Death of a Liar
By M.C.Beaton, Grand Central, 272 pages, $25
Set in remote Scotland, amid the Highlands and a loch, this village murder mystery is given a fair peppering of pretty women and regular food breaks. The women are not mere candy but tough career people functioning as a forensic officer, television anchorperson and baker.
In this mix is the detective police officer Hamish Macbeth, who is quite in love with his idyllic setting, enough to attempt blackmail when superiors threaten to shut his station down in the name of cost cutting. I wish it were that easy to save jobs. Nevertheless, it helps to remember that it is a work of fiction.
The book is an easy read and has a remarkably slow pace for a murder mystery, almost real life in how things evolve month by month. It is not boring and is more about office politics rather than the actual solving of the mystery.
The plot revolves around strange expatriate residents who end up dead.
I wouldn’t call it unputdownable (if that might be a word), but you definitely do want to know where the story is leading and where all the money ends up. There are a few fortuitous moments as in most storylines but done in a plausible manner.
However, my favourite bit was the police partner with a skill for winning pub quizzes and stocking up the station with shiny new gadgets as a direct result of that. He ends up abandoning his sleuthing to set up a bakery with a Polish beauty. This probably has a strong resonance for those who have always harboured a secret desire for an alternative career while staring down a pile of files and numbers.
“Death of a Liar” involves cocaine, millions of dollars, tattooed gangsters, an erratic seer and loving pets. Read it for a gentle respite, not if you are looking for a thriller.