Death of a Gossip is the first book in the now 32 book long Hamish Macbeth mystery series by M.C. Beaton. Death of a Gossip introduces readers to the laidback Scottish constable Hamish Macbeth and the sleepy Highland town of Lochdubh. The story begins with eight complete strangers gathering together in Lochdubh for an expedition with the Lochdubh School of Casting : Salmon and Trout Fishing. John and Heather Cartwright are the owners of the school and head the expedition while the remainder of the party have paid an arm and a leg for the pleasure of fishing in the scenic Highland lochs around Lochdubh. When one of the party, a mean-spirited and inveterate gossip named Lady Jane Winters, turns up dead in a nearby loch, Hamish must cooperate with senior detectives from nearby Strathbane to find the murderer and bring them to justice.

The story is written from various viewpoints but particularly from that of Hamish himself and a young, naive secretary from England named Alice Wilson. While the story follows the group at the beginning of the vacation, it is structured as a traditional English mystery in that Hamish carefully observes each member of the group after the murder and then draws them all together at the end to announce who the killer was and how he figured it out. While it remains focused on the murder, Death of a Gossip has an Upstairs Downstairs feel with various classes of society and nationalities mingling together and being brought to the same playing field via the violent act.

I ended up picking up Death of a Gossip because one of my classes asked us to read a book in a genre that we are unfamiliar with and I don't read much in the mystery genre. A friend who often reads mysteries recommended the series to me and I found that I enjoyed it a bit more than I expected to. I didn't expect to hate it, but I wasn't expecting to be as interested in both Hamish and the way that he solved the mystery as I was. Hamish is an interesting character, he enjoys playing the stupid, backwards Scotsman and letting people play into his hands. The observant detective role was interesting to see in someone other than Sherlock Holmes, particularly because Hamish is not as perfect as the quintessential detective and therefore more interesting. If you like mysteries, I'd certainly recommend it. Not sure if I'll read the whole series but I'll be curious to see more of it.