Hamish
Macbeth expects that the ghostly noises emanating from Castle
Drim are nothing more than locals playing pranks, but new
owner and ex-cop Hanover “Handy” Ebrington wants
them checked out. While investigating, Hamish discovers a
dead body, but by the time the police have arrived it has
vanished! Clearly something is going on, and it is up to Hamish
to discover what before somebody else gets murdered.
Ms. Beaton has come up with the perfect recipe for writing
a long-running series. She wisely does not age the characters
and adds just enough changes to keep it interesting without
shedding important people who readers would miss. Although
almost everything is set in the Highlands in most books, we
get to visit a different location and meet some new characters.
There is a mix of the things people tend to associate with
the area with modern additions and a twisty, rather unusual
way of telling a story that usually spans a year. This time
Hamish and Charlie visit the gloomy, secretive village of
Drim and, despite the title, I can promise that there is nothing
of the supernatural to be found there. To say what they do
uncover would spoil the story, but as usual Ms. Beaton manages
to cram a lot into not that many pages and deliver up another
highly entertaining tale. As with all good series, we get
to revisit the usual characters and find out what they are
up to with a few surprises I didn’t see coming. I look
forward to the next in the series, not only for the new story
but to find out what happens to everybody. Highly recommended.
Reviews of other titles in this series
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