Death of a Hussy

A Hamish Macbeth Mystery, Book 5

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

A classic title from M. C. Beaton's New York Times best-selling Hamish Macbeth series.

About the best that can be said of wealthy Maggie Baird is that inside her middle-aged body, there still beats the heart of a beautiful tart. So when her car catches fire with Maggie in it, there are five likely suspects right on the premises of her luxurious Highlands cottage. Lochdubh police constable Hamish Macbeth has to question Maggie's timid niece and four former lovers, one of whom Maggie had intended to pick for her husband. All five are equally poor - with ample motive and opportunity to monkey with Maggie's car. Now to find the killer, the astute lawman must apply his extraordinary insight into human nature. But when the evidence appears to point to the wrong person entirely, Hamish must dig down deep to stop the real murderer's escape.

©1991 M. C. Beaton (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Shame on the Hussy 😂

What an entertaining listen! An overweight, self-absorbed hussy comes to Lochdubh, along with her timid niece, who has had cancer. Maggie Baird, the middle aged tart, decides to go off, leave her niece, Allison at the estate to type up her memoirs. While her aunt is gone, Allison takes it upon herself to ask Hamish to teach her to drive . . . and borrows her aunt's car. She manages to get her driving license, with a little help from Hamish.😉 When Maggie Baird returns, she is slim once again, sporting a new wardrobe, and still just as condescending as before. And she has invited four former lovers to holiday at the manor, one of which she hopes to marry. While she was away, Allison typed up her notes, dismayed to find that it was all total smut . . . a tell all of her escapades with men. Before Maggie could get too far in her entertaining of her four former lovers, however, she goes out to her car for a spin, only to get blown up and dies in a fiery blast. Hamish has his work cut out for him in determining which of Maggie's four lovers may have hated her enough to kill her . . . or could it have been Allison? Only M. C. Beaton could possibly write a book that covers such subject matter without filling it with horrible words, leaving it all to the listeners/readers imagination. This one is so funny . . . and SO good!

Easy listen.

Ok series. But each one is so short you should get 2 books for one credit. Engaging characters.

Enjoyable!

The best part of this book for me was the funny, intriguing characters.

The narration was great except for one thing: the character of Allison spoke in a voice that was quieter than the other voices. So I would have to turn up the volume to hear her, and them get my ears blasted when he switched to a different person.

Otherwise, it was entertaining!

Love this narrator

It was good to hear my favorite narrator on this one again. Love how he does the Scottish accents. Another great murder mystery solved by Hamish Macbeth. For as much as everyone says he's lazy, what would they do if he wasn't there to solve all the crimes? Great characters and story.

Small town stuff

Fun story a little irreverence ! enjoy this story for the simplicity and the theorys

Death of a Hussy : review

Shaun Grindell is the best narrator for the Hamish McBeth stories.

This tale has good characters a fine plot line and a surprise ending.

Well worth the read!

Favorite so far

This is my favorite Hamish Macbeth tale so far. So happy I've found M.C. Beaton's work.

pleasure

Good story with, as usual, a suprise murderer. Love these mysteries, so much fun. Love this aeries.

Narration

Would be really good, but for the horrendously fake accents & children’s book type narration. You get used to it eventually, but it detracts from the story

Really needs a narrator

While I immensely enjoy the Hamish Macbeth cozies, I am not sure why they change the narrator to Shaun Grindell, who inexplicably seems to be an Australian. While his performance has improved somewhat since the first one he did, his cadence tends to be rather plodding and tedious. His renditions of the dialogue are somewhat better, and, as an American, I cannot really comment on the accuracy of his Scottish accents, I can say that his attempts at American and Canadian accents are appalling. A female Canadian character in a previous book, sounded more like Scarlet O’Hara. Then any Canadian I have ever met. I am also not highly convinced by his English accents, either. Also, the editing is poorly done, which I cannot blame on Shaun. I will continue to listen to the Hamish Macbeth series, nonetheless, because I am addicted, and also they are freebies.