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| Death of a Gentle Lady (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 24) | 
 enlarge | Author: M. C. Beaton
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $23.99
Buy Used: $2.87
You Save: $21.12 (88%)
New (43) Used (50) Collectible (1) from $2.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 78188
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0446582603
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780446582605
ASIN: 0446582603
Publication Date: February 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Enjoyabe February 18, 2008
As with most of M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth novels, this one was short and pleasant. I didn't find it as funny or captivating as some of the others in the series. However, fans of the series will no doubt enjoy it.
Vintage Macbeth February 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Perhaps the best part of Beaton's Hamish Macbeth's series is its ability to weave contemporary British concerns (CCTV, Turkey's EU membership) with the the traditional English manor house mystery where the detective sums it all up in the second last chapter, pacing in front of the fire place to the entire family.
This book brings the best of Macbeth: Daviot, Blair, Jimmy Anderson, the Currie sisters as well as the eternal love triangle with Priscilla and Elspeth.
My only hesitation was that the plot could have been a little tighter in places. In particular, it peeved me that a charachter refered to Hamish by his real name when Hamish is supposed to be undercover with an assumed identity.
But thats a small quibble. This is as good as a cozy gets. Two thumbs up.
My first foray in the Highlands, and I like it February 17, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
M.C. Beaton has written more than twenty Hamish Macbeth mysteries, the first published in 1985, and the books inspired a series that aired on the BBC. I haven't seen the program, and Beaton's latest installment, Death of a Gentle Lady, is the first in the series that I've read. Hamish Macbeth is a constable in the village of Lochdubh in the Scottish Highlands. He lives in the police station with a dog and a near-feral cat. He's unmarried but pines intermittently throughout this book, at least, for two women with whom he apparently has long histories. He is clever enough that he might have moved up and out of Lochdubh based on his job performance, but he aspires only to remain in his beloved village, and he is forever battling to keep its small police station in operation.
In this outing Macbeth becomes acquainted with a certain Mrs. Margaret Gentle, an elderly widow who has recently bought a mock, cliffside castle in Macbeth's jurisdiction. She puts on a sweet-old-lady act that's won the rest of the villagers over, but Macbeth sees through it at once to recognize the bitty within. A double homicide later and Macbeth finds that he's the killer's next target, and the most likely suspect is among the Gentle woman's heirs. Meanwhile, the good folks of Lochdubh are staging an amateur production of Shakespeare's Macbeth; Hamish Macbeth's nemesis on the police force is harboring a grudge; and a Putin-esque Russian policewoman, visiting from Moscow, is hovering around the Gentle investigation--and giving Macbeth the willies.
Death of a Gentle Lady is a readable cozy with a likable sleuth, firmly bound with its Highland setting. The plot is interesting, though its twist occurred to me long before Macbeth caught on. The details of the crime are revealed in a stock let-me-tell-you-how-I-did-it-before-I-kill-you-type information dump, which is perhaps a bit sloppy. But I enjoyed the book and will likely be reading more in the series.
an enjoyable, light read February 14, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
M. C. Beaton delivers again: "Death of Gentle Lady" may be her fourteenth Hamish MacBeth mystery, but the installment was as entertaining as previous books in the series.
To the villagers of Lochduh, Mrs. Margaret Gentle seems like a perfectly nice, gracious lady; only Hamish MacBeth seems immune to the lady's charms, having first hand knowledge of exactly how truly awful the lady really is. And when Mrs. Gentle attempts to get the local police station closed, thus forcing Hamish to leave Lochduh, Hamish decides to strike back: he proposes marriage to Mrs. Gentile's downtrodden maid, Ayesha. But when the wedding day dawns, Ayesha is a no show, and Mrs. Gentle turns up dead. In spite of the collected wisdom of the powers that be, Hamish is certain that the mystery of who killed Mrs. Gentle and why lies in the lady's background, and resolves to get to the bottom of the matter -- that is if he's not too distracted by Priscilla and her sudden chumminess with a visiting author...
Mystery-wise, there are probably more suspenseful reads out there, and there definitely have been more riveting Hamish MacBeth installments. However, what one has come to expect from Beaton and her MacBeth installments is an entertaining and charming read. And on that level, she delivers in spades. True, we do find old ground being revisited again (Priscilla or Elspeth?); and not only did the mystery subplot take a while to unfold, it also could have been tighter. But, on the whole, I found "Death of a Gentle Lady" to be an enjoyable and absorbing read, and really, isn't that the true test of a good read?
 superb Macbeth police procedural February 10, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In Lochdubh, Scotland and the surrounding villages everyone thinks the world of affluent elderly Mrs. Margaret Gentle; the lavender dressed woman is considered the lady of the castle by those who know her as she donates to all sorts of causes. Perhaps only fiftyish Constable Hamish Macbeth believes the lavender covers up a cold heart as much as it sprinkles through her grey hair; he knows she is the prime cause of the brass considering the closing of his police station.
However Hamish may not like Mrs. Gentle, but he feels sorry for her personal maid, Ayesha, who is on the brink of deportation back to Turkey. He offers to marry her so she can stay in Scotland. Soon after he proposes, Ayesha vanishes and someone kills Mrs. Gentle. Hamish investigates only to learn his fiancee is not the helpless immigrant and that an unknown adversary was blackmailing the kindhearted Mrs. Gentle.
The latest Macbeth police procedural is a superb tale with several plausible powerful spins that will keep readers hooked. The story line is fast-paced as Hamish investigates the homicide, struggles with his feelings for Ayesha who might be a blackmailing killer and has issues with his superior Detective Chief Inspector Blair. This series has been around forever yet remains as fresh as Macbeth's first whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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