Death of a Celebrity

Crystal French makes no friends when she becomes a television presenter for a show about scandals in the Highlands; she has slept her way (with two men in positions of authority at the television station) to the job, and she has ferreted out and exposed various Highlanders whose petty “crimes” had occurred long ago but who were still ashamed of them. So when she is killed by someone who made it look like a suicide, the police have many suspects to consider. But Hamish Macbeth has a fixation on one particular suspect: Felicity Pearson, herself a former presenter whose show was canceled in favour of Crystal’s and who had been demoted to doing research for Crystal’s programme. When a second murder occurs, Hamish turns to newcomer show more Elspeth Grant, a reporter and astrologer for the local weekly paper, who seems to know more than most…. I’m enjoying this series a lot, partly because the life of a Highland village is so well-drawn - not everybody is nice, and most people have one or more nasty secrets to keep, but when the chips are down the villagers are all there for each other. Although in this case, being “there for each other” means banding together against the outside television people, which is also nicely set up. I think one could pick up this series more or less anywhere rather than needing to start with the first book, but however the reader does it, meeting Hamish Macbeth is always a treat; recommended! show less

Crystal French is a D-list celebrity — the presenter on a weekly “gotcha” show at Strathbane TV in the Highlands, but you’d never know it from her A-list ego, cruelty and sense of entitlement. In just a few weeks, she makes a slew of enemies in Drim, Lochdubh and environs. So when she ends up murdered (no spoiler: it’s in the title), Constable Hamish Macbeth has no shortage of suspects.

At the same time, with Macbeth’s nemesis, Detective Inspector Blair, on holiday, a fill-in notices Macbeth’s intelligence and cunning. Will that lead to what Hamish fears most: promotion away from his beloved village?

No. 17 in this humorous series proves to be one of the better ones. Highly recommended.

Opening Sentence: ‘…Hamish Macbeth did not like change, although this was something he would not even admit to himself, preferring to think of himself as a go-ahead, modern man…’

This is the 18th mystery featuring the quirky Scottish highland police officer, Hamish Macbeth. A very nasty female TV reporter is starting a new show featuring Macbeth’s little corner of the Highlands. The aggressive reporter has few morals, and an eye for married men, especially if it helps advanced her career. The point of her TV show is to dig up dirty little stories of locals, make it up or embelish it a little if necessery, do a feature on them, and then release it to National TV. Not surprisingly she quickly turns up dead, it’s up to Hamish show more Macbeth to find who the murderer is.

I love Hamish – he is sharp, witty, brooding, and oh-so-unlucky at love. We also meet two new characters that I hope to see more of – Elspeth, a crazy astrologer, part Gypsy, who has the potential to be a romantic interest for Hamish. And Inspector Carson who has taken the place of the horrible Inspector Blair.

There are a few suspects, and when the guilty person is revealled it makes sense. The book looks at the fallout of the victims of the TV presenter (who all become suspects) in a very realistic way – I often feel that some TV reporters don’t care about anything other than getting that story to air. leaving shattered people behind them to pick up the pieces. show less

Macbeth and the Dueling TV Presenters
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2015) of the Mysterious Press hardcover original (2002)

Death of a Celebrity has outsider TV presenters descending on Constable Hamish Macbeth's beloved Highland village of Lochdubh in order to mock local residents and expose their past scandals. The presenters are rivals as well and it becomes a case of murder that the reluctant Macbeth must again sort out.

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 Toronto's Sleuth of Baker Street. I enjoyed those and found them to be an especially delightful diversion during show more 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 narrator Graeme Malcolm in place of series regular Shaun Grindell. Malcolm does an excellent job as well. show less

I have to say that I liked Hamish Macbeth much better than the Agatha Raison mystery I recently listened to. While Hamish also has his relationship issues they take second place to the mystery that he is trying to solve. And Hamish seems to be a pretty decent detective.

A muck raking celebrity was murdered, made to look like a suicide and Hamish is trying to get to the bottom of it. Fun cozy mystery.

Hamish is quite a fun and flawed character. The interesting reserve that he feels for Elspeth, and the natural feeling of being gun-shy, mixed with the investigation of the hot shot and not so nice reporter was a fun read. The burgeoning workplace jealousy, juxataposed against what is happening to "himself" and the CID.. nice touch!

I LOVE Scotland and I loved the way she writes their manner of speaking,e.g. "I couldnae believe it" or "I was chust making a pot (of tea)". So much fun! Give one of these a try, they are a an easy, enjoyable read.

Crap! I've already forgotten the plot. This is another of those stories of constable Hamish Macbeth, who is the local cop in a small town in the Scottish Highlands. Someone gets murdered, I think a diva TV personality, and Hamish has to figure out who dunnit. Along the way, he manages to get a local journalist enamored with him, but he's still hung up on his one-time fiancée, and hardly notices her come-hither hints (actually, I could identify with such behavior, but my spouse saved me).

Anyway, even though I don't remember a lot of the book, it really was very engaging. My spouse insisted I read my first Hamish Macbeth book. I've now read two more on my own volition, and plan to read more.