“What evil’s come to Lochdubh?” — Mrs. McClellan

“Whatever it is,” said Hamish grimly, “Fergus Macleod did something to bring it here.”


Wildly politically incorrect and laced with hilarious dark comedy, this delightful mystery series set in the fictional village of Lochdubh in Scotland is a hoot. It features Hamish Macbeth, a tall redheaded policeman whose knack for solving crimes makes it difficult for the unambitious copper to avert promotion so that he can remain in the quirky village. This series is a refreshing change from just about everything else out there. Sure, they’re all a bit similar, but that makes them no less enjoyable. Fans adore Hamish and the quirky residents of Lochdubh. Each visit moves at a breezy and enjoyable pace, has a murder or two, a few wistful moments, and plenty of laughs derived from biting social commentary so contrary to the uber-sensitive crowd run amok, that we’d all like to live in Lochdubh were it not for the high mortality rate!

In Death of a Dustman, bossy Freda Fleming arrives from Strathbane to use her new position as Officer of Environment to “green” up Lochdubh, and get her face in the papers. If you’ve ever read a Hamish Macbeth mystery you’re probably already imagining the adverse reaction of the residents of Lochdubh. It is made worse by drunk dustman (garbageman) Fergus Macleod, who lets his laughable, sparkly new uniform and higher salary go to his head. Soon, everyone in Lochdubh is ready to murder the wife-beating lout. When the Currie sisters report a bad smell coming from one of the huge recycling bins, Hamish discovers someone has acted on their impulse.

In Death of a Dustman, Hamish has a new helper named Clarry. Big and slovenly, Clarry loves to cook more than he loves policing, and is soon sweet on Martha, the beleaguered wife of Fergus. This of course makes him a top suspect in the eyes of Blair, the bane of Hamish’s existence. The situation quickly goes from bad to worse as Hamish discovers that Fergus may have been blackmailing his beloved neighbors. As if that weren’t enough to make the lanky Hamish irritable, Priscilla has a new beau, and it turns out that her father, the Colonel, may have been the last to see Fergus alive. Mix in a pretty new schoolteacher, a second murder, and a shady new hotel owner, and you have the makings for another delightful mystery filled with laughs, and a few poignant moments.

Just a fabulous series that will certainly offend those who are offended by everything nowadays anyway, but delight a great many more readers. Death of a Dustman is another great read in a popular series full of them. Though there are murders, this series is as much about Hamish and the quirky villagers of Lochdubh we’ve come to love over the years. Putting on your mystery solving cap is really unnecessary when reading a Hamish Macbeth novel — and might in fact impede your enjoyment of them. A Hamish Macbeth mystery is the next best thing to actually visiting the Highlands, and Death of a Dustman is a nice vacation from weightier reads. Highly recommended! ( )

Very funny. ( )

Very funny. ( )

Macbeth and the Garbage Man
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2015) of the Grand Central Publishing hardcover original (2001)

Death of a Dustman has Lochdubh village constable Hamish Macbeth fighting off the outside forces of a self-promoting politician attempting to leech off the popularity of eco-trends in a not very cooperative Highland environment. The cranky village garbageman is promoted as an environmental recycler and proceeds to blackmail various residents with the finds from their discards resulting in their own murder. Macbeth has to solve the case as usual.

After discovering M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth cozy mystery series due to the Estonia cameo in "Death of Yesterday", I started to seek out the earlier books by finding several at Toronto's Sleuth of Baker Street. I enjoyed those and found them to be an especially delightful diversion during this continuing pandemic. My next plan was to go back and read the series in order. I then discovered the rather terrific bonus that most of the books are available for free on Audible Plus, a service that I had previously been underwhelmed by (some early attempts with longer books had audio difficulties, with book narrations freezing in midstream). Beaton's shorter books (usually 4 to 5 hours on audio) seem to be perfect for this medium.

This edition on Audible Audio has narrator Graeme Malcolm in place of series regular Shaun Grindell. Malcolm does an excellent job as well. ( )

MC Beaton is my guilty pleasure. Her novels are repetitive and somewhat shallow as far as real substance goes, but I can’t seem to get enough. In this installment, Hamish is, of course, content with his laid back life as a rural constable, having no success in his love life, butting heads with Blair, and putting up with the quirky villagers. So pretty much exactly the same as in the first 15 books in the series. However, the highland setting is terrific, the antics of the locals are hilarious, and the mystery is detailed and easily misleading. ( )