After Constable Hamish Macbeth wins the cleaning services of Mrs. Mavis Gillespie in a church raffle, he wonders why anyone would hire her. She does a terrible job of cleaning and he suspects she's up to something when a personal letter of his goes missing. Macbeth suspects Mrs. Gillespie is trouble and isn't terribly surprised when she is murdered. He has plenty of suspects including many of her customers and he has to solve the case while ducking the attention of a documentary crew. When he's not trying to solve the murder and avoid promotion, he is wondering about the relationship between his ex-girlfriend Elspeth Grant and Luke Teviot. Who says village life is quiet?"Death of a Maid" is another nice entry in M.C. Beaton's charming Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery series. I love my visits to Lochdubh and all the familiar elements that make this series so delightful are in this book - Hamish hiding his intelligence in order to avoid promotion; his mooching meals; his odd pets; Blair; the village people; Hamish's tangled love life. Hamish is a multi-layered character - despite his appearance of laziness he is a hard worker who really cares about the people in his village - his reaction when fisherman Archie Maclean is about to lose his boat is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. The mystery itself is well written with plenty of suspects, although I did figure out who the murderer was pretty early on.There were a couple of things I didn't like about "Death of a Maid". While Hamish's being unwilling to commit to a relationship is a running and sometime humorous theme in this series, it wore thing for me in this book. I was pleased there was no Priscilla in this book, but I felt there was a bit too much Elspeth. Also, the book could have ended earlier, I felt the last few chapters were unnecessary - they felt written just to up the page count. But, despite those flaws, I really enjoyed "Death of a Maid".
Mavis Gillespie is a vicious local gossip, who cleans for a fair number of locals. When Lochdubh's constable wins her services at a raffle, he discovers that her nosiness is more evident than her cleanliness. She 'comes into possession of' a letter to him from his ex-girlfriend, Elspeth. Macbeth decides to confront her. It's too late, though. Someone far deadlier has got to her first.As with all the books in this series, Beaton keeps us guessing. Macbeth, as always, must deal with his annoying and ineffectual superior from Strathbane, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who will undoubtedly (as usual) take all the credit. Added to this, there's a television crew intent on producing a documentary on Macbeth, and, comfortably ensconced as a lowly village policeman, this could potentially mean that the unwanted media exposure could earn him a promotion - the one thing he abhors.Events begin to snowball - old flame and journalist Elspeth turns up with a new man. Macbeth pines for a return to peace and quiet. Extraordinarily competent and highly intelligent as always, Macbeth conducts his investigation, and realizes, with mild surprise, the number of secrets that Lochdubh harbours and Mavis Gillespie knew - she appears to be a blackmailer. With no shortage of suspects, Mavis's husband is delighted by his wife's death; her daughter is glad that her meddling mother is dead; not one soul is sorry the snooping old bag is gone.Delightful reading as always. You cannot but like Hamish Macbeth even though if you knew him in real life you would be annoyed with him and like him in alternate breaths! A great read.This review was originally published at Book Weyr
What do You think about Death Of A Maid (2007)?
Death of a MaidBy: M.C. BeatonPublished: 2007MysteryThe protagonist is Hamish Macbeth a Police Sargent in Lochdubh, Scotland in modern day. In this story Hamish a maid was killed by her own bucket in Hamish’s house after he won her cleaning services in a raffle. In the end they found out that Mrs. Barret-Wilkonson committed the murders. When Hamish confronted her she shot him straight in the chest, he survived. Before this happened Hamish told Mary his friend to go to the back door to record her confession. She phoned the police right after she heard the shot.The theme of this story is not do thing now that you might hurt you in the future. Mrs. Barret-Wilkinson was on working as a madam at Beauchamp Place in London and she got blackmailed about it. Mrs. Barret-Wilkinson killed Mrs. Gillespie and Shona Fraser, and got arrested for it later. Mrs. Gillespie was blackmailing Mrs. Wilkinson and she got killed with her own bucket.This book could be interesting to people who like to read mystery books, murder stories, and people who just like to read good books. I read another book by M.C. Beaton and the books are both one of the best books I have read. Both books have an interesting murder, the people are so diverse and the mood is consistent which makes the series of these books one of those you can read in any order.“Dr. Renfrew was sitting in an armchair beside a smoldering fire. The day had turned warm, but the house was cold.” Pg. 134This book shows that you should think before you do something. Hamish lives in Lochdubh which sounds like a lovely place to live. This book is a really good read I would suggest it to my friends and anyone I know who likes to read.
—Adam
Beaton's 22nd Hamish Macbeth mystery begins as the Scottish constable stumbles over the body of a housecleaner and town gossip, Mrs. Mavis Gillespie. Bludgeoned to death with her own pail, the the list of possible suspects is lengthily. Seems most everyone in the Highlands village of Lochdubh has a reason to dislike the woman. Although her clients disliked her, all of them insist that she was an efficient maid. Macbeth made note during his interviews of thick layers of dust in their homes, and decides to look more carefully into her business relationships. He soon discovers that Mrs. Gillespie was a skilled blackmailer. He ignores his jealous senior colleague’s efforts to thwart this investigation, and continues probing into the situation. To add a little more stress to Macbeth’s life, his reporter ex-girlfriend arrives on the scene with a (fellow journalist) new beau. An ongoing sub-plot running through the series is Macbeth's struggle to fight against promotion. He knows if he is promoted life as he knows it, will be gone. The station house would be shut down and he would be forced to leave Lochdubh for the city of Strathbane.
—Genie
More entertaining nonsense with the ginger Highlander, his pet wildcat and dog. This time Hamish has won the dubious cleaning services of the unsavoury Mrs Gillespie who, rather inconveniently turns up her toes, thanks to a bucket bash on the head in the first few pages. As usual, Hamish sets about solving the case in spite of the fact his superior officer thinks he's an interfering dunderhead. Beaton will never win prizes for literary merit, but it doesn't really matter. What makes these and her Agatha Raison series so popular is the fact that they're like a warm bath, easily to slip into and a relaxing time is had by all. Very quick read and definitely better than 'Death of a Snob.'
—Lynne
