Death of a Perfect Wife

A Hamish Macbeth Mystery, Book 4

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Hamish Macbeth, the laid-back constable of Lochdubh, Scotland, has a new Land Rover to drive and a Highland summer to savor, but as fast as rain rolls in from the loch, his happy life goes to hell in a hand basket.

The trouble begins when his beloved Priscilla Halburton-Smythe returns from London - with a fiancé on her arm. His miseries multiply when clouds of midges, the diabolical Scottish mosquito, descend on the town. Then a paragon of housewifery named Trixie Thomas moves into Lochdubh with her lapdog husband in tow. The newcomer quickly convinces the local ladies to embrace low-cholesterol meals, ban tobacco, and begin bird-watching. Soon the town's fish-and-chips-loving men are up in arms.

Now faced with the trials of his own soul, Macbeth must solve Lochdubh's newest crime: the mysterious poisoning of the perfect wife.

©2011 M.C. Beaton (P)2013 AudioGO

great story, great narration

Great story, great narration. I love Hamish and the people he serves and protects. Only person hard to like is Priscilla. To me, she seems like she likes playing hard to get. Like she wants her cake and wants to eat it too. I think any of M. C. beaton's books are great for when you want something quick and easy, or for when you want to take a trip out of in my case, the U.S. for a while.

Best ending

So far, this is my fave out of the series. Laugh out loud. The series is getting better and better. I laughed out loud at the ending. Wish I could’ve seen the look on Priscilla’s face.

A fun, light murder mystery

I enjoy the Hamish Macbeth series. I do feel the narrator should be scottish as this narrator was Australian and it took away from the story.

Another Good Book

I spent nearly the entire day finishing the previous book in this series and then listened to this one in it's entirety.
I enjoy the quaint Scottish village and the characters who live there.

These books are fun

I can’t stop listening to these books. They are so much fun. About to start #5

enjoy

Just really enjoy these books. Good mystery and Hamish I quite the psychologist. He is kind and compassionate.

Liked it a lot

Enjoyed the story and fell in love with Hamish. Can’t wait to hear more adventures!

Tongue -in- cheek humor and the interesting way the facts came together.

It was hard at times to identify the characters because there were so many of them. The narrator was very good.

Really good

Hamish is back to his hometown and a managing thief comes to town. Really enjoyed this one.

These books are addictive!

Like drugs they have their downside - the plots are implausible, the action often seems to jump in out of nowhere and disappear quickly. I picture the author as writing these books out hurriedly without much of an outline or any revision.

Still, they are intriguing and I love listening to them. Hamish is just so lovable!

Some have complained about the reader - I agree he is hard to understand when he does a heavy Scottish accent, as with Inspector Blair, but that doesn't come up very often and what Blair says is mostly blithering nonsense. I like Grindell's style when he's just narrating the story, and he does fine with the other characters.