Book Review: Dishing the Dirt by M.C. Beaton

Dishing the Dirt by M.C. Beaton, published September 15, 2015 by Minotaur.
Genre: cozy mystery
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
I can't believe this is the 26th in the mystery series and that I've read almost all of them. The main character Agatha's eccentricities are endearing, so I enjoy following her escapades in the little Cotswold village of Carsley!

Agatha has friends and allies who appear in almost all of the books: the vicar's wife, Mrs. Bloxby; a faithful helper, her cleaner and cat sitter Doris; her occasional lover and ally, Sir Charles Fraith; her ex-husband and neighbor James Lacey; her friend on the police force Detective Sergeant Bill Wong; a team of employees at her detective agency in Carsley, and a few others whom we get to know more in every book.

In this latest mystery, Agatha is incensed when a new therapist in the village spreads gossip about Agatha's very humble or "poor beginnings." When the therapist Jill is found strangled in her home, Agatha is a suspect and tries to find the real murderer, who goes on to pick off others who might identify him. Agatha blunders about in her investigation, as usual, but her sharp intuition helps her out in all situations, including this one.

I loved this book and was all set to give it a full five stars, but felt the author didn't seem to want to end it and wanted to start on the next story right away. In other words, the book could have been a couple of pages shorter as I don't think M.C. Beaton needed to set the stage so firmly for the next Agatha mystery. We are already with her all the way.

Library Finds: Three Mysteries and a Romance

Went to the library twice in the past few days and borrowed three mystery novels and a humorous romance.

Am I lucky or what? I found the new Agatha Raisin mystery at the library, just waiting for me, it seems. As usual, M.C. Beaton has another clever title for her books in the series. Her main character, a 50-plus-year-old English woman Agatha, lives in the Cotswolds in England and is a PI with a personality that is amusing and unconventional.

I do like mystery novels set in exotic (to me) places too, and this is a new series I discovered, one set in Istanbul. The main character is a 40-ish German woman named Kati Hirschel who owns a crime bookstore and becomes an amateur sleuth because of her love of mysteries. I've started with the first in the series, Hotel Bosphorus, published in 2011.

This new romance sitting on the library's New Books shelf,  Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella, was irresistible, as I enjoy her storytelling and her humor. Disappointed when her boyfriend doesn't propose, her main character Lottie and a former boyfriend Ben suddenly decide to get married on the Greek island of Ikonos.  Lottie's sister and a friend of Ben's, however, have other plans for the couple and follow them to Ikonos to stop the hasty wedding.  I anticipate lots of humorous situations...

Found anything at your library lately?

Book Review: Death of a Maid by M.C. Beaton

Death of A Maid by M. C. Beaton, another in the Hamish McBeth "Cozy"series that features the adventures of a quirky Scottish policeman in a small Highland village. A light mystery novel? I recommend it.

The mystery of a maid "done in" is the latest that Hamish the policeman must solve, looking for anyone with "means, motive, and opportunity." And the motive for murder is a popular one in British cozies - blackmail. But which of the ones being blackmailed did the dirty deed. The popularity of the series lies as much in the plots, I think, as with the pictureque Highland setting and the character of the policeman himself.

In every book in the series, Hamish sidesteps being drawn into marriage by a girlfriend or pushed into the arms of someone by the villagers who want to see him happily married. He also avoids notoriety, letting his boss take the credit for all the crimes he solves, and avoiding promotion and being sent from the quiet of his beloved village.

Hamish's quirkiness endears him to his readers. He likes living alone with his wild lynx-like cat, his dog, and the sheep and hens he raises in his backyard. He has a perfect view of the ocean and the rough landscape from his living quarters in the police station. And he is known and liked by just about everyone in the village and the nearby towns. Thr maid in question is not missed by many, even by those she works for. But Hamish solves the crime, once again removes an offender from the village scene, and sends the perpetrator off to prison elsewhere. At the end of each novel, peace descends again on the village, thanks to Hamish. As it should, in a Cozy mystery.

Finished reading Beaton's Death of a Gentle Lady, again with Constable Hamish Macbeth of the Scottish highland village of Lochdubh (fictional). Hamish tries to help save his police station and a Russian maid by proposing marriage, with grave consequences. Marriage eludes the policeman once again, though he does solve two or three murders.