I have been saddened at the passing of Marion Chesney Gibbon. I have only begun to process these feelings by actually writing an article about her and the last Hamish Macbeth books written as M.C. Beaton. Surely it is because Hamish is my favorite of her characters in her more than 160 books although there have been many characters and books from which to choose.
Agatha is bored with the usual cases for her detective agency, but when she gets involved with bell ringers, a missing woman, a beautiful bishop, and an old folks home, things get interesting.
Poor Police Sergeant Hamish MacBeth. He’s a good police officer but his love life is just not working out. First there was the cold and distant Priscilla and then there was Elspeth, a really nice woman who Hamish thought was cheating on him. By the time he figured out his mistake, Elspeth had moved on. Now Christine, the medical examiner, is interested in Hamish. Unfortunately and typically, he’s attracted to a baker, Anka. She, however, is attracted to Hamish’s friend, Dick. It all gets convoluted but not nearly as complicated as a series of murders.
Many readers, I among them, cannot seem to carry on reading an otherwise good mystery if they cannot relate to or like the protagonist of the piece. Is this bad news for authors? Perhaps not, although as each reader is a critic with decidedly individual preferences, we all make allowances when intrigued. A character that would be difficult to live with might just have saving graces when it comes to solving crimes and saving the day, and we do tend to appreciate genius in its many forms. We also delight in the process of detection winding its way through a killer plot concluding with some degree of resolution.
