Full of the author's trademark zest and wit, bestseller Beaton's 23rd Hamish Macbeth mystery (after 2007's Death of a Maid) finds the 50-year-old Scottish detective taking pity on a beautiful Turkish maid named Ayesha in danger of being deported, and asking her to marry him. When Ayesha goes missing and her employer, Mrs. Gentle, turns up murdered, Hamish discovers that his bride-to-be wasn't exactly who she claimed to be. The villagers thought Mrs. Gentle was a sweet old lady, but why would such a nice woman be the target of blackmail? Threaded throughout the ever-twisting plot of the murder investigation are the ongoing saga of Hamish's love life and the vendetta against him of his nemesis, Detective Chief Inspector Blair. Beaton fans will be delighted. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Hamish Macbeth must connive once more to keep his job policing his beloved village of Lochdubh. Although the Highlands do not always welcome English arrivals, sweet, ladylike, wealthy Mrs. Gentle has been widely accepted. Only Hamish realizes that she is a snake in the grass working to close his station. When Mrs. Gentle discovers that the papers of her beautiful blonde employee Ayesha Tahir are not in order, she asks her to leave. In a weak moment, Hamish offers to marry Ayesha so she can stay in the U.K. Mrs. Gentle promises a wedding and a large cash gift, pledges Ayesha blackmails her into keeping. But Hamish is left standing at the altar when both Mrs. Gentle and Ayesha disappear. Investigation reveals that Ayesha was actually a high-class Russian prostitute who stole a passport to escape her Russian Mafia protector. After both women are found dead, Mrs. Gentle's dry-eyed family become prime suspects, but they all have alibis, and a strange woman seen around town who seems like another suspect has vanished into thin air. Hamish must cope with an attractive Russian police inspector, both of his ex-girlfriends and the machinations of alcoholic, envious DCI Blair before he can close the case. Hamish's 23rd adventure (Death of a Maid, 2007, etc.) is one of his best, with the usual charming details of Highland life and a crackerjack mystery to boot. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The long-running Hamish Macbeth series (this is the twenty-third entry) is the fictional equivalent of Yorkshire vet James Herriott's tales. Like Herriott, Macbeth is in love with his northerly country (in Macbeth's case, the Highlands of Scotland) and tends to the eccentric, cranky, sometimes villainous villagers through his profession Macbeth is the sole policeman in the tiny town of Lochdubh. In the latest, Macbeth takes a loathing to the latest transplant from Britain, Mrs. Margaret Gentle, who lives in a nineteenth-century, turreted, cliff-side castle. Gentle launches a smear campaign that results in the threatened closing of Macbeth's station. This mystery is loaded with action, including a gorgeous illegal alien, fired by Gentle, whom Macbeth promises to marry; the discovery of the alien's body in a trunk in the castle; and the discovery of Mrs. Gentle in the sea crashing around her castle. Filled with Highlands scenery, sharp observation, and hairpin-turn plotting.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2008 Booklist

Simultaneously endearing and frustrating, Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth must solve two murders in this 24th book of New York Times best-selling author Beaton's acclaimed series. This time, Hamish almost immediately dislikes his beloved village -Lochdubh's newest resident, the saccharine Mrs. Gentle. As usual, everyone else thinks he's daft until the elderly widow's facade begins to crack, showing her truly nasty personality. Mrs. Gentle fires an apparently passportless Middle Eastern girl, so Hamish characteristically makes her a spur-of-the-moment marriage proposal that he almost instantaneously regrets. After the woman he now knows to be a Russian prostitute strands Hamish at the altar, he thinks murder is afoot. Add in the violent end of Mrs. Gentle, the presence of Hamish's mortal enemy, Chief Detective Inspector Blair, a blackmailing hooker, and the Lochdubh residents' certainty that they'll all catch AIDS from Hamish, and the listener has a comfortably enjoyable and amusing time. Narrator Graeme Malcolm is particularly good with the female voices--there is never any doubt about which character is speaking. His array of English and Scottish accents is impressive, his pacing is excellent, and he is able to convey both humorous and serious moments with ease. Essential for public libraries. [The Soul Thief is also available as downloadable audio from Audible.com.--Ed.]--B. Allison Gray, Palmdale City Lib., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.