A Short Hamish
Review of the Blackstone Publishing audiobook (March 8, 2022) of the original Grand Central Publishing Kindle eBook (Feb. 15, 2022)

It is odd to have Death of a Laird released simultaneously with the latest full-length Hamish Macbeth novel Death of a Green-Eyed Monster. Usually short stories and novellas for a series are kept in reserve to be used as stop-gaps between novels or in some cases as a required prequel to lead into a full length story. Death of a Laird is simply a standard procedural which uses several of the stereotypical tropes of the crime mystery genre but without much of the charm and humour of the usual characters and situations associated with the Sergeant in the Scottish Highlands.

We have the isolated mansion, in this case cut off from the world by a storm which downs trees and blocks roads. We have the lone policeman present, called to the scene due to the disappearance of the laird of the title, who is of course discovered to be murdered. We have the limited cast of on-site suspects to be interviewed. We have the investigator assembling the group of suspects in a room for the final reveal. And... that's about it.

It leaves the impression that continuation writer R.W. Green was asked to write a conventional procedural in order to prove to the M.C. Beaton Estate that he was capable of taking over the reins in the continuing adventures of the Highland investigator.

The main upside here is that there is none of the nastiness which tainted both this series and the concurrent Agatha Raisin adventures towards the end of the original runs. Our Hamish is in standard benign form here. Even nemesis Chief Inspector Blair (who only makes a cameo appearance towards the end) does not pull any of his by now tiresome plots to undermine Hamish.

The lack of a Scottish accent in the narration performance by David Monteath (filling in for the series regular narrator Graeme Malcolm) was also disappointing. A lot of the charm of the audiobook versions is to hear the story told with a Scottish burr. ( )

DEATH OF A LAIRD: A HAMISH MACBETH SHORT STORY is the latest Hamish Macbeth mystery published in 2022.
The series was created and written by M.C. Beaton (nee Marion Chesney) but after her death in 2019, new titles were continued and written by R.W. Green.
This is indeed a short story/novella and very entertaining. I have always had a ‘soft spot’ for Ms. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin characters and am glad they are still with us.
Light reading, to be sure, but engaging and fun.
“A wealthy laird’s guests are trapped during a furious storm, but when the laird turns up dead, Scotland’s most quick-witted but unambitious policeman is on the case.”
**** ( )