Death of a Dustman

Title: Death of a Dustman
Author: M.C. Beaton
Published: 2002 by Grand Central Publishing, originally in 2001.
Genre: Murder mystery dipped in dark humour.
Pages: 226


Oh man, I really should write about these books when I finish them, one by one, not in a big lump like this.

Death of a Dustman is a Hamish Macbeth mystery. Like I said last time I read one of these, almost two years ago, Hamish Macbeth is one of my favourite TV-series. I recently watched it, from start to finish, and didn't want to part with Lochdubh and its people so soon. Even though Hamish, his ex-girlfriend and her father are the only people from the series that I recognised in the book.

Lochdubh's dustman is a right asshole called Fergus, who likes to boss people around, get drunk and beat up his wife. When he gets a proper title of Environment Officer and even an uniform from an over-eager councilwoman who wants to make Scotland green, he becomes worse. So no wonder that he soon ends up dead. The whole village hated his guts, so Hamish and his food-loving constable Clarry have a lot of people to interview.

I read this as a snack in the middle of The Hobbit and Orlando, in only a few days as this was such a light, enjoyable treat between the heavier reading. Funny, also, in a bit of a creepy way. Ended up laughing out loud in the lunch room at work, again. But that was by far the coolest way I've ever read of how to bring down a helicopter. I'mma gonna have to start reading more of this series. I'm not going to mind.


Hamish drove slowly around the network of one-track roads joining the outlying crofts, and then out on the main Lochdubh-Strathbane road. The rain had stopped and the clouds had rolled back from the mountains. The blazing heather on either side of the road glittered with raindrops. He rolled down the window and breathed in the scent of wild thyme, heather and pine. The magnificence of the glorious landscape reduced the nasty little doings of men to insignificance. 
And then, as he crested a hill, he saw the shambling figure of the tramp on the road ahead of him. He drove up and stopped just in front of Sean and jumped down.