The aromas of wild thyme and Highland heather waft through Lochdubh, home to M. C. Beaton’s lanky policeman, Hamish Macbeth. Yet what the likeable village constable senses in his latest case is the acrid scent of fear as an entire town is entrapped in something dark and deadly.Yet, as he deftly investigates the summer’s high crimes and misdemeanors, he attracts the attention of his superiors. They feel a promotion and transfer will give him a larger playing field than his small vil...

When the townspeople of Lochdubh begin receiving poison-pen letters, no one takes them very seriously, even if they are full of wild accusations. But Hamish Macbeth fears that they might lead to something deadly.His instincts prove correct when the town's postmistress is found hanging from a rope with a poison-pen letter at her feet. Though it appears to be a suicide, Hamish suspects something more sinister. Attempting to trace the letters, the last thing Hamish needs is any distra...

When Fergus Macleod, Lochdubh’s abusive, drunk dustman is put in charge of the local recycling center, Hamish Macbeth smells trouble. Sure enough, Fergus, imbued with his new powers, becomes a bullying tyrant. When his body is found stuffed in a recycling bin, no one is sorry—including his long-suffering family. But Macbeth is surprised to find that many of the despicable dustman’s victims refuse to talk—and when violence strikes again, the lanky lawman must quickly unearth the culprit amo...

Lochdubh, a remote village reached only by a one-track lane, nestles serenely amid Scotland’s hills, until well-known television reporter Crystal French races into town in her bright BMW. And the local constable, Hamish Macbeth, wed to duty instead of the girlfriend who dumped him, promptly gives her a summons for reckless driving.Outraged, Crystal makes Macbeth’s life a misery with a TV report on policing in the Highlands. When she also rakes up old local scandals for her new hit ...

Occasionally, the rugged landscape of Scotland attracts dreamers who move north, wrapped in fantasies of enjoying the simple life. They usually don’t last, defeated by the climate or by inhospitable locals. But it looks as if Effie Garrand has come to stay.When local constable Hamish Macbeth calls on her, he is amazed to find the small woman still in residence after a particularly hideous winter. Unfortunately, Effie is also quite delusional, having convinced herself—and everyone e...

Hamish Macbeth, constable in the remote Scottish highlands village of Lochdubh, loves his job amongst his mostly happy neighbors—until murder taints the town.Mrs. Gillespie is famous for being the best maid in the northwest of Sutherland. But to Hamish Macbeth, she is a malicious gossip who bangs around the furniture and clanks pots. When Hamish wins Mrs. Gillespie’s services in a church raffle, he spends most of the day trying to avoid her. He doesn’t understand h...

Please note: In S., J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst conceived of a multi-layered novel-within-a-novel that involves handwritten notes in the margins and physical objects slipped between the pages. Because an audio edition is unable to recreate those innately visual pieces and thus the full experience of S., only the text of Ship of Theseus, the novel at the heart of S., has been recorded here.Award-winning actor Graeme Malcolm reads the work of an incendiary n...

In the isolated villages in the north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the chimney sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands—until the day that Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney.The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chimney sweep is...

Amazing news has spread across the Scottish countryside. The most famous of highland bachelors, police sergeant Hamish Macbeth, will be married at last. Everyone in the village of Lochdubh adores Josie McSween, Macbeth's newest constable and blushing bride-to-be.While locals think Josie is quite a catch, Hamish has a case of prenuptial jitters. After all, if it weren't for the recent murder of a beautiful woman in a neighboring village, there wouldn't be a wedding at all. For it wa...

In the dark, wintry highlands of Lochdubh, Scotland, where the local Calvinist element resists the secular trimmings of Christmas, the spirit of old Saint Nick is about as welcome as a flat tire on a deserted road.Nor is crime taking a holiday. Likeable village constable Hamish Macbeth soon finds himself protecting an unhappy girl, unlocking the secrets of a frightened old woman, and retrieving some stolen holiday goods.Now the lanky copper must use all his Highland charm a...

When Scotland is hit by recession, police constable Hamish Macbeth notices that the Highland people are forced to come up with inventive ways to lure tourists to their sleepy towns. The quaint village of Braikie doesn't have much to offer, other than a place of rare beauty called Buchan's Wood, which was bequeathed to the town. The savvy local tourist director renames the woods "The Fairy Glen," and has brochures printed with a beautiful photograph of a kingfisher rising from a pond on the...

Tom Patey, one of Scotland’s foremost climbers and mountaineers, was legendary for his pioneering ascents and boundless enthusiasm, and his carefree approach and ability to burn the candle at both ends. "A Short Walk With Whillans" was originally published in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in 1963.