M. C. Beaton. Death of a Gentle Lady. Grand Central, 2008. A Hamish Macbeth Mystery.

Death of a Gentle Lady’s title is a word play. The victim (one of them anyhow) appears to be aristocracy, but her name is Gentle. Like many mysteries, she appears to have been murdered but the murderer staged it to look like an accident. And, as in the case in many mystery novels, no one seems to have liked her very much. Almost anyone who knew her could be considered a suspect, especially her son, daughter, nephew, and their spouses.

Another suspect might be her maid. But it sounds like Mrs. Gentle hired her to help the young woman out of a terrible and unjust situation. And our sleuthing constable Hamish Macbeth has attempted the same thing. Ayesha, Turkish passport and legal resident of the U.K., fears she has overstayed her visa and is about to be deported. She originally came on a student visa but could not afford school and does not want to be deported.

Hamish has a solution—a marriage of convenience. Marry him, he proposes, and you can stay. He is not interested in her romantically at all, but it would keep a couple of women at bay and also might make headquarters less likely to transfer him. As is apparently true in all the Hamish Macbeth stories, Hamish has to figure out a way to stay in Lochdubh, a location he loves. If he does not do a good job, he could lose his job, but his problem is that he may likely get promoted and have to leave Lochdubh. In all the stories there are two long-suffering women, Priscilla and Elspeth, whom he likes but cannot commit to.

Ayesha, though, disappears on their wedding day. People sympathize with Hamish. Mrs. Gentle has prepared a nice reception for them at her mansion which overlooks a sea cliff. This is not the usual reluctant bride story, though. Her suitcase is packed in her room. A ten thousand pound cash gift is still in the suitcase, too. Anyone fleeing would certainly have taken the money if not the suitcase.

Shortly afterwards, as noted already, someone murders Mrs. Gentle. One theory is that Ayesha did it, and the ten thousand pounds was blackmail.

Meanwhile, the constabulary looking into Ayesha discover that she came to England on a stolen passport. She was Russian, not Turkish, and connected with organized crime. The sympathy towards Hamish suddenly turns hostile. Why would he want to marry a prostitute? What if he contracted AIDS from her?

One person who has been especially hostile towards Hamish is Sergeant Blair. Blair is an alcoholic and, because of that, not especially competent. But he has connections among both politicians and criminals. When he gets drunk and has to go into rehab, he blames Hamish for his misfortune. Blair develops a complicated scheme that would probably get Hamish fired if the plan works.

Also there is a subplot involving Shakespeare’s Macbeth. An author of a few bestsellers years ago has come to Lochdubh from England. Hamish sets him up by explaining some ridiculous “Gaelic traditions” of hospitality that he falls for. Fortunately for Hamish the author has a sense of humor, so he holds no grudge.

What he does hold are tryouts for a local production of Macbeth. He figures it ought be authentic if he gets Highlanders to play the parts. We know from experience and tradition that in England Macbeth is considered a haunted play. British actors will often not even mention it by name because of the bad luck associated with it. It is simply The Scottish Play. Apparently, that is not the case in Scotland. Our writer holds tryouts and gets a cast together.

His problem is that the cast keeps changing. Mrs. Gentle, who was in the play, obviously, is murdered. But other actors leave or miss rehearsals. It is all very casual in Lochdubh. This also provides some comic relief along with the misunderstandings about Hamish’s marriage and the eventual comeuppance that happens to Blair.

The climax of the mystery is something straight out of a Gothic novel. After all, Mrs. Gentle lives in castellated mansion. Some things here go back to not only The House of Seven Gables or the House of Usher, but even The Castle of Otranto. This Hamish novel has a lot of fun along with its murders and other horrors. It has a little of something for everyone