Strathclyde Television wants to make a series based on the books of Patricia Martyn-Broyd.
Out of print since the 1960s and rather dated even then, they feature an aristocratic Scottish
detective called Lady Harriet Vare who lives in a castle. No wonder that the village of Drim,
not far from Lochdubh is so perfect, and the writer even now lives nearby herself. But the TV
company’s version of the books is nothing like the author wrote, and she is about to be
confronted by that fact. When somebody gets murdered, the author is keen to get her friendly
local bobby Hamish Macbeth to solve the case himself.
Having seen the TV series based on these books I cannot help but imagine
that was what the author was thinking of when she wrote this, and
so perhaps this is the most satirical of all her books. The scene
of the crime returns to the strange village of Drim, and there is
plenty to enjoy as the series starts being filmed and everything
starts to unravel. This is a rather linear story that lacks some
of the body of the series’ strongest titles, but is still very entertaining
as Ms Beaton sets about lampooning modern TV companies and their
tendencies when dramatising books, weird villages and old fashioned
writers. Just sit back and enjoy.
Reviews of other titles in this series