The unconventional Hamish Macbeth finds that his own impetuousness places him at the center of a murder investigation. Everyone in the Scottish Highlands village of Lochdubh called Randy Duggan the Macho Man. Duggan went around the village & bragged about everything he had done & said he once was a wrestler in America & an explorer in the Middle East. At first his outrageous stories drew an admiring crowd at the local pub but soon his bullying ways lead to anger & violence. When Hamish tries to break up a fight Duggan challenges him to a public fistfight. But on the day of the scheduled fight Duggan is found shot to death. Of course Macbeths superiors get wind of the fight & suspend him during the investigation. Macbeth has some suspicions about Duggans real background
- & the mysterious banker John Glover who shows up at the posh Tommel Castle Hotel shortly before Duggans death. & what about Rosie Draley the sex-crazed romance writer who had been having an affair with the two-timing Duggan? Once again Macbeth is in hot water & he must find a murderer to clear his name
- & to get back his job & the cushy life (fishing & mooching around the village) he leads.

...

A bomb explodes in the centre of Florence hitting the car of Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara of the elite Squadra Mobile. The attack rocks the ancient city to its foundations. Ferrara was clearly the target
- & he did after all just controversially imprison notorious Mafia boss Salvatore Laprua. A week later another bomb explodes
- bringing tragedy for Ferrara & a determination to find the culprit. But that same morning Salvatore Laprua is found dead in his prison cell. So who is the mysterious influence behind the bombings
- someone even the Mafia fear? An ingenious gripping mystery The Death of a Mafia Don has been a bestseller in Italy & across Europe. Written by former Florence police chief Michele Giuttari it offers a fascinating insight into the secret world of the Mafia & life in Florence.


...

Done dusted...and dead! Armed with a bucket & mop Mrs Gillespie is destined to bring misery into the life of Hamish Macbeth when he wins her maid services in a church raffle knowing she is likely to do more snooping than actual cleaning. Yet Hamish has more upsetting issues to ponder
- his former girlfriend Elspeth Grant is back in Lochdubh for a holiday with her new boyfriend. Hamish feels an ill wind coming & sure enough Mrs Gillespie is soon found dead under suspicious circumstances. & as he investigates the case Elspeth's presence torments the red-haired bobby making him resort to foolish antics instead of concentrating on the murder in h&. Praise for The Hamish Macbeth Series": ' First rate...deft social comedy & wonderfully realized atmosphere'
- " Booklist". ' The detective novels of M C Beaton a master of outrageous black comedy have reached cult status'
- Anne Robinson " The Times". ' It's always a treat to return to Lochdubh'
- " New York Times". ' Readers will enjoy the quirks & unique qualities of the cast... Beaton catches the beauty of the area's natural geography & succinctly describes its distinct flavour'
- " Library Journal". ' Befuddled earnest & utterly endearing Hamish makes his triumphs sweetly satisfying'
- " Publishers Weekly". ' The much-loved " Hamish Macbeth Series"...beguiling blend of wry humour & sharp observations about rural life'
- " Good Book Guide"."






...

After a romantic disappointment & an undeserved demotion Scots village bobby Hamish Macbeth decides a week's holiday at the coastal village of Skag might be just the ticket. He's dead wrong of course: the food is dire & the man in the next room nags his wife so loudly & continuously that more than one person at the Friendly House bed-&-breakfast wishes him dead though only Hamish is heard threatening him. When this chap's body is found floating in the river Skag Hamish is the prime suspect. While clearing his name the lanky Scot has to deal with the widow who's suddenly making eyes at a refined bachelor two leather-skirted Glaswegian beauties intent on raising disco hell & the rude revelation of one family man's secret life. Some holiday! Praise for M.C. Beaton: ' The detective novels of M. C. Beaton a master of outrageous black comedy have reached cult status'
- Anne Robinson The Times"."
...

Hamish Macbeth is savouring the delights of a Highland summer but as fast as the rain rolls in from the loch his happy life goes to hell in a handbasket. The trouble begins when his beloved Priscilla Halburton-Smythe returns to Lochdubh with a new fiance on her arm. His miseries multiply when clouds of midges descend on the town. & then a paragon of housewife perfection named Trixie Thomas moves into Lochdubh with her cowed husband in tow. The newcomer quickly convinces the local ladies to embrace low-cholesterol meals ban alcohol & begin bird-watching. Soon the town's menfolk are up in arms & Macbeth must solve Lochdubh's newest crime
- the mysterious poisoning of the perfect wife.
...

Stabbed & stuffed in a closet... When police constable Hamish Macbeth receives the news that there has been a murder at Arrat House home of the relentless practical joker Arthur Trent he doesn't race to the scene of the crime. After all last time he was called to investigate a death at the isolated Scottish manor the 'victim' turned out to be Trent's manservant covered in fake blood. Thus prepared for another prank Hamish arrives to find that Trent has been most decidedly murdered & for suspects there is a houseful of greedy relatives all of whom are more than interested in the contents of the will rather than the crime at h&. & when the Chief Inspector arrives on the scene & his former flame Priscilla Halburton-Smythe gets involved as well Hamish quite clearly has his hands full. ...

In the spring of 1948 Arthur Miller retreated to a log cabin in Connecticut with the first two lines of a new play already fixed in his mind. He emerged six weeks later with the final script of Death of a Salesman"
- a painful examination of American life & consumerism. Opening on Broadway the following year Miller's extraordinary masterpiece changed the course of modern theatre. In creating Willy Loman his destructively insecure anti-hero Miller himself defined his aim as being 'to set forth what happens when a man does not have a grip on the forces of life.'"
...

The Heinemann Plays" series offers contemporary drama & classic plays in durable classroom editions. Many have large casts & an equal mix of boy & girl parts. This modern tragedy concerns a salesman who at the end of his life is forced to face its futility & failure." ...

Patricia Martyn-Broyd now in her seventies has retired to the Highlands. She hasnt written a word in years & her books are out of print. But now a television company is about to film her last detective story featuring the aristocratic Scottish detective Lady Harriet Vare. Even better a London publisher is bringing the book into print. Even though the snobbish Miss Martyn-Broyd doesnt care to mix with the locals she cant help but share her excitement with local policeman Hamish Macbeth. Imagine her horror when Miss Martyn-Broyd discovers that Lady Harriet Vare is portrayed as a pot-smoking hippy that the screenwriter is known for his violent & scurrilous scripts & that Lady Harriet is going to be played by the scene-stealing trollop Penelope Gates. But a contract is a contract Ms Martyn-Broyd quickly learns & when she is accused of murdering the scriptwriter & the leading lady she turns to her one friend in Lochdubh Hamish Macbeth to help her. ...

Murder in Paradise; when Jane Wetherby offers PC Hamish Macbeth a holiday at her Happy Wanderer health farm on the isle of Eileencraig he is more than happy to accept. Unfortunately the visit doesnt prove to be the pampering experience he had been hoping for. Windswept Eileencraig is inhabited by hostile islanders many of whom would be more than happy to be rid of the Happy Wanderer & its proprietor. & the company at the health farm is hardly better. The volatile party

Includes:: an ex-husband an illicit lover & Morag Todd an unadulterated snob who criticizes everybody & everything. So when Morag is found lying at the foot of a cliff with a broken neck no one seems too broken up about the event
- leaving it up to Hamish to solve the death of a snob.


...