Since M.C. Beaton's passing in late 2019, I have been reluctant to finish the Hamish and Agatha series even though I know she has appointed an author to continue them. However, after reading some of these later Hamish books, I'm finding these stories are just bonkers. There are tons of mini-stories throughout and the big main mystery is barely relevant anymore. Cozies always depend heavily on the setting and colorful townspeople but this is just a mass of tangents thrown together to get enough pages for a book. Some of them are entertaining, some just make you roll your eyes and some are just rehashes of old stories from prior books. I used to like Hamish more than Agatha but I now feel like Hamish is just getting nastier while Agatha is doing the opposite and I'm not sure that I am interested enough to see what the new author has in store with these characters. ( )

This reading experience was a bit...odd. I was expecting a cozy British mystery, but what a got was a British mystery book that was apparently trying very hard to be funny, but failed. At least for me it failed. There were so many weird things happening all the time, two spinster sisters accusing the main character, Hamish Macbeth of being a Casanova every time he was seen with a woman, a woman getting bit by a fox, a woman finding a dead body and then she stumbles and hits her head and dies, etc. But it wasn't funny, in any way. The case in itself could have been more interesting, a woman with mythomania gets killed and it all leads to a religious cult. But it lacked depth in both the characters and the story and Macbeth's women problems get a bit too much attention.

This is the first Hamish Macbeth book I read, so perhaps you have to read them from the beginning to appreciate the books and its "humor"...

2 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World ( )

This reading experience was a bit...odd. I was expecting a cozy British mystery, but what a got was a British mystery book that was apparently trying very hard to be funny, but failed. At least for me it failed. There were so many weird things happening all the time, two spinster sisters accusing the main character, Hamish Macbeth of being a Casanova every time he was seen with a woman, a woman getting bit by a fox, a woman finding a dead body and then she stumbles and hits her head and dies, etc. But it wasn't funny, in any way. The case in itself could have been more interesting, a woman with mythomania gets killed and it all leads to a religious cult. But it lacked depth in both the characters and the story and Macbeth's women problems get a bit too much attention.

This is the first Hamish Macbeth book I read, so perhaps you have to read them from the beginning to appreciate the books and its "humor"...

2 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World ( )

I think the author is trying to write too many books. On at least three separate occasions, Hamish's reverting to his Highland speech is explained to us. Also a couple of passages seem to have been re-used.
Personally, I'd rather have a better book less often. ( )

Macbeth and the Woman Who Cried Wolf
Review of the Hachette audiobook edition released simultaneously with the Grand Central Publishing hardcover edition (2015)

Death of a Liar starts off with some mysterious murders including one of a persistent liar. The plot gets very complex after that with a dubious church congregation and an international drugs gang. Hamish is in one of his perpetual love/hate relationships with his constable Dick Fraser. Dick finds his way to a woman's heart through his kitchen skills (and wins out over Hamish's fumbling romantic steps). Hamish then meets his match in his new constable Charlie Carter who joins the cast towards the end. I wasn't really liking Hamish very much in this outing, but his reconciliation with Charlie in the end did make up for it.

I'm now into the final few of the 34* Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery series set in the Scottish Highlands centered around the fictional village of Lochdubh. I wish I could slow down my reading & listening in order to make them last longer, but they are so irresistible that they have become my go-to default read during this continuing lockdown (Ontario, Canada where I live is currently still in a stay-at-home order situation until possibly June, 2021). Fortunately the library is operating efficiently with their holds system and their curbside pickup. They also provide the opportunity of online audiobook loans via Overdrive.

*No. 34 Death of a Love (2021?) has yet to be released due to delays following M.C. Beaton's (aka Marion Chesney's) passing in late 2019. ( )