Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by nicrtay
Death of a Bore by M.C. Beaton
4.0
I came here for a killer time and all I got was this damn cat.
Despite the fact that, again, this is a bit of a rehashed plot from an earlier installment, this one was one of my favourites.
John Heppel, the titular bore, was a really intriguing - albeit extremely unlikeable - character, and I do wish he was left in the novel a little longer before the murder. His relationship, or lack thereof, with the villagers would have made for some great altercations. I would have loved to see more Heather too. The back of the book put so much emphasis on her appearance in the novel and she barely appeared at all.
I'm having trouble with the whole Elspeth thing. I'm going to try to not make this bias, considering I really like Elspeth. But why? We learn (on the second page, so it's not a spoiler), that Hamish pretty much refused to marry Elspeth after their progression in Poison Pen. What I don't get is how he was so ready to marry Jenny (Cnothan artist Jenny from book 3, not steal your man Jenny from book 19), but not Elspeth, arguably his best friend. I know, character progression. It just feels really inconsistent.
But of course the real Hamish Macbeth mystery here is how a protagonist in book one can be "around thirty-five" and in book twenty is in his "early thirties". I have no problem with characters not aging, so long as no other characters in the series are aging. It's really creepy when authors age their secondary characters but not their protagonist. Please don't do this. He's not a supernatural being.
Also, I think I need to start a counter for the number of times I read a variant of "she wondered what it would be like to be a policeman's wife" in this series.
Nonexistent.
That's it. That's the answer.
Reread 2021: The climax of this novel is still my favourite Elspeth moment ever. That being said, I still feel like the introduction of Sonsie is somehow the catalyst for the slow degradation of the series; the priority that Hamish begins to place on his animals goes from charming to downright sad. If you haven't read from this novel to Honest Man, then get your cringe face ready.
Despite the fact that, again, this is a bit of a rehashed plot from an earlier installment, this one was one of my favourites.
John Heppel, the titular bore, was a really intriguing - albeit extremely unlikeable - character, and I do wish he was left in the novel a little longer before the murder. His relationship, or lack thereof, with the villagers would have made for some great altercations. I would have loved to see more Heather too. The back of the book put so much emphasis on her appearance in the novel and she barely appeared at all.
I'm having trouble with the whole Elspeth thing. I'm going to try to not make this bias, considering I really like Elspeth. But why? We learn (on the second page, so it's not a spoiler), that Hamish pretty much refused to marry Elspeth after their progression in Poison Pen. What I don't get is how he was so ready to marry Jenny (Cnothan artist Jenny from book 3, not steal your man Jenny from book 19), but not Elspeth, arguably his best friend. I know, character progression. It just feels really inconsistent.
But of course the real Hamish Macbeth mystery here is how a protagonist in book one can be "around thirty-five" and in book twenty is in his "early thirties". I have no problem with characters not aging, so long as no other characters in the series are aging. It's really creepy when authors age their secondary characters but not their protagonist. Please don't do this. He's not a supernatural being.
Also, I think I need to start a counter for the number of times I read a variant of "she wondered what it would be like to be a policeman's wife" in this series.
Nonexistent.
That's it. That's the answer.
Reread 2021: The climax of this novel is still my favourite Elspeth moment ever. That being said, I still feel like the introduction of Sonsie is somehow the catalyst for the slow degradation of the series; the priority that Hamish begins to place on his animals goes from charming to downright sad. If you haven't read from this novel to Honest Man, then get your cringe face ready.