Death of a Charming Man (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 10)

by Beaton, M. C

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Chivers/Thorndike. Hardcover. 0786290463 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. . Good.

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  "M. C. Beaton is one of several pen names of Marion Chesney. Beaton has so far produced 24 HAMISH MACBETH novels. DEATH OF A CHARMING MAN is the tenth in the series. ***



In all three of the 24 HAMISH MACBETH mysteries which I have read the same formula occurs. I call it "the evil outsider." A really perverse man or woman intrudes himself/herself into a small town or even smaller group of reasonably normal people. Soon (if not before the outsider dealt himself in) the outsider knows key weaknesses of the group. He plays on those weaknesses, arousing strong hatred among several or all of the people he has infiltrated -- enough so as to motivate a murder. ***



The Charming Man of this detective story is stunningly gorgeous Peter Hynd, an affluent young Englishman. With no explanation that anyone believes, Hynd moves to the tiny, depressingly grey northwest Scotland fishing village of Drim. He sets to work refurbishing a house he has bought and the local women head for him like hummingbirds toward red flowers. They flood the small beauty parlor. They revive exercise classes at the community center. They shed pounds. Peter encourages them and enrages their husbands. ***



Sergeant Hamish Macbeth, based in nearby Lochdubh, feels in his thumbs that "something wicked this way comes." He warns Peter Hynd that Highlanders are proud, vengeful people and that he is asking for big trouble. Hynd laughs off the warning. But not long after, Peter Hynd disappears. By all accounts he was seen by a lawyer, a banker and a real estate broker just before he presumably left town -- to arrange sale of his still uncompleted house. ***



Hamish Macbeth's police higher ups see nothing to be alarmed about. But Hamish goes on vacation, trains down from Inverness to London and environs and begins to understand what made Peter Hynd tick. In the end Macbeth unravels what happened to this English Adonis, in an ending full of surprises. -OOO-"

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