Death of a Gossip
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| Death of a Gossip | |
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| Author | M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney) |
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| Series | Hamish Macbeth |
| Genre(s) | Detective Mystery |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
| Publication date | 1985 (1st edition) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 166(Hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0312186371 First Edition |
| Followed by | Death of a Cad |
Death of a Gossip is a mystery novel by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney), set in the fictional town of Lochdubh, Scotland featuring the local constable Hamish MacBeth.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Eight vacations meet at a fishing school in Scotland, one of them is murdered.
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Day One
Eight vacationers meet at the Hotel Lochdubh for a week of learning how to fly fish Salmon and Trout. The day begins awkwardly as Lady Jane gets in an altercation with Hamish Macbeth over coffee in the hotel lobby. John and Heather the owners of the fishing school teach the group how to tie leaders essential for their days ahead fishing. We learn that Alice is the secretary for the chief accountant at a large London firm and is love with her boss , a Mr Patterson James, and has taken this trip to impress him. After knot tying lessons they head up to Loch to learn how to cast. Lady Jane continues to disrupt the days activities by driving over their lunches, knocking Charlie Baxter into the water and generally annoying everyone. Jeremy shows an interest in Alice during the morning as they both go out on a boat to practice their casting. She learns that Jeremy is a barrister. All goes well until Dinner where the Major tells a story of how late in the day he had a 15 pound salmon on the line and Lady Jane needed to get by him and she just took out her scissors and cut his line. In front of all he threatens to kill her.
[edit] Day Two
We find out that after dinner last night Lady Jane apologized to the Major and she got along much better with everyone as they practiced tyring knows in the lounge. In the morning its a rainy day in Lochdubh and as usual Hamish Macbeth is hanging around the hotel drinking coffee and helping with the fire when a blond woman arrives outside by car, Hamish immediately goes out to help her with her bags and the two of them go off together. The fishing school all travel to another Loch where Charlie rows out with Lady Jane, Alice and Heather go off to fish and Alice with the help of Heather catches her first and only fish of that morning. After a poor lunch Jeremy accompanies Alice fishing and Alice dreams that Jeremy will sweep her into his arms but it all ends badly as he calls her a silly bitch. All is forgotten between them after Jeremy catches a fish, they all return to the hotel for a fishing lecture. Lady Jane implies something nasty about Alice's past and after she daydreams of Lady Jane falling off a cliff. She misses dinner. We learn that Charlie's parents are divorced as he sneaks out later that night and meets Hamish. They hear John and Heather arguing about a letter which gets thrown out the window towards the Loch. Charlie takes it home because of the interesting Austrian stamp.
[edit] Day Three
During Breakfast Lady Jane implies bad things about Hamish's family and various indiscretions about Daphene and Jeremy's past. They spend the day fishing with the Mjor going off by himself. Jeremy kisses Alice and they ride back together in his car. Alice has fantasies about marrying Jeremy and him becoming Prime Minister. When they arrive back the Major has caught 3 very large salmon and the group toast him at dinner with Champagne. Later Lady Jane tell everyone that the Major did not actually catch the fist but that he got them from a disconnected pool of water. After comments from Lady Jane, Mr. Roth believes that somehow she knows of his ugly divorce from his first wife. Hamish checks with a cousin who works in London on exactly who is Lady Jane. Priscilla Halliburton-Smythe drops by Hames's office with some grouse and they end up going off to the movies together.
[edit] Day Four
The day starts with casting lessons behind the hotel, Lady Jane does not join the group and this raises everyones spirits. They go to fish at a strong swirling pool along a river. John shows them how to cast and eventually appears to catch something. What comes to the surface is the dead body of Lady Jane. She has been strangled with a fishing leader and chains were wrapped around her legs. While waiting to be questioned the guests all admit to each other that they all wished for Lady Jane's death. Detectives arrive and tell Hamish to stay off the case as this kind of case is above him. Back at the hotel the detectives start their interviews.
[edit] Day Five
Alice visits Hamish at his office and asks his advice is someone like Jeremy would care for a girl who was arrested and went to court when she was a juvenile. Hamish tells her that Jeremy is a snob and would not be interested in her if not for the Holiday. Alice becomes furious and goes to tell Jeremy to prove Hamish wrong and eventually ends up in Jeremy's bed.
[edit] Characters in Death of a Gossip
- John Cartwright: Owner of the Lochdubh School of Casting:Salmon and Trout Fishing
- Heather Cartwright: Wife of John, believed to be the better angler
- Hamish Macbeth: Lochdubh's village constable
- Mr. Roth: An American from New York
- Mrs: Roth: An American from New York
- Lady Jane Winders: Widow of a Labour Peer, she is "The Gossip"
- Jeremy Blythe: A barrister from London
- Alice Wilson: A secretary from London
- Charlie Baxter: A twelve year old from London
- Major Peter Frame: Former army officer, the only member of the class with prior fishing experience
- Daphene Gore: from Oxford
- Priscilla Halliburton-Smythe:the daughter of a wealthy local landowner
[edit] Style
Death of a Gossip is a slightly modified version of an English Drawing Room Mystery.[1] This type of mystery bring together a group of people, one of the group is murdered and the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth solves the crime by careful observation of the group. At the end of the novel they are all brought together in drawing room where one by one each person is shown to be innocent and the guilty party is exposed.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The character of Hamish Macbeth was adapted by BBC Scotland into a television program.
[edit] Publication history
- 1985, USA, St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0312186371, Pub Date March 1985, Hardcover
- 1988, USA, Fawcett Publications publisher ISBN 9780312186371, Pub date 12 April 1988, Mass Market Paperback
- 1999, USA, Grand Central Publishing, ISBN 978-0446607131, Pub Date 01 Feb 1999, Mass Market Paperback
- 1989, UK, Savannah Koch publisher, ISBN 978-0951446409, Pub Date 05 August 1989, Hardcover
- 1994, UK, Bantam Books, London, ISBN 978-0553407914, Pub Date 28 July 1994, Paperback
- 2008, UK, Robinson Publishing, ISBN 978-1845296650, Pub Date 23 April 2008, Paperback
[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations
Death of a Gossip web page on UK publisher Constable & Robinson's web site.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Deandrea, William L. (1997-05-07). Encyclopedia Mysteriosa: A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Detection in Print, Film, Radio, and Television. Prentice Hall, 401. ISBN 9780671850258.
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