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Read Death Of A Dentist (1998)

Death of a Dentist (1998)

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3.78 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0446606014 (ISBN13: 9780446606011)
Language
English
Publisher
warner books

Death Of A Dentist (1998) - Plot & Excerpts

Author: MC BeatonNarrator: Shaun GrindellLength: 6.5 hours UnabridgedPublished: Feb 1, 2014Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.Hamish Macbeth's call for help is met with a snarky response from the dentist's receptionist. Medication from a fellow Loch Dubh resident comes with a warning as to the dentist's penchant for pulling rather than saving teeth. Tooth ache undiminished and curiosity aroused, Hamish journeys 120 miles the next morning to meet the dentist of ill repute. No receptionist in sight, Hamish enters the office and the mystery begins...An active investigation, Hamish's intuitive skills are well rewarded with results whilst his department superiors deride him at every opportunity. Obstinate villagers and depictions of Scottish village life are well portrayed by both author and narrator who brings them to life with his accented dialogue and description. Grindell's understanding of the characters results in masterful storytelling. A pleasure to find myself in the Highlands if only for the few hours of the story. Grindell's pacing and steadiness in the telling results in a seamless story. Excellent comprehension as the narration is without variation in speed of reading whilst providing good emphasis and energy. Grindell knows the value of silence in the pause. Much appreciated by a listening ear. Blackstone, once again, provides a well produced audio with clarity of sound, speed, and without interference, neither drops in volume. A pleasure to listen.Author: MC Beaton - has won international acclaim for her bestselling Hamish Macbeth mysteries series. She is also the author of more than one hundred romance titles and a series of romantic suspense novels, the Edwardian Mystery series. Born in Scotland, she now divides her time between Paris and the English Cotswolds.Reader:Shaun Grindell was born and raised in Southampton, England. His training includes the Calland School of Speech and Drama and the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in London. He has been seen on stage in London and Las Vegas and currently resides in New England with his wife.Mp3 provided at downpour.com by Blackstone Audio for review without obligation.

M.C. Beaton redeems herself with Death of a Dentist, the 13th installment in her uneven Hamish Macbeth series. In this one, Hamish — although warned off as usual by his superior, the ever-spiteful and jealous Chief Inspector Blair — surreptitiously investigates the robbery of £250,000 in bingo prize money and the murder of a lousy but flashy dentist, Frederick Gilchrist. Both occur in the village of Braikie, located 20 miles north of Hamish’s beloved Lochdubh and an even more boring backwater.Hamish and his love interest, the beautiful, posh ice queen Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, are on the outs, which really improves the novel. Their silly misunderstandings and miscommunications nearly doomed the previous novel, Death of a Macho Man — so much so that it was months before I picked up this volume. In contrast, Death of a Dentist provides plenty of fun, despite a few spates of moralizing on the modern nanny state, but the latter isn’t enough to ruin a pretty good read. Coming as it does after the dreadful Death of a Macho Man, Death of a Dentist makes me eager to read the next in the series, Death of a Scriptwriter.

What do You think about Death Of A Dentist (1998)?

Hamish isn't quite as much of a character as he later becomes in MC Beaton's books. Things are quite dismal with his love Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. And he isn't quite so helpful to the other villagers as he is in other works. But still this is a good mystery in a quaint setting which the author makes easy to envision.Suffering from a severe toothache, Hamish finally decides he can stand it no longer, and goes unexpectedly to the office of a dentist who is known for preferring to pull teeth rather than fix them. There he discovers the dentist has been murdered in his chair and had each tooth drilled with a hole in it. While investigating, Hamish immediately detects that the receptionist had been having an affair with him. Meanwhile, he also is investigating the theft of thousands of dollars of bingo money from a safe with a cheap wood back, and another murder also occurs. Can Hamish use his skills to solve these cases while combatting the administration that wants to squelch his involvement?
—Dale Safford

According to this site, this is the 13th of 28 village constable Hamish Macbeth mysteries, which tend to be somewhat formulaic, but nonetheless amusing -- and at times, even moderately suspenseful! There's usually a murder somewhat early on, and then our humble hero quietly goes about solving the crime using little but dogged common sense, invariably beating his dismissive superiors to the punch! Along the way, despite a long confirmed bachelor status, Hamish is likely to either pine for his somewhat regular girlfriends, or somebody else's wife, or maybe even just the new girl in town. So we get a dollop of romance, intrigue, and good humor to elevate these books in our estimation slightly above the level of a "cozy.""Dentist" mostly follows this pattern: when Hamish is suffering from a horrid abscess, he decides to forego his regular dentist for one that's closer by who has the reputation of being a womanizer and a tooth-puller! Surprisingly, Macbeth finds him dead in his own chair; shortly after a robbery of a bingo parlor has hauled off an incredible sum. Suspecting these events are linked (no matter what the higher-ups think), Hamish just doesn't rest until he resolves both cases. Along the way, Sarah, a hiker vacationing in town, gets plenty of amorous attention from our protagonist until she typically returns home to her former beau, putting yet another scratch on Hamish's heart (and bedpost!)...As usual, Beaton's "Dentist" story is pleasant, short, and good for a couple of hours of mild entertainment.
—Jerry

I know what you are thinking – another Hamish Macbeth on the same day? Well, yes, thank you very much, don’t mind if I do.This seemed more of a Hamish Macbeth story than the last one. I don’t know what was wrong with Death of a Macho Man but it really didn’t live up to the series in so many ways. Between Hamish and Priscilla’s childish tantrums which never does anything but drive them apart, and the police ineptness made that one harder to get through. There isn’t any of that in this one.Hamish does seem to be laxing a bit in his duties as the local constable – even to the point that he lets some serious infractions of the law slide when maybe he should not have. I think the character needs a new dog. I’m stilled miffed at the author for killing off his dog a few stories back.The murderer is not evident at first but comes to light about halfway in though Hamish doesn’t find it out till the very end. It is hard to fault him, though, with his terrible toothache and reputation for chasing skirts. The poor man barely finds time to sleep. :-)Have to say, the storms and weather in this made me cold. It made me appreciate sunny Florida, for sure. I give the book an A.
—Kathy Jackson

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