Central Skagit Library District

When Fergus Macleod, Lochdubh's abusive, drunk dustman is put in charge of the local recycling center, Hamish Macbeth smells trouble. Sure enough, Fergus, imbued with his new powers, becomes a bullying tyrant. When his body is found stuffed in a recycling bin, no one is sorry—including his long-suffering family. But Macbeth is surprised to find that many of the despicable dustman's victims refuse to talk—and when violence strikes again,

Murder with bite...

Dr. Frederick Gilchrist has a reputation. Though his cheap rates and penchant for pulling teeth have earned him a clientele, wiser highlanders avoid the womanizing dentist. It takes a blinding toothache to send Hamish Macbeth 120 miles out of Lochdubh to see the man, only to find him dead. Since everyone is pleased the dentist is deceased—patients, several harassed women, his ex-wife—Macbeth faces one of the more

Occasionally, the rugged landscape of Scotland attracts dreamers who move north, wrapped in fantasies of enjoying the simple life. They usually don't last, defeated by the climate or by inhospitable locals. But it looks as if Effie Garrand has come to stay. When local constable Hamish Macbeth calls on her, he is amazed to find the small woman still in residence after a particularly hideous winter. Unfortunately, Effie is also quite delusional,

When John Heppel, a visiting writer to Lochdubh, first proposes forming a writers' circle, the idea is met with much enthusiasm from local residents. However, once the classes get underway, attendance quickly falters due to one undeniable fact: John Heppel is a long-winded, consummate bore. But is dullness a motive for murder? Hamish Macbeth wouldn't ordinarily think so. So when Heppel is found dead, Hamish begins looking for deeper meaning in