetent. He nearly gets himself fired for challenging someone to a fight, and he engages in a variety of other tactics well outside the boundary of police procedure. I also found Blair really difficult to comprehend in this book. It's impossible to understand how he keeps his job. This one just didn't grip me the way some of show more the others have. Beaton has done better. show less

Who killed the Macho man? This is the first of the Hamish Macbeth novels that I have read and I really enjoyed it and found it thoroughlty entertaining. I enjoyed the storyline and loved getting to know the characters. I will certainly be reading more of the series, although I'm a little sorry that I didn't start with book 1. It was interesting following the relationship between Hamish and Priscilla and I cetainly want to know how they developed to the place they are now and I'm also interested in how their relationship may or may not develop in the future. It was a fun plot to solve too and it was fun trying to work out who had done the deed.

Twelfth in the Hamish Macbeth Scottish police procedural series set in the fictional Highland village of Lochdubh. A newcomer to the village, Randy Duggan, a loud and swaggering braggart, is murdered in his home, but as usual, there is no end of suspects as he was not a well-liked man. Hamish is even briefly suspect as he was to fight Randy publicly and was much relieved at not having to do so. When another newcomer, the writer of romance novels, is also killed, it’s believed she knew something about Randy or saw something she shouldn’t have and had to be removed. But are the two cases related? These are getting just a little too formulaic for me, and while I enjoy them for the most part, I think I'm a bit burned out on them.