Death of a Nag

Hamish Macbeth is in bad odour with his fellow villagers in Lochdubh. Priscilla Halburton-Smythe has left Scotland for a lengthy visit with friends in England, and all the village blames Hamish for the break-up of their engagement. Hamish resolves to take a holiday, and soon finds himself at The Friendly House, a b&b in Skag on the Moray Firth. His compatriots there are a mixed bunch, including the very unpleasant Bob Harris who constantly nags at and belittles his wife Doris. To nobody’s surprise, Bob soon turns up dead; in fact, it is Hamish who finds his body and who is therefore viewed with deep suspicion by the local police despite being a policeman himself. However, the constabulary soon realize that he is perfectly positioned show more to investigate the remaining boarders, all of whom are suspects in the murder, and all of whom have secrets to hide….The eleventh book in the Hamish Macbeth series brings all the usual elements - motley group of strangers thrown together who are not quite whom they seem, the death of someone highly dislikeable, and the keen but lazy observations of our hero. There is one unbearable event, which I won’t spoil here, and Hamish is, of course, right in the end. I guessed who the killer was early on, but didn’t understand what the motive might be until quite late, and of course I’m left rooting for Hamish and looking forward to the next book in the series; recommended. show less

Constable Hamish Macbeth may take a holiday, but, of course, murder never does.

While taking a cheap holiday from Lochdubh, Hamish stays at a boarding house from hell in a town even farther north in Scotland called Skag. A perfectly dreadful Englishman, Bob Harris, unites the other holiday-makers against him as he berates his poor wife and makes himself unpleasant to all and sundry in his drunken binges. When Harris turns up murdered, there's no end of suspects.

After the disappointing Death of a Charming Man, M.C. Beaton has written a much more plausible and less-contrived mystery in Death of a Nag, and the denouement is both touching and a clever twist. All in all, it's a breezy read for idle weekend.

Macbeth on Vacation
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2020) of the Mysterious Press hardcover original (1995)

Death of a Nag finds village constable Hamish Macbeth off his home turf of Lochdubh and vacationing in Skag. The assorted tourists at a ramshackle guest house there include a couple with a nagging husband, who is of course murdered. Hamish must not only solve the murder mystery but also discover why the food at the guesthouse is of poor quality. It is another mission for the sometimes lazy but always persistent Highland detective.

After discovering M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery series due to the Estonia cameo in "Death of Yesterday", I started to seek out the earlier books by finding several at show more Toronto's Sleuth of Baker Street. I enjoyed those and found them to be an especially delightful diversion during this continuing pandemic. My next plan was to go back and read the series in order. I then discovered the rather terrific bonus that most of the books are available for free on Audible Plus, a service that I had previously been underwhelmed by (some early attempts with longer books had audio difficulties, with book narrations freezing in midstream). Beaton's shorter books (usually 4 to 5 hours on audio) seem to be perfect for this medium.

This edition on Audible Audio has the excellent narration of series regular Shaun Grindell. show less

My spouse said she rather liked M.C. Beaton and suggested that I really out to read it. I think she was hoping I'd stop careening between dark things and children's things, and just read something more "normal". So, I found my library had a bunch of Beaton available in Kindle format. I chose this one.

Well, one would think that given the author has written thirty some books in this series, that the one I would pick would not be the one I'd read before, albeit some ten or so years ago. But you would think incorrectly. It was clear, almost from the beginning, that I had indeed read this book before, although I didn't remember "who dunnit". Now I know again.

Anyway, Hamish Macbeth is a small-town constable in Scotland. He's feeling a bit show more low because his fiancée jilted him and moved away. Everyone in the town figures it was Hamish who did the jilting, so everywhere he goes, he's given the evil eye. He decides to take a holiday to another part of Scotland, in a sea side resort. He ends up in a bed and breakfast with a varied bunch of characters, one of whom is a nasty piece of work who loves to bully people, especially his meek wife, and who seems to drink rather a lot. Naturally, that guy is coshed and left to drown in the sea. Everyone in the boarding house has a secret or two and everyone is a suspect, even Hamish himself. Whatever, he helps the locals solve the case and also lets them take the credit. show less

Death Of A Nag (1995) (H. Macbeth #11) by M.C. Beaton. The nag in question is a bully and a loud-mouth and he is spoiling Macbeth’s vacation to the small Scottish town of Skag. Not that the vacation was a dream in any respects. The Bed & Breakfast just a “stone’s throw” from the water’s edge would take a Hercules to make the toss. The rooms are o.k. but the food included stinks. Literally.
The small group gathered at the inn include a retired school teacher spinster, two rabble-rousing girls just out of their teens, the aforementioned nag and his much put-upon wife, a happy couple and their three small children, and a middle-aged single man. Not a great group to be stirring sound our hero, but enough to get things going.
The show more first night’s tea (an informal dinner} is terrible and the group follow Hamish into town for something more substantial. He becomes the group’s defacto leader and takes them to the local fair and a dance and a beach outing before too many days pass. But when our nag comes up dead, no one seems to have been near anyone else except for the couple with the kids.
Murder calls for the police and Hamish is the prime suspect as he not only socked the nag in the snozzola the night before, but he found the body. This soon becomes something of an Agatha Christie style investigation story, but there is no brilliant detective to swoop in and solve the case.
Hamish, who had been trying to hide his identity as a policeman, has that dream ripped away. The local force learn of his background and try to get him to work with them. But as usual, the big-wigs don’t believe in him and he feels the need to solve the crime alone.
Lies abound, personalities clash, backgrounds better left hidden are revealed and the murderer comes to light. All nice touches, but there is one section that moved this reader greatly. A very solemn funeral service is held in Lochdubh for a long time member of the cast of characters which Hamish must attend. The death has shaken him to his roots, but he must somehow overcome his grief and do his duty.
Yet another fine, light-hearted and light-handed mystery from M.C. Beaton. show less

Hamish Macbeth, constable of a small Scottish village, seeks to get away from his friends and neighbors by visiting a remote seaside resort. However, he finds himself in a dismal boarding house in which one of the other guests is what most people would refer to as a verbally abusive husband. The characters in the book call him a "nag." When Hamish finds this nasty man's dead body, he is the prime suspect, having punched the man earlier after Hamish interfered in a "domestic dispute" between the man and his wife. As usual with Hamish Macbeth novels, this one is light on plot, heavy on Hamish getting himself into embarrassing situations and has a wonderful twist ending (although I've read enough of these to spot the likely murderer pretty show more quickly). Due to the subject matter of domestic abuse, I felt this particular book in the series was a little troubling. This just isn't the type of novel that lends itself to careful dissection of psychological motives or relationships. Definitely light reading, but entertaining. show less

I don't think I'll be reading Beaton again on the basis of this, unless I'm presented with convincing evidence to change my mind. Sexist and unpleasant. Yikes. I'd rather retain my memories of the extraordinarily good TV series intact.

Edited to add: Despite my dislike of this novel, I did try another Hamish Macbeth mystery. It was just as horrifically misogynist. How disturbing that M. C. Beaton is female. She must either hate herself or feel she is somehow different from all other women. Sexism of any sort is loathsome, but internalised sexism deserves it's own special place in hell.