Their first case together is to solve the murder of Annie Fleming, a local beauty queen who has been blown up by Valentine letter bomb.  Of course, Annie is not the pure beauty she makes herself out to be for her parents’ sake.  She is very popular with the local men and is a drug-user, having a drug-dealer for a boyfriend. 

Annie’s murder leads to a raid on a local club which then in turn leads to her boyfriend’s murder, making Hamish suspicious that Mark may have been the target all along.  The case gets dicey and though she appears to be helping, a lovesick and often drunk Josie is figuring out how she will get Hamish to say “I do.”  She hatches a plan that she’s sure can’t fail, but Hamish’s friends Angela and Elspeth suspect something is up with Josie and do a little investigating on their own to save their friend a lifetime of heartache.

  Once again, M.C. Beaton has created the perfect blend of an English cozy with a police procedural.  While the plots are always a good, dependable puzzle, it is Hamish’s brush with marriage that makes this outing a standout.  Hamish isn’t marrying Josie for love, but out of a sense of duty and is more the respected for it;  he is lucky to have close friends such as Angela and Elspeth, who may be unwittingly working her way back into Hamish’s heart, to ask the questions and investigate where he, the trained investigator took Josie at her word. 

Pleased with his promotion, but concerned he may be transferred from his beloved Lochdubh, Hamish is not surprised to have an under officer assigned to him, he just hopes the next one that makes their way to Lochdubh is not lovestruck by his superior.  Nothing is left out, all the elements of a strong plot are seen to, making this another enjoyable book in the long running (twenty-five and counting) Hamish Macbeth series.                                                                          

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry