Death of an Outsider
M. C. Beaton, Author St. Martin's Press $14.95 (182p) ISBN 978-0-312-02188-7
The endearing Constable Hamish Macbeth (of Death of a Gossip and Death of a Cad ) is sent to the Scottish Highlands town of Cnothan, a place of ``dark hates and enmities'' whose inhabitants cordially loathe outsiders. Cnothan hospitality is mingy even toward the incoming constable, who finds his cupboard bare and his furnace set on a short timer. In view of the town's bad manners, few people display surprise when Mainwaring, an annoyingly brusque Englishman who settled eight years ago on his late aunt's estate, is reported murdered. There are plenty of suspects, among them the dead man's browbeaten widow, forced to wear mail-order-catalogue dresses. Suspicion falls on Sandy Carmichael, the drunken watchman for the nearby Fish and Game Company. And what of the two town ``lookers,'' glamorous Helen Ross or Jenny Lovelace, a young painter, possibly former mistresses wreaking revenge? Matters grow complicated when Hamish and Jenny become lovers. The characterization is wryly humorous, while a horde of ravenous lobsters give the plot a wildly ghoulish twist. Jaundiced views on love and marriage abound, and the visiting constable finds himself doubling as the local psychiatrist among this amusing cast of eccentrics. (Dec.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/01/1988
Release date: 01/01/1988
Genre: Fiction
Paperback - 205 pages - 9780783882994
Hardcover - 182 pages - 9780312021887
Other - 98 pages - 9781780332048
Paperback - 206 pages - 9781845296681
Mass Market Paperbound - 194 pages - 9780446614726
Hardcover - 205 pages - 9780754031369
Open Ebook - 119 pages - 9781455520985
Paperback - 219 pages - 9781472105226
Mass Market Paperbound - 248 pages - 9781455524075
Compact Disc - 4 pages - 9781482927856