From the Stacks: MC Beaton's "Death of a Witch"

Genre
Mystery – Scottish, cozy

Escape experience
Home is a quaint and tidy croft in the Scottish Highlands, nestled amidst mountains and loch. You spend your days tending sheep and chickens. You take long rambles around the loch with your dog in the mornings, followed by leisurely strolls through the quiet village in the evenings. You know and love every inch of the land and every eccentric inhabitant of the village. Happy and content, you wouldn't trade your idyllic existence for all the Crown Jewels.

Read this if you’re into…
Wearing L.L. Bean from head to toe (almost): woolen caps, flannel shirts, corduroy trousers, cozy fleece pullovers, outerwear and footwear. A frugal consumer with a casual, sometimes rustic, but always appropriate style, you indulge in one luxury: cashmere socks by Pringle of Scotland to keep your tootsies toasty on those early morning scrambles through mountains and moor.

Plot
Beautiful, bewitching, beguiling Catriona Beldame, practitioner of the black arts, has moved into Lochdubh and is dealing Spanish fly(!) to middle-aged men, sending shockwaves rippling through the pious populace. And poor Mrs. Wellington (the pastor's wife) is at wits end, fried to a frazzle with all the clamor and complaints. So off she goes to seek Constable Hamish Macbeth's help to put an end to all the nonsense. Then ding-dong the wicked witch is dead, and Hamish finds himself as the prime suspect.

Pace: Reading this is like walking in a pair of…
Practical, impervious Wellingtons, as you ramble 'round the perimeter of a blue mountain lake with your dog Midget, a lumbering, slobbering Newfie-Lab mix.

Cast of characters

• Constable Hamish Macbeth - This local bobby is devoted to his little hamlet of Lochdubh: he'll do anything to avoid getting promoted out of his village. For long, lanky, red-headed Hamish is not your run-of-the-mill bobby: he solves homocides like nobody's business, accompanied by his furry side-kicks (a dog named Lugs and a wildcat named Sonsie). A wickedly sharp intuition, a penetrating eye, a compassionate understanding and a disquieting ability to coax the truth from people are powerful tools in his crime-solving arsenal. (Read more about Hamish.)
• Chief Inspector Blair - Hamish's supervisor and archenemy, the alcoholic, apoplectic Blair is ever alert to ways of discrediting his direct report. Much to his consternation, however, Macbeth always manages to outwit and outmaneuver him.
• Detective Inspector Jimmy Anderson - One of the best examples of operant conditioning: Hamish plies Jimmy with whiskey, and then Jimmy reveals classified case information. Works every time.
• Priscilla Hallburton-Smythe - Lovely, graceful and gracious, yet emotionally cool, Priscilla is Hamish's one-time fiance and all-time true love. For the women who harbor romantic aspirations about Hamish (like Elspeth below), Priscilla becomes an insurmountable barrier to capturing Hamish's heart.
• Elspeth Grant - Hamish's on-and-off-again (when Priscilla isn't around, that is) romantic interest, Elspeth is a newspaper reporter with a gypsy heritage and a flair for clairvoyance. She'll run into Hamish's arms at the slightest wiggle of his forefinger (if he'd only bother!).
• A recurrent assortment of colorful, eccentric villagers - Angela Brodie, Hamish's pet-sitter and domestically-challenged wife of the local physician; Jessie and Nessie Currie, the town's gossiping spinster twins; Willie Lamont, Hamish's former direct report and a neat-freak with a propensity for malapropisms; Angus Macdonald, a crusty septuagenarian and the local seer; Mrs. Wellington, stentorian spouse of the local minister -- just to name a few.

Books in the series  

1. Death of a Gossip  
2. Death of a Cad 
3. Death of an Outsider 
4. Death of a Perfect Wife 
5. Death of a Hussy 
6. Death of a Snob 
7. Death of a Prankster 
8. Death of a Glutton 
9. Death of a Travelling Man 
10. Death of a Charming Man 
11. Death of a Nag 
12. Death of a Macho Man
13. Death of a Dentist 
14. Death of a Scriptwriter 
15. Death of an Addict 
16. A Highland Christmas 
17. Death of a Dustman 
18. Death of a Celebrity 
19. Death of a Village 
20. Death of a Poison Pen 
21. Death of a Bore 
22. Death of a Dreamer 
23. Death of a Maid   
24. Death of a Gentle Lady   
25. Death of a Witch 
26. Death of a Valentine 
27. Death of a Chimney Sweep 
28. Death of a Kingfisher 

You might also like…

• Alexander McCall Smith –  
• Agatha Christie – The Murder at the Vicarage  
• Caroline Graham – Death of a Hollow Man