Death of a Scriptwriter

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I discovered MC Beaton a long time before the BBC television series based on her books was aired in the UK. You either love or hate her main character Hamish MacBeth. The one thing you can say about Hamish is he is not the typical police constable you would find in the highlands. If we knew the "real" truth he may be more typical than I think. Hamish has no ambition to be promoted, breaks more laws then he enforces, and as one of my friends put it recently he is above all lazy. Taking all of that into account he still can find the clues and trip up the guilty ones.

This time Hamish has his hands full with a hawk nosed spinster Patricia Martyn-Broud, whose claim to fame is she has written one book. Hamish having a kind heart and being a little lonely befriends the lady. Some how her novel gets chosen for a television program. Patricia is excited when she first hears her story is being filmed. Joy turns quickly to rage when she finds out the scriptwriter has rewritten the plot turned the characters into something which would fit better in an x rated film than a mystery. When the scriptwriter mysteriously dies the spinster becomes one of the prime suspects. Hamish feels as her friend he must investigate and gets into serious trouble for harassing a member of the TV crew. This leads to him being told to stay off the case. The one thing PC MacBeth does well is not following orders and so he keeps on probing. This leads him to the local seer, a new potential girl friend and a lot of trouble.

Added pluses to this novel are the outlandish residents that live in the town of Drim where the television series is being produced. What a group they are from the philandering minister to the women with 60s haircuts created so they can become famous actresses in the television program. A witty episode occurs when Hamish tells one of the women of the village something "which she is not to tell a soul" to ensure the entire village will find out quickly. It takes only a half-hour for the story to get to everyone in town.

Using his unorthodox ways Hamish uncovers the murderer and then finds a ingenious way to give credit for solving the crime to someone else so he will not loose his job.

I have given this book an award of four thistles because of the unusual main character and the use of humour plus a twisting and turning plot.