DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 GIVEAWAY ENDED
DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP

BY M. C. BEATON

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder.

About Author

M.C. Beaton lives in the Cotswolds with her husband. In addition to the Hamish Macbeth series, she writes the Agatha Raisin mystery series.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
M.C. Beaton is the author of 12 mysteries first published by Ivy, and now Bantam Books, featuring Hamish Macbeth (the local bobby in the sleepy Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh) and his eccentric neighbors. Macbeth is a quiet, artfully lazy man who often wonders why no one else "understands the happiness and contentment of the truly unambitious man." Hamish's peaceful life is disrupted throughout the series, however, as he is faced with murders in his orderly town. The victim is almost always some meddlesome outsider who seems to have invited his or her own demise. Macbeth solves the murders in his easygoing Highland style.

Beaton's Hamish Macbeth is now featured in a television series in England. It has been written and produced by the same people who produced Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse. The title character is played by Robert Carlyle, who has played in the the feature films Trainspotting, Priest and Riff Raff.
   
Beaton also writes a mystery series featuring retired London public-relations executive Agatha Raisin. In the first book, AGATHA RAISIN AND THE QUICHE OF DEATH, Agatha has sold her public-relations firm and retired to the picturesque Cotswold village of Carsely. Blunt and pushy, Agatha makes a mess out of her first aggressive attempts to fit into village life. Determined to gain acceptance among the villagers, the undomestic Agatha cheats in the local bake-off by entering a store-bought quiche. Her secret is revealed when the judge dies -- poisoned by her quiche. Agatha hopes to save face by finding his murderer -- and thus becomes the local village sleuth. Her adventures continue in AGATHA RAISIN AND THE VICIOUS VET.

M.C. Beaton also writes under the name of the regency romance author, Marion Chesney. She lives in a Cotswold village with her husband.

MY REVIEW:
M. C. Beaton brings her multitude of fans to Loch Dubh, back to the Highlands of Scotland in her latest Hamish Macbeth Mystery, DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP.  Ah, but for those who don’t know Beaton’s clever, cozy type mysteries, don’t start singing “Chim chim-in-ey” and looking for Mary Poppins just yet. DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP is about a closed case, according to local authorities, that Police Constable Hamish Macbeth decides needs to be reopened.

Hamish Macbeth thinks that solving the murder of con artist/retired Army Captain, Henry Davenport, was just too easily solved. Henry Davenport had too many enemies and Macbeth thinks the wrong suspect was given credit for the horrible murder.

Davenport was found stuffed in his chimney, and chimney sweep Pete Ray was the last person seen working around the house, according to authorities so naturally, Ray, the local chimney sweep, is accused. Case closed…until as Macbeth points out, Ray was found dead soon after of a supposed motorbike accident. Followed by more murders, and a close call even for Hamish making a serial killer on his radar for sure, the typical Beaton mystery winds round for the reader. Leaving clues to make you think one thing and then another, DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP keeps your attention as one tries to figure out the “who done it”. Showing just how greed can make some people do anything, this is Beaton at her best. 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO BRIANNE AND THE GOOD FOLKS AT

HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE 3 COPIES

OF DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP TO GIVE AWAY

 

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