Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 23)
At the start of Beaton's enjoyable 22nd Hamish Macbeth mystery (after  2006'sDeath of a Dreamer), the lovable  Scottish constable stumbles over the body of a gossipy housecleaner, Mrs. Mavis  Gillespie. She's been bludgeoned to death with her own pail, and there are  plenty of suspects to go around in the Highlands village of Lochdubh. None of  her clients liked her, but they insist she was a superb maid. Macbeth, noticing  thick layers of dust in their homes, digs a little deeper and learns that Mrs.  Gillespie was a more skilled blackmailer than housecleaner. His jealous senior  colleagues try to thwart his investigation, but he's determined to get to the  bottom of things. Meanwhile, the arrival of an erstwhile ladyfriend in town  with a new beau makes lifelong bachelorhood appear not so appealing to Macbeth,  who remains as charming a hero as ever in this funny, unpredictable read.(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.