Collected Miscellany

Death of a Valentine (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries) by M.C. Beaton

Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Beaton’s enjoyable 25th Hamish Macbeth mystery (after 2008’s Death of a Witch), a Valentine’s Day parcel explodes in the face of the Scottish Highlands’ Lammas festival queen, Annie Fleming, as soon as she tries to open it, killing her instantly. Hamish Macbeth, newly promoted to sergeant, would rather investigate with only his trusty pets in tow, but is instead forced to tote along his new constable, the less than professional Josie McSween. Considered “prim and proper and a right innocent,” Annie turns out to have been leading a less than virtuous double life, with no shortage of suspects in her murder. A much sought after bachelor, Hamish desperately tries to break the case, while Josie, with dreams in her eyes, strives to crack Hamish’s heart. Will Josie succeed in getting Hamish to say “I do” at the altar? For all the book’s farcical moments, Beaton takes care as usual to provide a satisfying police procedural.

Death of a Witch (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries) by M.C. Beaton

Publishers Weekly

Cover via Amazon

In bestseller Beaton’s devilishly droll 24th mystery to feature police constable Hamish Macbeth (after 2008’s Death of a Gentle Lady), the Scottish Highlands’ most stubborn (and romantically challenged) bachelor returns to his home village of Lochdubh from a disappointing vacation to discover a witch stirring up trouble. To Macbeth’s annoyance, the sex-starved local men have fallen under the spell of Catriona Beldame, who turns out to be a runaway bride with a shady past. Macbeth longs to prove she’s selling illegal (and bogus) remedies for sexual dysfunction, and warns her to stop if she is. Macbeth gets a shock when someone murders Beldame and sets her house on fire-soon after Macbeth is overheard to say he’d like to kill her. Three more murders of other women quickly follow. Could a serial killer be loose in sleepy Lochdubh? As usual, Beaton’s crisp plotting and effervescent humor complement Macbeth’s deft crime solving.

–> I Am Not A Psychic by Richard Belzer

Publishers Weekly

Actor and comic Belzer, best known for his long-running portrayal of the acerbic detective John Munch on the TV series Homicide and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, fares much better with his second light crime novel featuring himself as the amateur sleuth. Both the plotting and the prose are sharper than in 2008’s I Am Not a Cop! and offer promise that future books may be better still. Just before Belzer leaves New York City for Las Vegas to cohost a charity telethon, Paul Venchus, with whom Belzer once worked as a reporter, calls and asks for his help cracking a conspiracy. Venchus claims the suspicious deaths of a Marilyn Monroe–like actress and her congressman lover were actually murders. After Venchus turns up dead himself, possibly from an alcohol overdose, his girlfriend comes to Vegas to implore Belzer to investigate. Despite a deus ex machina, snappy dialogue and solid pacing makes this a success on its own terms.

–> I Am Not A Cop! by Richard Belzer (now out in paperback)

Publishers Weekly

Those looking for a new crime series starring an author’s fictional alter ego to fill the void left by Kinky Friedman’s series that ended with Ten Little New Yorkers shouldn’t expect too much from the fiction debut of actor and standup comic Belzer, best known for his role as Det. John Munch in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. When an old friend of Belzer’s, New York City assistant medical examiner Rudy Markovich, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Belzer decides to investigate. After the actor finds a clue referring to four recent deaths, he and Kalisha Carter, the attractive woman his producer assigns to keep an eye on him, dig into those cases with mostly predictable results. Action sequences alternate with the detection, allowing Belzer to show off his martial-arts skills. Hopefully, Belzer’s acerbic screen persona will be more on display in any sequel.

I used to be one of those thorough types who always read a series in order and liked to read widely in an author’s work in order to judge their latest book.  But these days I don’t have the time or energy for that sort of diligence.  There are so many books I want to read in so many different styles and genres I tend to just read whatever book grabs my attention at the moment.  Not very disciplined I know, but there it is.

I bring this up because in times past I would have read the first two books before picking up the latest H. Terrell Griffin Matt Royal mystery Blood Island.  But I didn’t and so I can’t really comment on the series or any backstory I might have missed.  But luckily the book functions as a stand alone story.

Enough discursive introduction then, what about the book?  It was an entertaining mystery/action story with some unique plot lines.

The central character is obviously Matt Royal a semi-retired trial lawyer living in Longboat Key, Florida. Royals high pressure legal career burned him out and cost him his marriage, but he ended up with enough money to live in Longboat and do pro-bono legal and investigative work.  He is also an ex-special forces Vietnam veteran.

Like so many mysteries the story kicks of with a dead body.  This one found in local bird sanctuary.  Royal doesn’t think much of it at first, but when his ex-wife Laura turns to him for help in find her step-daughter, Peggy, things get complicated.  Soon Laura is missing too, the violence escalates and the body count grows.  With far too many unexplained coincidences Royal finds himself in the center of a dangerous plot.

FYI, what follows includes plot spoilers for those of you who don’t want to read those sort of things.

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