What do You think about Death Of An Addict (2001)?
Hamish is back at it in this book only unlike normal, he isn't trying to narrow a large field of who wanted to do it, but looking for the actual killer. In spite of being told it is an overdose and that the case is closed, Hamish can't let it go. He is sure that there is something funny going on. This doesn't mean that he works diligently on the case, but in his own style of side trips and romantic entanglement he stumbles onto the truth almost by accident. In this book you do get to find out how much the village he loves returns that love. All in all a pretty good read and one that makes a good addition to a long running series.
—Dj
I liked this book for all the reasons my mother didn't.Beaton moves the series out of Lochdubh and we see that PC Hamish McBeth is just as good as fish out of water as he is in.When a recovering drug addict is found dead of an apparent overdose, Hamish can't leave the case alone.Soon he's following the drug trail out of the village and to Strathbane, a city ith projects and a drug problem. Police there tell Hamish the case is one less junkie to deal with, but then the village bobby starts making ties to the drug trade with the city cops haven't been able to do. Soon he's undercover, playing a druglord, with a lovely but cold sergeant as his wife.I love that Hamish got out Lochdubh and Beaton addresses a real crime problem. My mom missed the friendly village and the petty squabbles that lead to the main crime in earlier books in this series.I think you'll either like this one or hate it.
—Andreasoldier
Like the book where Hamish catches notorious criminal Gentleman Jim, this is one of Beaton's more suspenseful stories. Despite several very satisfying scenes, however (such as Hamish's use of a lie to get the Currie sisters in line), there were just as many moments that required considerable suspension of disbelief.In particular, I was a bit frustrated by the characterization of of Olivia. To my mind, she warmed to and forgave Hamish far too quickly for one to believe -- even in a Hamish Macbeth story. I cannot fathom a woman recovering and forgiving as quickly and completely as Beaton would have us believe Olivia does.Oddly enough, this treatment of yet another would-be feminist gives me new respect for Priscilla (or perhaps I mean Beaton's development of her). Whatever repeated shortcomings she shows in choice of men, Priscilla doesn't compromise her standards as quickly as do almost all the other woman-of-marriageable-age in Beaton's books. She maintains a rare sense of who she is that's not substantially changed by circumstances or what her personality might cost her -- which makes her a far more interesting and believable character.Olivia remains a fairly likeable character even the end (though the final scene seemed a bit much), but I would have liked her better had Beaton maintained her complexity through to the end.
—Anna
