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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Death of a Chimney Sweep by M. C. Beaton is a cozy little mystery that I won from Cheryl at CMash Loves to Read back in February. This particular Hamish MacBeth story is again set in the tiny villages of Drim and Lochdubh...places in the far north of Scotland where home owners still employ a village chimney sweep to care for their chimneys. Pete Ray has always been dependable--until the day that the master of the house whose chimney he's cleaning goes on a walk and never returns. Pete winds up missing as well, leaving the door to the house wide open and no clues behind. Except for that strange dripping noise that Milly Davenport hears when she returns from shopping. She investigates, is shocked to see that what is dripping is blood--from the chimney--and she calls in Constable MacBeth.
The body in the chimney is Milly's husband, Captain Henry Davenport, and it doesn't take MacBeth's superiors long to decide that the culprit must be the missing sweep. When his body is found with his crashed motorbike and a stash of stolen loot from the Davenport house, Chief Inspector Blair is ready to close the case. But MacBeth isn't. He knew Pete and he knows he wasn't a thief let alone a murderer. He arranges for more forensic testing to be done...and for a story to be leaked to the press and Blair is forced to keep the case open. MacBeth will have to follow a long trail of fraud, faulty business deals, and further murders before he finally lands the psychopathic killer behind the crimes.
I've discovered that the Hamish MacBeth stories are ones that I will have to take in small doses. They are well written, quick reads, and tell interesting stories, but there are some pretty formulaic parts that I just don't think I could stand if I read several of these in a row. For instance, this is about MacBeth's 25th murder case (just counting those that have been written about) and he's still considered "that loony Constable," still accused of jumping to conclusions by his superior (Blair), and never given credit where it's due. Yes, he's a little stubborn and he does have some flights of intuition, but the man has been right twenty-five times. Surely Blair ought to know by now that he's got a pretty sharp man holding down the beat in Drim and Lochdubh. This is only the third of the series that I've read and Blair's attitude is already getting the better of me. Othewise, a fun little mystery. A nice little diversion from my non-fiction read (which is taking for-ev-er).
The body in the chimney is Milly's husband, Captain Henry Davenport, and it doesn't take MacBeth's superiors long to decide that the culprit must be the missing sweep. When his body is found with his crashed motorbike and a stash of stolen loot from the Davenport house, Chief Inspector Blair is ready to close the case. But MacBeth isn't. He knew Pete and he knows he wasn't a thief let alone a murderer. He arranges for more forensic testing to be done...and for a story to be leaked to the press and Blair is forced to keep the case open. MacBeth will have to follow a long trail of fraud, faulty business deals, and further murders before he finally lands the psychopathic killer behind the crimes.
I've discovered that the Hamish MacBeth stories are ones that I will have to take in small doses. They are well written, quick reads, and tell interesting stories, but there are some pretty formulaic parts that I just don't think I could stand if I read several of these in a row. For instance, this is about MacBeth's 25th murder case (just counting those that have been written about) and he's still considered "that loony Constable," still accused of jumping to conclusions by his superior (Blair), and never given credit where it's due. Yes, he's a little stubborn and he does have some flights of intuition, but the man has been right twenty-five times. Surely Blair ought to know by now that he's got a pretty sharp man holding down the beat in Drim and Lochdubh. This is only the third of the series that I've read and Blair's attitude is already getting the better of me. Othewise, a fun little mystery. A nice little diversion from my non-fiction read (which is taking for-ev-er).
This book went very quickly from village murder mystery to an 8 person international body count
I’ve read four of these books, just whatever ones I can get at the library, and this was my favourite so far
The plot grows a bit wild but I found it amusing and very entertaining
I didn’t guess what was going to happen. If you read this, you will know just how wild your guesses would need to be
This isn’t a serious murder mystery but it I found it to be a fun little read
My library has 4 more of these books so I’m going to give those a go at some point
I’ve read four of these books, just whatever ones I can get at the library, and this was my favourite so far
The plot grows a bit wild but I found it amusing and very entertaining
I didn’t guess what was going to happen. If you read this, you will know just how wild your guesses would need to be
This isn’t a serious murder mystery but it I found it to be a fun little read
My library has 4 more of these books so I’m going to give those a go at some point
I enjoy this light-hearted british cozy mysteries series, but this entry wasn't one of Beaton's best.
Just an okay book. It took place over a very long span of time, but it was hard to tell the exact timeframe of the story. It made for some confusing moments figuring out what exactly was happening, only to realize that months had progressed in the span of a few paragraphs. Otherwise it was an enjoyable, quick, cozy mystery.
It's probably time for me to give Beaton a rest; the charm is wearing thin with the over-reliance on an incredible concatenation of coincidence and lucky breaks and less of the local color which was the real appeal. The good is that at least there was more going on in this than in some of the recent Macbeth efforts. But! I counted three instances of a concealed tape recorder being used to get the goods. Seriously, a tape recorder? And three times?
Great characters and setting. A few parts of the plot seemed a bit far-fetched, but enjoyable.