Book Review - and video interviews with the authors

Dastardly doings and beastly burglaries in the Scottish Highlands

When I was running Crime Fiction Fix, a digital magazine for crime fiction and mystery writers, now sadly defunct (the magazine, not, by and large, the writers, I’m happy to say), I was extraordinarily lucky to be able to hold video interviews with a great number of well-known crime fiction writers. Notable amongst those was an interview with M.C. Beaton, held just a year before her death. It was a very hot day in central London, and the interview took place in a conference room at her publisher’s offices, but even with all that, M.C. Beaton’s delightful, witty personality shines through. 

Since her death, and with her collusion and encouragement, Rod Green has taken up the baton of continuing her crime series. This, Death of a Spy¹ is the 37th in the Death series, which follows local policeman Hamish Macbeth as he deals with crime, disorder and disgruntlement in the vast area of Sutherland which is his patch. Hamish is based in Lochdubh, a delightful village which, in this book, is beset with a series of increasingly unpleasant and violent burglaries. It’s worth noting that, although the tone of these books is always gentle and light, the grim realities of the repercussions of criminal behaviour is never glossed over. As well as the burglaries, though, Hamish has also to deal with finding and protecting the last remaining remnants of a Soviet-era spy ring, whose elderly members are being ‘tidied up’ by the new régime. He is being supported in his endeavours by an American, James Bland. Although Bland is ostensibly in Scotland on secondment in support of Macbeth, it soon becomes clear that he is far from being the simple police officer he initially presents himself as being. The plot is complex and far-ranging, the characters range from the delightfully eccentric to the authentically threatening, and the whole story is, as always, a charming and satisfying read. 

In another video interview which I carried out last year, I was able to ask Rod Green how he manages to write fresh new stories while remaining faithful to the tenor and tone of M.C. Beaton’s originals. His answers are fascinating.

1. Death of a Spy, by M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green (Constable, 2024)