#AmReading – Death Of A Nurse

Death of a Nurse by M.C. Beaton (2016) – Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth has a quiet beat on the west coast of Scotland.  And he likes it that way. Then a grumpy old man moves into a restored hunting lodge.  With him comes a lovely nurse, Gloria Dainty.  Hamish asks her out to dinner, only to be stood up.  She had a good reason, Gloria Dainty is dead.  Now Hamish must find the murderer.

I have a friend who introduced me to the concept of “popcorn reading”.  That’s reading that is fun and easily consumed.  Perfect for your summer reading list.  “Death of a Nurse” is all of that and more.  Even better is that this is part of a well-established series of 30+ mysteries.

The formula here is familiar.  A rather grumpy, loner of a detective with relationship issues.  Some fun and quirky locals making his life difficult/interesting in an interesting setting.  Drop in the new, young partner, Charlie Carter, who is even bigger than Hamish, terminally awkward and eager to please.  For the veteran mystery reader, it’s comfortable territory.  If that sounds like I’m dismissing the book/series lightly, I’m not.  Beaton was (she died in December of last year) a veteran and successful author in both the mystery and romance genres.  They perfected this kind of mystery in the United Kingdom, and she brings all the traditions, twists and turns you would expect.

Young Charlie finds himself in an awkward situation with his attractive, older, female boss.  Hamish has his own romantic history to deal with, including an almost father-in-law that carries a grudge.  Plus, you know, murders.

Stories like these are being cast as “cozy mysteries” these days (I’ve reviewed a couple this year).  The more I think about it, the less appealing I find the name.  The idea is to differentiate them from the modern mystery style, which can be long on descriptions of violence.  In the classic mystery that violence takes place “off-stage”, after the fashion of classic Greek theater.  Descriptions of the resulting mayhem stay to the minimum needed to set the scene.  But the emphasis is on the mystery, rather than some vicarious thrill over the blood and pain.  I’ve read plenty of modern mysteries and enjoyed many of them.  In the end, that level of darkness isn’t what I want in my life.  I don’t need to go “inside the head” of another sociopath.  Nor do I need to read long passages about the kinds of destruction that grows from that mental dysfunction. It’s not my idea of a good time.

Then there’s Hamish Macbeth.

If you love mysteries and series, this could be just what you want.  You could fill the summer walking through the highland mysteries with Hamish Macbeth.

Rating – **** Recommended