DEATH OF AN OUTSIDER

Another case for charming Scottish constable Hamish MacBeth (Death of a Cad, etc.), this time away from his beloved village of Loch Dubh, doing a three-month stint as relief to Sergeant MacGregor in the gray, bleak crofting town of Cnothan. Homesickness and longing for the unattainable Priscilla Halburton-Smythe are soon overtaken by a strong attraction to another outsider, landscape-painter Jenny Lovelace—and by the gruesome murder of William Mainwaring, an Englishman the whole town loves to hate. The bizarre circumstances of his death pose a public-relations problem for boorish, not-too-bright Detective Chief Inspector Blair, brought in to direct the investigation. He's eager to pin the murder on town-drunk Sandy Carmichael—until Carmichael is found dead, a second victim. Meanwhile, Mainwaring's boozing wife; realtor Harry McKay; Mrs. Struthers, the minister's wife; and Jamie Ross, prosperous owner of the local fish-and-lobster plant, all had reason to hate and fear Mainwaring—but Hamish carries his inquiries to Edinburgh and returns with a solid case against a double killer. The puzzle is a little too patly solved, but some vividly drawn characters, a sharp evocation of a sour town, and Hamish's warmth and dry wit make for easy-going enjoyment.