Death of a Smuggler Audiobook By M. C. Beaton, R.W. Green cover art

Death of a Smuggler

A Hamish Macbeth Mystery, Book 37

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Death of a Smuggler

By: M. C. Beaton, R.W. Green
Narrated by: David Monteath
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About this listen

From a New York Times bestselling author, a murder, a missing man, and his newest constable’s secret past are all that’s standing in the way of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth's relaxing winter.

All Hamish Macbeth wants is a quiet life in his peaceful home in the Highland village of Lochdubh. But when his newly-assigned constable arrives, he presents Hamish with a surprise and a secret. Getting to the bottom of the secret becomes the least of Hamish’s problems when he meets a family who have a score to settle with a sinister man who has mysteriously gone missing. Discovering a murdered woman’s body puts further pressure on Hamish, especially when it becomes clear that the murdered woman and the missing man are linked.

To Hamish’s horror, he then finds himself working on the murder case with the despicable Detective Chief Inspector Blair–his sworn enemy–who has been drafted in under curious circumstances. With a growing list of suspects, ever more bewildering circumstances and Blair hindering him at every turn, Hamish must find the murderer before anyone else falls victim.

Never has a quiet life seemed further from his grasp!

©2025 M. C. Beaton (P)2025 Grand Central Publishing
Cozy Genre Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Small Town & Rural

Critic reviews

“Series fans will be well pleased.”—Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Death of a Smuggler

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Death of a Series

It’s not the same. RWG inherited characters, location and culture but not the charm, humor or warmth that MCB infused in the 30+ years of storytelling. The 3-4 posthumous books are a decent homage but lack the quirkiness that made Hamish and friends worth hearing about since 1985. This is a “police procedural” with no twists. Attempted thrills or action scenes are incomprehensibly enacted. (Anxiety and excitement are there but the action is not physically realistic).

I suppose there is some nostalgia for days gone by as the technology is early 2000s with flip phones (?) only and no CSI, forensics or location tracking available. Security cameras seem uninvented.
Hamish is in a new 2 story station without chickens or sheep; he has armoured clothes but no gun or taser nor updated backup procedures. The Halburton-Smythe father and daughter are strange caricatures of their former selves. But (after so very many years of disappointment) Hamish has a promising ongoing relationship (with paramedic Clare)!

We do casually meet most familiar townsfolk and the summer beauty of NW Scotland is appreciable. (But) the story is formulaic and linear. The cop buddies theme is repeated.

I think the narration was terrible.
I love a Scot accent on BBC4, and whenever, and don’t understand why a Scotsman can’t narrate a book set in Scotland (?). Why is Hamish presented as elderly and English?

It’s a new series. The characters we hear about are not necessarily the same people we thought we knew. Unless RWG attains a sense of humor and charm, they will be stuck in prosaic formulaic activities without escape.

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Amazing

Great story line, believable and timely. Reads like vintage MacBeth stories. I like the new love interest, hoping to hear more on that!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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I Miss Hamish

Where did the humor go? There was nothing that could elicit even a smile in this story. Also, Hamish sounds like an old man. It took forever for the story to become somewhat interesting, Unfortunately, the storyline was dull from beginning to end. Hamish is barely seen in the beginning of the story which was pretty much mangled to begin with. I miss Hamish.

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Hamish’s dialog was not intelligent enough according to past books

Just wasn’t the same comforting Hamish series. Hamish was dumbed down other characters were disappointing not enough references to the past too predictable.

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This is a complete rewrite of character

This has nothing to do with the Hamish Macbeth of old. Probably one of the most uninteresting story lines with reinterpretation of characters. I would be embarrassed to recommend it and want my credit back.

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