Sgt. Hamish Macbeth prefers the peace and quiet of village life, relative solitude, and his own low rank, but is unable to enjoy any of them in bestseller Beaton's diverting 28th cozy featuring the Scottish policeman (after 2011's Death of a Chimney Sweep). First, he's encumbered with lazy deadbeat Constable Dick Fraser. Meanwhile, disturbingly pretty Mary Leinster has transformed beautiful Buchan's Wood into a tourist attraction called Fairy Glen. Cantankerous Mrs. Colchester has her two awful grandchildren, 12-year-old Charles and 16-year-old Olivia, visiting and causing mischief. The murder of a kingfisher, his mate, and their nestlings is merely the opening salvo in a barrage of events perhaps aimed at ruining the Fairy Glen. Macbeth's nemesis, Detective Chief Inspector Blair, adds to his woes. A surprisingly high human body count finds Macbeth one step behind, but, as usual, leagues ahead of his nominal superiors in this entertaining entry. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The Scottish constable (Death of a Chimney Sweep) tackles a tourism-related murder in the latest installment of the popular cozy series. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*Starred Review* The twenty-seventh Hamish Macbeth mystery has all the elements Beaton fans come to expect: murder in a Scottish Highlands village and the semicomic, semiheroic investigation that follows. What makes the investigation swing between the comic and heroic is the tension between Beaton's canny series hero, Police Constable Macbeth, who applies common sense and deep knowledge of the locals to the crime, and the interference from the higher-ups in Strathclyde, obsessed with forensic evidence and closing the case in a hurry. Hamish knows what to look for at a crime scene, certainly, but he also knows far more than the city cops do about what human failings may have led to it. The latest starts with a bit of ecoterrorism: a glen newly publicized as a fairy glen to lure tourists is the site of the hanging of a kingfisher bird from a noose in a tree, the murder of its chicks in the nest, and the nearby vandalism of a bridge over which the tourist buses travel. And then an old, unloved, but very wealthy woman is blown through her home's skylight by a rocket attached to her chair lift. Two more murders, each grislier than the preceding, follow. As Macbeth investigates, his habit of falling in love with the wrong woman once again provides comic relief. An overarching theme of deception makes this an especially gripping episode. The Hamish Macbeth series, like Scotland's locally produced whiskey, only gets better with age.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2010 Booklist