Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton

Hamish Macbeth is as iconic as they come. The stereotypical local Scottish policeman afraid of change, happy with his lot and woe betide anyone who turns up spoiling his tranquillity and bachelorhood, will remain in Scottish folklore for generations to come – as far as I am concerned!

“Death of a Valentine”, published later this week is the latest in a long line of titles written by M.C. Beaton, the pseudonym of Marion Chesney who was incidentally born in Glasgow in 1936.

In 1995, BBC Scotland aired twenty episodes of the quirky, opinionated policeman – played by Robert Carlyle. It was via this television series that I received my first introduction to the life of Hamish Macbeth and his West Highland Terrier named Wee Jock. Naively some may say but I’d never even considered that the television series was loosely based on the brainchild of an author – a highly respected one at that.

With that in mind, when Constable & Robinson sent me a copy of “Death of a Valentine” last week I jumped at the chance to finally see what all the fuss was about and compare the television persona I remembered fondly to M.C Beaton’s version directly from print – I wasn’t disappointed!

Hamish Macbeth is standing at the altar in Lochdubh, a fictitious town on the North coast of Scotland. The policeman is waiting for the arrival of his bride to be – Constable Josie McSween. With Macbeth’s final words as a single man ringing out, just as the prologue ends, we are beamed back a year in the past to discover how a young female Constable snared the (almost nearly!) bachelor into saying “I Do”!

Hamish MacBeth raised his eyes to the old beams on the church roof and murmured desperately the soldier’s prayer “Dear God, if there is a God, get me out of this!”

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Annie Flemming, a local beauty queen who lived in a neighbouring village had decided to delay her trek into work – it was Valentine’s Day after all and she was expecting cards. A knock on the door brought about six cards and a curious parcel from the local postman – all addressed to the young queen. She opened the cards and to her dismay one troubled her – was it a threat or was someone having a joke at her expense? She picked up the parcel and opened it – it was the last thing she did –Boom!

This brutal murder is the first of a handful of crimes to beset the community, and it’s this crime spree that inevitably draws Hamish and Josie ever closer over the winter months. But all is not what it seems and beneath the surface the female swan is frantically treading water, struggling to snare her man.

Josie surprised me. With limited knowledge of Beaton’s novels I must confess I hadn’t expected such a complex leading character – totally inept at her chosen career as a policewoman I did wonder what, if anything, she would be good at. It slowly transpired that when she put her mind to it, she had an answer to every situation – or did she?!

I have to admit I did find myself frustrated with her at times but I think Beaton had this in mind. She wanted to bring about an un-restful side of Macbeth – someone had stepped on his patch and was, slowly but surely changing his outlook and unfortunately for Hamish he was in the car but certainly not driving!

Macbeth’s character was just as I imagined him to be (apart from the red hair!). With an eye for the ladies, he was happy with his life in Lochdubh and with his recent promotion to Sergeant his idyllic life was in jeopardy. The last thing he needed was another copper to show up.

The narrative is crisp and the flow is effortless. A highly satisfying read that is over before you know it – I certainly want to revisit Lochdubh as soon as I can – I want to see if Macbeth can find another “secret” place to hide the key to the police station! A charming read, Death of a Valentine is a must read.

Published by Constable & Robinson Death of a Valentine is availably now from “The Book Depository” (free p&p)